Search results

welcome to WMT

Grape juice concentrate is a commercial product. In countries which have rules against adding cane sugar a winemaker will add grape concentrate for chapitalizing. In the US concentrate made from Niagara is produced which has the foxy flavor notes removed to act as a bland sugar source...

I just finished racking an apple mead which has 1% aronia (choke berry). The top of the primary tested at 1.010. It has apple notes with a weak astringent / this was the target flavor. The yeast off the bottom of the primary surprised me. It has front bitter notes and a long and strong...

1) it will give fruity aromatics, depending upon apple this could be an unidentified generic fruit or if high levels of a table apple a definite apple note. The stronger aroma will dominate. 2) Apple is high in malic acid which provide sharp notes like apple. Some Wild lactic fermentations...

Like Bob I keep synthetic cork and Grosch bottles upright (in cases). ,,, The food inspector checks to see if rubber gaskets are old / cracking. You need to check for chips and cracks.

I got some from John in the Vinters club. He ordered a half kilo brick. If you look locally 71B is rated to metabolize 1/3 of the malic. I have had some in the fridge for two years, ,,, if you want to try it PM me. Ah, welcome to WMT

There are five or six real 10 liter glass carboys for #9 cork that are in the vinters club. I wish I had one for each three gallon I own.

Making wine is cooking. If I look at new flavor combinations I try it in a pie. The turn around time for wine is a year, ,,, well half if I push bentonite etc. I can do a pie a week.

welcome to WMT Which part of Michigan? I am one of the Wisconsin vinters.

When you find a source of two gallon carboys, I am looking for nine. A ten liter would be better for racking down from a three gallon. To make sugar wine adding water works, ,,,, and the folks in accounting like sugar which was 0.28 per pound in a cost of goods calculation, & water is free...

Me personally, I would make a five/ 19 liter, and get a neutral flavor juice like apple or white grape as the filler. The positive side for a high blackberry percentage is that the polyphenols provide antioxidants that can give twenty years of shelf life. The negative is that as polyphenols...

Any cyanide from plum pits is unlikely to kill you. There is a lethal dose one has to consume. There is another potential issue, at low level cherry pits are said to improve flavor. It provides an almond extract like flavor. My observation making cherry with pits in the primary is that at...

welcome to WMT Agreed, you can not say that MLF has started unless you test for it. It is normal for fermentation to occur as successive waves of organisms. Yeast will consume sugar, Oneococcus can consume malic acid, Acetobacter can consume alcohol if oxygen is present. ,,, There are...

12.5 gauge should work. There have been repairs on every trellis system I have seen that is a decade old. When you get down to it, restringing wire isn’t hard. Japanese beetles love grapes. I spray with Seven whenever the populations build up. Deer? I haven’t had a problem. Rabbits, ,,, I...

I have been picking at the local winery, plus a bit of my own. This year some varieties have suffered with rain several times a week/ less spraying than desired. A new favorite disease resistant hybrid variety is Louise Swenson. It has survived as well as my Briana and has less foxy flavor.

welcome to WMT * start, the sooner you begin the learning curve the sooner you find the next question. Wine is a several months process. * oxygen is the enemy of alcohol. If you are a purist you could load it up with tannin (antioxidant) otherwise use metabisulphite. I would use both. I...

Using the metric system; A kilogram of grape easily can be pressed to yield 0.5 liter of juice with a homemade press. With a more efficient hydro press one can expect to recover 0.9 to 0.95 liter of juice. A screw press will be someplace in between. A press with a thin cake will yield better...

Yeast are classified based on “kill factor” One can start with a weak yeast and as Bryan said inoculate a high kill factor yeast some place in the fermentation. It will then take over and dominate. This is part of the logic behind using commercial yeast instead of wild yeast. Commercial...

Yes you are, retail fruit can afford sorting, Wine making is a process of cleaning. ie we filter out skins, seeds, and bugs. we ferment which removes sugar, we rack to remove small solids. etc. No commercial winery will wash the fruit. There is limited picking off material out of the...

I soak with water or acidified water for a week. Taste to see how much carry over flavor. Since I do country wines I would look at carry over mango flavor as an advantage.