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I bought a 500 gm brick of Prelude yeast. I repackaged it immediately into 25g, 50g, and 100g vacuum sealed packages and have them in the refrigerator. PM me if you are interested in trying the wonderful T. delbrueckii yeast.

ML is going nicely on the FWK Petite Sirah in the big mouth bubbler! Going for the EM of 30 days. Hopefully ML will be complete by then.

https://www.amazon.com/Sunbeam-Heating-XpressHeat-Settings-Auto-Shutoff/dp/B005NZ66KU/ref=sr_1_58?keywords=heating+pad&qid=1645113703&sr=8-58 I have 2 of these. There is an "always on" setting and it has 6 heat setting. You can hand wash them. I use SS fermenters in a 65F basement. Heat...

So I decided to clear out the Freezer and had 2 buckets of Livermore Cab Sav 2019 to ferment out. Usually, I do a cheap kit for a second run on the skins after pressing. I thought a Finer Wine Kit, their Petite Syrah Forte (petite sirah) would be a nice pairing with the cab sav skins. I...

FYI, some come as 2.5g for 66 gallons (ie Alpha, Beta, VP41).

I will cut a very small corner, double/triple to dose for small batches using a scale and a wide mouth 50 ml e-flask. Then, I food saver vacuum seal the package it came in and put it right back in the freezer. I then will keep it for future batches. I can’t guarantee the viability, but it...

Has anybody tested the pH and TA on the Petite Sirah Forte kit? Just bought one last night with the free shipping. I may use it as the juice/extraskins for a second run on some nice cab skins. I would probably need to put it through malolactic since I usual co-ferment yeast and ML. I would want...

My homewinemaking book from Steven Anderson has one ounce per gallon (no acid). I have added acid and the lower pH does brings out the SO2 gas way more.

On stirring the lees, if you construct a roller system for your barrel to rest on, you can roll the barrel to stir mix up the lees. I know some high end wineries in Paso that do this. It keeps you from having to open the barrel each time. Easy to do without rollers if you use 15 gallon barrel...

I did the Rattlesnake CS 2019 and it has a hint of green tannin to it. I pressed a bit earlySG 1.004 and it had 9 days on the skins. My pH =3.83 TA was 0.67% ( I’m making 2 blends with the red mountain merlot 2018 from WGD which has lots of mature tannin). I remember WGD stating the CF had...

Are you thinking of correcting solely based on the pH? If it tastes sharp already, I would NOT add acid. Blending could be and option. Do not be afraid of the higher pH in a Syrah. Pretty normal. I have a Syrah with pH 3.83 that I absolutely love. You just need to treat with sulfite differently...

The microoxygenation from the barrels is what causes the free SO2 to decrease more in barrels. This happens more if you have low humidity dry conditions which causes more evaporation “Angel’s Share”. I see this happen in my 15 gallon barrel and I lose 10-15 free ppm every 1-2 months. This...

Personally I let it go, 1 (maybe 2 weeks) more after the malic spot is gone (especially if you have a heated room). I also take a picture with is directly behind a light (canned ceiling lights work well). I then adjust the contrast on the picture. When doing this you can detect a faint spot when...

There is the Wisconsin Vintner’s Association (WVA) but maybe too far south for you. We typically get a few tons a grapes fall from Washington or California. Also, we get white juice and other fresh juices periodically. Monthly meetings, dinners, picnics.

I’m currently finishing a #45 press that had water damage on some of the staves. They are beech. I am actually using Ash because the only beech board at my local hardwood lumber yard, looked pretty bad. While refinishing, i used a 12 gallon stainless basket for smaller batches. It was an...

Apera pH60 is awesome, I bought a handful of cheap ones prior. This is $80 but would have been cheaper last week for sure. You’ll appreciate the upgrade. It does have a replaceable probe for $30. It maintains is calibration really well. You can get a flat sensor head for it too (I have never...

My favorite corkscrew video:

I really like using Nomacorcs. I have no control on humidity in my cellar and natural corks tend to dry out. Also, it’s nice being able to store upright. I have been using the 900s, Classic Greens, Select Green 300 (10 yr aging) &100 (15 yr aging), and the Reserva (25yr aging). I just wanted...

I think the longest I’d let it go is 5 day on reduless. I spoke with a Scottlabs rep about this and the said really racking in 3-5 days is fine. If used this way at 10-15 g/ hL , you should only get the advertised 0.02 ppm of copper. I would not let it go 3-4 weeks. Reduless is a much better...