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Raptor, you are correct it is all about the wine variety. Imagine what 3 pounds of Dandelions would do to a 1 gallon batch

Using Speidel fermenters the air lock is huge compared to bubblers plus i leave good headspace. Having brewed a lot of beer for years I do like an airlock. However I started making wines in the 80s using a towel over a ice chest that was my primary. as long as active fermentation is going on CO2...

OK Hounddawg, I may try that

my suggestion is once you rack out of the fermenter, mark it all my fermenters have lines put on in permanent marker on the outside for certain measurements, ok I use Speidel fermenters. But I did the same thing when I used buckets. I do not even want to admit how many times I put in to much...

Gilmango I liked your post I watched a docu-vlog the other day that was about the modern sensitivity to glutens, peanuts, etc. and they explained that most those who claim these intolerances are not that. Yes there are some who it can do serious harm to, but they are not as many as to create a...

relax I would have racked sooner, but who knows, it is up to the end result to tell that. It may turn out just fine. learn not to worry and just relax. I try to rack the first time within the first 2 weeks, but sometimes it can be later depending on what is going on in the wine. Just keep notes...

MY Strawberry bottled last weekend and I have 10 gallons of Malbec going besides that, I have not really started much this fall, But then I did so many wines last year I still have a stuffed cellar I have to admit the Zinfandel I did this year is probably one of my best, this years Merlot is ok.

Basically I have found that 3 to 4 pounds of fruit per gallon of wine. Mow that can vary according to the style wine you want. THe amount of sugar varies as the difference in fruit sugars and where you want the SG to start with will determine that. Best advice I ever got was to make lots of...

Welcome back I also like to do a lot of fruity wines each year

Where in WA? I am in north OR and have found that Pinot Noir is a great grape to grow here. My personal vineyard, 15 vines, is planted with 9 PN. It was my 4 season before I got good fruit even though I let fruit set on the 3rd year. This year we got a rain a week before I harvested but I...

I do a batch of the ole Sketer Pee each spring, love the stuff, and always bottle with a high gravity but I am doing a natural carbonation. I think just the nature of the product tends to have a very high original gravity also. I like my finished product cold on a summers hot day bottled in 16...

I stopped into a vineyard this weekend and was shocked they had spittoons on the tables. Most places it seems now are set up to have reservations made, ask for a glass of water to clean your wine glass and they seem to think you are asking to much. They think if you spit out the wine you do not...

Winemaker81 that is a great answer Final gravity can be affected by a lot of things. Looking to make a lot of fruit wines, I noticed different fruit tend to have different gravities in the end. One big nothing is also the quality of your tester. Most of us buy a hobby grade hydrometer because...

Welcome You will a lot of crossover from brewers here. I actually did wines first, then beer and now just mainly wines. There are a lot of similarities and a lot of differences. Good luck

Wow My first wine was a banana wine Always good to see someone else doing one

I also have not had great luck with Apple or pear wines either. When I make fruit wines I like them sweeter than I get apple or pear wines I have made. But I have used whire grape juice with great success when making drier fruit wines. It is just getting the blend correct.

Wine making is an art of patience and trusting processes long established. Primary fermentation can be 7 to 28 days depending on the style, and secondary can be 2 weeks to how much you want to do. You will learn that different wines have different times. When oaking a wine contact time is what...

I have been given permission to build a wine cellar, In 3 months I retire and move to our land in Washington state where I will use a 30 foot container to make that cellar. When that happens I will have elevated racks for working my wines. I think I will go all glass at that time. I also plan on...

OK, just my take on this, I use a speidel fermenter, they are plastic. The must is usually fermented and out of there in 2 weeks and transfered to a plastic carboy. I buy my plastics new and care for them myself, clean them normally within an I our of them being emptied. A second racking goes...

I think with cleaning, sanitizing, rinsing, then bottling, and finally cleanup, that a bottling session is a good days work. My labeling and then cellaring normally happens the following day. The wife has finally got on board that the hobby is a multi day affair at any stage so she just gives me...