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I have this in my FW Sangiovese right now: An easy way to oak - Next Level Oak I insert a short tube with a Vacu-vin valve attached in place of a fermentation lock so I can degas the wine while it's oaking. The use of a Vacu-vin for degassing has been discussed here before.

Okay, I guess wherever I read that, many years ago, was just superstition!

Hi RT Hi RT, you're right about that. My understanding is, though (and my information could be very old and I don't remember the source) that too fine a filter could diminish the color of the wine. That's the reason for using the 5 micron for reds and 1 micron for whites. Could the 0.45 micron...

I use this setup from All-in-one Wine Pumps: Wine Filter SetupRated 5.00 out of 5 It works fabulously. I do save the filters for a couple of re-uses, and store them in the freezer. I haven't had any issues with diminished effectiveness due to the freezing. The filter cartridge replacements are...

I think it will all work out in the end. The initial SG of my FW Zinfandel was 1.095, higher than the usual 1.092. If I plug in an ending SG of .997 (mine isn't quite finished yet, so I'm just estimating based on others' experience) into my spreadsheet, I get an alcohol percentage of 13.4, which...

Nice photos! Here are a couple of mine to add to the evidence that sangiovese-based wines are aged in oak (Chianti is also made from Sangiovese grapes). These are from a wine cellar of a winery near Greve in Chianti when my wife and I were in Italy in 2001. The images lack scale, but those oval...

In other words, "4 out of 5 electric vehicle owners won't switch back to gas".

That's my experience as well, and it's frustrating. I live in Everett, WA, about halfway between Seattle and Bellingham. I see Fedex planes at our local Paine Field airport (next to the Boeing plant) all the time, but in spite of that, Fedex shipments seem to have to go from here to their hub in...

Excellent idea, thanks, Brian.

Great! Thanks! At some point I think I should stop opening the fermenter up to punch the bags down so I don't keep exposing the must to the air. Maybe when the bags sink and don't float up again?

I have a Speidel 30 liter fermenter, the one with the humongous air lock. My FW Zinfandel kit is in primary fermentation and nearing 1.000 SG. I'm thinking of just letting it go until the fermentation is done, since it has been under air lock the entire time (except when I punch down the skins...

I use these big silicone elastic bands to hold the Inkbird sensor to the fermentor. They're a little too large to hold tightly, so I add a little block of wood between the band and the fermentor on the other side from the sensor to tighten it up a bit. I could also just tie a knot in the band to...

I use an Inkbird, a brew belt AND a brew pad. Both are necessary because my winery is a small room under the entryway stairs next to the garage and it's between 55 and 60 degrees F year 'round. Great for storage, not so much for brewing.

I would second this suggestion as well. It takes a few manual pumping sessions a day for a few days but it saves the AIO for more important jobs.

I second this method, it's exactly what I do.

I put a couple of tablespoons of water in the bottles and put 2 or 3 at a time in the microwave for 2-3 minutes on high. Pull them out using a hot pad holding them by the neck and usually the label pulls right off. A little cooking oil on a paper towel rubs the glue off easily.

Guess there's something for everybody. The church key I keep in the winery is smaller than average so the rounded end doesn't reach far enough toward the center to give proper leverage. The pointed end doesn't puncture the cap, it just provides more leverage. Both ends probably work fine on a...

I just use a standard old beer can opener, otherwise known as a church key. The pointed end, that is, not the bottle-opener end. Works like a charm. The point reaches almost to the very center of the cap and you get good leverage.

I can't speak about cane sugar vs dextrose in wine (I don't make sweet wines) but I started making beer many years ago before dextrose was widely available so I used cane sugar. The beer I made in those days using cane sugar had a distinct apple cider-y flavor, even when only used for CO2...

Thanks, Mike. My first application is with a WE Australian Chardonnay, which doesn't need much oak, so I'm going to just leave the sticks in for about 3 days or so rather than for a full week (I can already see some added color from the oak) and save them for another batch of a white. I'll let...