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There are several forms of tannin. Some are particulate which the wine extracts like a cold brew coffee. Some are 100% soluble. Have you looked at the Scott Labs Handbook for choices? I bench trial so would test commercial blueberry wine with my Malbec before restarting a fermentation.

Why? if you like Marquette grow it, if not don’t plant more If you like PP grow it, . . . You are far enough south you have vinifera choices I don’t have. I would sample all local wines to see what tastes good. Most vinters club Marquette has a flinty flavor. The best I have seen in club...

* from a health point of view ethyl sorbate isn’t bad. If I was doing candy processing I could buy pallets of it. * YES, as a wine producer it is rather shocking to have a candy flavor. I would still not use it unless I was back sweetening. * As a wine judge I have see it in contest wines once...

You seem to be anxious. Yes you could rack, wine is very forgiving. On my country wines I use time instead of sparkaloid. ,,, You may have more fine lees in six months, yeast take time to settle.

Campden / potassium metabisulphite needs to be added periodically as long as you can get at the wine/ it isn’t in 750ml bottles. Some folks can taste the free sulfur, most can’t. The European limit is 200ppm total addition. Sorbate is interesting, it can produce a bubble gum like food flavor...

At this point PP is the one red that seems to taste good. There is what I would call “northern hybrid flavor” in the other reds. PP dominates when I do vineyard blends. Briana is my favorite white, easier to grow however foxy when really ripe. Itasca is the best for brix and not being foxy...

I would build a mini-freezer into a cool room wall at the start. The temperature controller would work. Option two would be pump glycol on a copper tube coiled on the ceiling. Again a mini freezer could cool a glycol solution. What temperature? 20C wouldn’t be too hard to get. I have put a...

* The darkest color I have in hand is aronia. (where are you located ?) I like blackberry and black raspberry as coloring agents too but would rank them as about 1/5 the intensity. * 13% alcohol would not Kill 1118. Most yeast would tolerate up to 15% so it is a risk, but ought to work. * I...

Pie day ~~ Thanksgiving pie: premade crust Filling; 1/2 C lemon juice 1/2 can orange concentrate frozen 2 C pumpkin/ frozen squash works too 1/4 C brown sugar 2 T cornstarch 1 C Diced cranberry Place crust in a pie plate. > Heat oven to 425. > Cook filling except for cranberry. > When thick...

Yes molecules have a sequence in which they react,,, WHEN oxygen or other electron donors are present. , . . . BUT we can overwhelm the system by having a surplus of oxidizer. ex aging a year in an oak barrel or HDPE carboy limits oxidation so that favorable reactions happen, direct exposure...

Good info; The fridge will not stop oxidation, the general rule in chem was reaction rate doubles for every 10C. There are a number of chemicals that can lose electrons, yes tannins but also the pigments in the grape. I like dark pigments the more I make wines. The general concept is that...

welcome to WMT Your vineyard sounds like mine, two PP, two Millot, two Frontenac, etc etc. I really like PP for flavor. Millot and Briana anre easier for growing. Itasca has high sugar and clean flavor. But grapes with high humidity means fungus and work. I never graduated to a favorite...

welcome to WMT We can’t stop by and taste to help like Mom would, so we talk gravity numbers. The graphic in David’s post does a good job saying what is happening as the gravity drops. Basically oxygen is the enemy of alcohol. Alcohol wants to continue oxidation and turn into vinegar so we...

I am not surprised that you have activity already. The general rule in chemistry was a reaction rate doubles for every 10C. This isn’t always true with microbes since at 40C a lot of enzyme pathways are deactivated, ,,, ie the organism dies. , , , Anyway I have seen a fermentation finish in...

Two points 1) I can get an idea what cashew tastes like based on numbers and 2) if I am running an unknown fruit I can estimate how successful a preservative system it will be as is ,,, and 3) what chemistry I should add to make the mix fit the risk factor rules.

Humidity is a risk everywhere, for those of us in the cool climates we need to be conscious of closing the cover so the equipment or tubing never dries. Water activity (humidity) is how we measure suitable microorganisms growing conditions. On stainless welded angular equipment I assume there...

I find myself wondering; what is the pH , the gravity of the juice, the TA , the color / color stability, the YAN? ,,,, And how will it taste? I will likely never be close to cashew fruit at harvest time.

my normal is Pam or similar cooking spray, they have lecithin in them which acts as a natural soap and helps in washing the added oils out. After elderberry I normally replace vinyl tubes.

When the old timers are involved they can put names on the flavors. Names of flavors lead to fixes in next years batch. Good wine is easy to drink. Poor wine is a caloric source that helps low resource farmers avoid starvation. The water may make you sick but the wine never does.