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Sorry to hear of your family woes, been there done that, you will recover. Cant wait to here about your taste test.

Im a newbie but everything I’ve ever read would support the wine would spoil with all that increased air headspace. And perhaps the more surface of wine exposed to air would speed up the spoilage process?

Good Afternoon All, Racking this morning went well. I started with 3 gallons of free run and had 1 and 3/4 gallons of press juice. I managed to retain 2 gallons of free run and have 2 1/4 gallons of juice after I had to mix the rest of the free run with press juice. I was not overly concerned...

If yours is a "hobby" vineyard... I guess my 10- 12 backyard vines would be called a tiny, tiny hobby vineyard? :) Looks good, real good!

Good Evening All, What a difference a day makes! Below is a picture I just took. I think I’m going to rack tomorrow. Since I already know I will have to make adjustments later on, I can rack in a few months if I think I need to, don‘t think I will have to though as my brix was a -1 when I pressed.

Hi All, Question for those who know. I read (everywhere, that the 1st rack is done 1-2 days after the crush (red grapes)). I enclosed a picture of my carboys and you can distinctly see the separation of color, and the gross lees on the bottom. All the research Im seeing says rack once and then...

Hi All, WOW, what a first ever "press day". I'm glad I bought some extra 1 gallon carboys... (should have had a couple 3 gallon carboys, but had no concept of juice quantity from grape quantity and weight of said grapes). Ended up with 3 gallons of free run, and 1 3/4 gallons of press juice...

Hey Jusatele, I‘m 45 minutes north of Seattle. I had just those plans in mind for early fall rains AND late spring frosts. Cannot wait to see what may be in 3 years. Meanwhile, I will continue to nurture the Merlot vines along, the more mature they are the stronger they are. Next year I will...

Since I’m keeping a few Merlot vines I may try that next year if we get the early fall rains again . Good thought. 👍

Hi All, Well this past week, I learned that Merlot is not the grape to be growing in Western Washington where I live as the season is too short and it doesn't get warm enough long enough. Typically Merlot needs at least 3 more weeks of good warm temperatures with our rain. But I also learned...

Hi All, Might as well stay on this thread. Fermentation is close to done, SG of 0. However for reasons I know the answers to, the ph is 2.7 and the taste is sour, not vinegar, just pretty sour. Color is also pretty pale for trying to be Merlot (again I know why). Is there any chance of even...

Thanks guys, you just helped my blood pressure down. :)

I was afraid you'd say that. As of this moment, my press won't be here until Thursday. If primary gets absolutely done before the press and carboys get here, I might try the saran wrap trick on top of the must... (extended macerations)?

Good Morning Everyone, At noon today, primary fermentation will have been going on for only 3 days. Yesterday I took a SG reading when I was punching the cap. The must started at 82 and was at 30. Does that seem a little fast? I was careful to measure the yeast properly; 1g per gallon of Red...

Thanks Snaff, Hazel, Cannot get any machinery to it, so it‘s all by hand. I’ll just get as deep as I can before cutting them.

Hi All, I suppose I can close out this thread with a report. This report does take into account my rookie mistakes. 😳 I ended up with about 100 clusters that weighed in at about 55 pounds and produced about 6 gallons of must which should turn into roughly 3.9 gallons of juice if all goes well...

Hi All, Before I divulge too much embarrassing information regarding my innocent ignorance… I have a statement and a question. I need to remove four 3 year old vines. I attempted one… this isn’t so hard the whole thing was moving earth and then stopped solid. It has two 3/4” thick roots that...

Hi All, Thanks for the replies and suggestions! Today I rehydrated the yeast and at 1200 PDT… wine has begun. I’m sure all of you do, but even though I did not know what I was doing the 1st two years, I kept a journal of what I did do. Wow… no wonder all I made was a bottle of sour liquid 😆...

Hi All, Wow what a day. Harvested the vinyard (7 vines 😆) that amounted to about 55lbs of grapes and ended up with a tad over 6 gallons of must which should turn into about 3.9 gallons of juice (give or take). The crushing and de-stemming went well (really see the need for a crusher 😁). As I...

Have seen no flying critters under the netting. Harvesting tomorrow.