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Hey Kevin, Welcome to the forum. I am a fellow Tucsonan (far east side) and pretty new to winemaking. Have only done kits, started last year. I made 4 last year and am getting ready to bottle my first one of this year.

Church key/bottle opener works great. I just hold the neck of the bladder up, pop the top, then lower the neck to let the juice flow out.

My Italian bread from yesterday.

I bought one of these (local Craigslist) for about $20. The laminate was coming off. Great height and length Table

I am pretty much a newbie. Started a little over a year ago and have made 4 kits (the 5th is in clearing stage right now. The ones I have made, in this order, are Mosti Mondiale Nero D'Avola, RJS Super Tuscan, WE Eclipse Nebbiolo, Mosti Mondiale Nero D'Avola. Notice the one I have made twice...

I currently have a WE Fiero in the clearing stage. But when I started fermentation, after a couple of dys it foamed right up to the top that I had loosely set on top of the bucket.

Of the kits I have made, my favorite is the Mosti Nero D'Avola. Wood chips only during fermentation, and no skins. Doesn't have much nose, but really tasty. My BIL, who has been winemaking for a long time, tasted one that I had bottled less than 6 months earlier and said it tasted like a...

I am too new to winemaking (1 year, 4 kits) to attempt any tweaking.

I expect the skins probably did add about .015 SG, which would bring it to about 1.095 to start. When I checked the following afternoon, the fermentation was going gangbusters and the SG was 1.086. Down to 1.062 yesterday. Will check this afternoon again but, when I punched it down this...

Well, it has already started fermenting, so it is probably too late.

So, did I just not leave enough time for the sugar in the skins to be released?

Just started this kit today. Added water up to 23L, grape skins, 2 packets of oak chips. Stirred and let it sit for about 5 hours. When I checked the SG, it was only 1.08 (I checked my hydrometer first, using distilled water and it was right at 1.000). I pitched the yeast (2 kinds). But now...

Might be overkill, but better safe than sorry, right? Whether the bottles are new or ones that have been used and rinsed, I submerge them a few at a time in a bucket with 3 gallons of Easy Clean solution, let the bottles fill, then pour it back out. Then I move them to the bucket with 5...

That would be 1/4 tsp of K-Meta for the 6 gallons (acutally now probably down to closer to 5 gallons? He has had a bottle in the refrigerator for 4-5 days and will take it out tonight to see how it is. Hopefully everything will have settled and it is no longer a problem.

Looks great. How do you mke the labels?

Although I wasn't there to see, he said the wine was clear before he bottled it. If it is co2 holding particles in suspension, could he get rid of those by shaking the bottle, with then neck covered, after opening it? Naturally, then letting it sit to let the particles sink.

Thanks. Hadn't thought it might not be fully degassed. If refrigerating it didn't help (he will know tonight, it has been in the refrigerator for a couple of days), Should I have him shake the bottle after removing the cork (finger over the top, of course) to see if there is a pop? And would...

A buddy has just finished his first wine kit, a WE Pinot Noir, 8 week kit. He actually didn't bottle until about 12 weeks after starting it and almost 10 weeks after fermentation finished. He has sampled it, says it tastes good, but says it has a lot of suspended particles that won't filter...

Back to residual glue. A really cheap and easy way is to mix equal parts of vegetable oil and baking soda. Mix it into a paste and apply it to the glue. Wait for it to dry, then wash off the paste and the glue. Hardly have to do any scrubbing at all. For 2-3 bottles, 1 TBSP of oil and...

I made it earlier this year. Even though it is super young, it is good. It does benefit from leaving the bottle open for an hour or two before drinking it. Seems to smooth out the heavy oak taste