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Welcome Michael! Nice to see someone else from the Burgh. You'll enjoy this forum. There's lots of good chatter, about wine, and otherwise.

Here's my $0.02: Back in the day I had success with "The Zone" diet. This is a low carb, balanced carb/fat/protein diet. Now I tend to stay away from diet fads. 1. Walking - The pandemic has allowed me to work from home and take time out to walk 3 days per week. I started with 1 mile and am...

Regarding the discussion of the Island Mist Exotic Fruits kit, I made a batch last year and bottled in October. I boosted the ABV a little but otherwise made it per kit directions. I was disappointed in the fruit flavor; I guess I expected something different. I would highly recommend adding...

@winemaker81 I knew you'd take the bait and share more gems! ;) Thank you.

I think it's great that many of you have ambitious plans for 2022! It shows your passion. As we enter the 3rd year of COVID, my plans are a little less ambitious. Completely coincidentally, this is also my 3rd year of winemaking... 1. I started an Island Mist Black Cherry kit. Why? It was...

I keep getting sale Black Friday emails from this place: Award-Winning Red & White Wine Making Kits – WINE LOVERS (wineloversonline.com) The kits look interesting, but I've not bought anything from them. Does anyone have experience with these kits? Just curious...

@SLM Do you make your wine in the bathroom? :ib

I do have some experience with "ignoring the whine". I've been married for 29 years...

Tremendous answer! Thank you Bryan. I'll put this info in my notes and try not to ask again. As a newer winemaker, I've largely been following the kit directions. In the coming year, I want to add bulk aging and try out some different techniques to improve the quality of my wines. This type...

I haven't made a FWK yet, but based on the buzz, I did watch the videos. I noticed they didn't start with Bentonite. I've made quite a few WE kits and all used Bentonite. What criteria should I use to decide if Bentonite is needed? What could go wrong if I skip it? Sorry, if this is a...

Thanks @Mcjeff , that was an interesting thread for a "scientist" like me (and I'm always up for a taste test). I conclude that the type of sugar doesn't really matter for wine; different story for beer. The cost isn't as big a factor for me as is the availability! Now the cost of the grape...

I've made several of the Island Mist kits using the Label Peelers bumping strategy and they came out great, with an ABV of 9-10% and they are immediately drinkable. LP suggests a liter of grape concentrate and a pound of corn sugar. Are you guys using this type of sugar or just common baking...

That sounds like a good idea, although, I'd be concerned about sucking in more sediment.

I use the spigot bucket and the wand together. It's really easy and as noted above, "I can let the bottle fill to the brim and then when I remove the wand the level is just about perfect". Near the bottom you just have to tip the bucket forward a little. Works great!

The tape is important. My dog thinks post-its are delicious... At this point, I only have about a dozen different wines bottled, so I don't use labels on the bottles. I do put different colored shrink caps on them and list this in a spreadsheet in case I forget. I realize that if I get too...

@Mccartjm I'd be interested to hear more details about your winemaking process. I share similar feelings about store-bought wines. Although I've been told aging will greatly improve the flavor of my kit wines, they haven't yet made me a believer. When I first started making wine about 1 year...

I use Star San for sanitizing everything. The first time I went to a local wine supply store, I was advised to use Star San instead of Meta. I make a spray bottle bottle full with about 1/16 oz of Star San. I use One Step to clean the bottles, spray the inside with a bottle rinser and hang...

I'm somewhat of a newbie, still just making WE kits. I have 2 buckets for fermenting (1 with spigot for bottling), 1 plastic carboy and 1 glass carboy. For those of you using these Speidel vessels, I'm wondering what the advantages are? I see that they have handles and a larger top opening...

That's great to know! So here's a question for the yinzers... Where do you buy your supplies? I've been to a small store in Derry and I've heard there is another one in Oakmont. Lately I've been ordering from a place in Ravenna, Ohio which is primarily mail order, but I have also picked up...

Hi. I am new to the forum, just made my first post a week or so ago. I had an issue that I got some help with and decided to stick around. Seems like a good group of people. I live in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, PA and have been an engineer here for 30+ years. I started making wine in March...