Search results

Maybe @joeswine can help, he is nearby.

My friend got me an aerator for Christmas, and it helps. I also sometimes decant it and stir it up with a fork. CO2 masks all of the other measurements, so I am more careful now preparing my samples for pH and TA. A learning process for sure. I’ll have to find a winemaker to taste my wine and...

@winemaker81 I would like to understand it as well. I have the same drill bit with the arms. And I have used a hand pump to degas as well. Now trying the AIO. CO2 has been my biggest problem to date. I am new to this still, I’ve made Spring and Fall juice bucket and grapes for the last 3 years...

I agree. I got the AIO also for that reason. Even with aging a year in carboys, my wine was still gassy. I am hoping the AIO makes a difference. I don’t understand how people can bottle a kit in a few weeks. Stirring with the drill whip was never enough.

Interesting read, thanks. My supplier doesn’t provide crushing, so I’ll enlist some friends, and maybe I will toss a few whole clusters in this time. Doing the de-stemming and crushing by hand is time consuming, but we’ll just have to make a party out of of it.

I don’t have a lot of winemaking equipment, so I rely on juice pails, but I also add fresh grapes. 18 or 36lbs per bucket and have good results. This spring I am trying my first all grape wine, but I know it wii be tough w/o a crusher and a good press, but it will be good experience. I’ll be...

If stirring is your only option, then stir, and stir some more. Do not bottle a gassy wine. You can also get an inexpensive Vacuvin and pull a vacuum on your carboy to get the CO2 up to the surface. Lots of info on this site about how to do that. I use the orange carboy caps, and the vacuvin...

The AIO wine pump gives me the flexibility of taking care of my wine when there is no one around to help. All full carboys stay on the floor, I’m only lifting empty carboys. Also, I am glad to degas when I rack. A simple pump to operate, very glad I got it. I resisted getting one, because I...

Yes, I was back and forth between this post and one from yesterday… thanks.

It’s certainly possible that my pH meter is off, though I calibrated it prior to taking the latest measurements. I will test with a different meter.

@winemaker81 What kind of glycerin do you use? It seems to come in many formats.

The last numbers were good, pH 3.5 and TA 7.5, so I don’t get why it tastes so sour.

Thanks @Chuck E, right now its in a small 2 1/2 g oak barrel and a 5 g carboy, so I experiment with some portion of it.

Last spring I made a Chilean Cab/Merlot blend with a 6 gal CabSav juice bucket and 36lbs of Merlot grapes. Initial readings were pH3.7, sg 1.094,brix 22.5 and TA 4.5. I adjusted TA up slightly and added RC212 and yeast nutrients. I added VP41 mlf bacteria with acti-ml a day later. 5 days later...

I have only seen them selling CA grapes in the fall.

Keystone Homebrew is an awesome wine/beer making store, but I was not happy with the grapes (moldy, shriveled) or the juice bucket (already fermenting) that I got there last spring. That could have been a covid supply chain problem. I’ll stick with Gino Pinto in Hammonton, NJ. For fall grapes...

I have made a few batches (cabernet) with a juice pail and 18lbs of grapes, but it yields an odd quantity for your carboys. I use a 5L jug and some extra wine bottles. A juice pail and 36lbs of grapes will give you a nice 8 gallons which works for me with 5 and 3 gallon carboys.

I pour my gross lees around my blueberries. I know they like acid and it is certainly acidic. Not sure how they feel about alcohol…

Welcome, fellow Jersey winemaker! What part of Jersey, pork roll or taylor ham?

I wanted to post an update on the WE Private Reserve Amarone kit. I just racked off the primary after 10 days. sg was .996, so good to go. Smell is delicious, skins bag was easy to squeeze, BUT the oak chips were more like oak splinters - what a mess. Good thing I racked through a fine mesh bag...