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Thanks @Ajmassa, it will definitely be worth the drive for me to get fresh grapes. I’ll give Keystone a call. I looked at your other Philly place (Procacci?) too, but it looks like they only do fall grapes.

I know, but I called and she said there were no red grapes, only juice. I am so disappointed because I just tasted my 2020 Spring Cab and it was really good...

I can't see your email, did they say they had grapes? I think they have grapes for commercial wineries, but not home winemakers.

I just called Gino Pinto to order spring chilean grapes and they said that they have none of any red variety! Did anyone get an order in for them? Where else can I go for spring grapes?

That’s interesting... but would take a lot more space. When a cork breaks when I am pulling it (in a commercial bottle), it always seems dry. But maybe there was too much headspace in the bottle. Who knows how it was kept. And you’re right, that translation was very good, I hardly noticed.

I was wondering about your airlock and bung, are you sure they are airtight?

For those who use a Vacuvin hand pump, these carboy tops work well. The Vacuvin cork fits nicely over the larger opening, no alteration neeeded.

I think you can find inexpensive places to live in any state. I’m in NJ and pay pretty high real estate taxes, but in the rural lower part of the state, homes are less expensive. Gas is cheap (and we don’t have self service), there’s no sales tax on food or clothing and things are generally...

@cmason1957 I’d like to start with 6.5 as well. Do you add a sugar water solution? What else? I have been shorting the water addition slightly, which doesn’t help. I wish kitmakers would just provide enough juice so that the first racking yields close to 6 gallons. It’s baloney when they claim...

My father said of retirement “Every night is Friday night and there are no Monday mornings”! That convinced me to retire at 57 and do a PT consulting gig for 5 years. Now fully retired and I am never bored. Too many books, too many places to walk or hike, too many places I need to see, too many...

No more SHB for me. Yes, packing peanuts and a very long wait. Called customer service 3 weeks after ordering and no status on the order status page and was told a shipment was due in the end of the week and my order would ship out right after, which turned out to be a week after that. When it...

It doesn’t make much sense. If I put the fermenter 3’ off the ground and it is 2+’ tall, I’d need a step ladder to work with it. I guess they mean the top of the fermenter. At any rate, I usually start mine in a bathtub after spilling half the juice bag one time.

Is the requirement in a kit instructions to place the fermenter in a raised position 3 or 4 feet high just to allow for siphoning it into a carboy later without having to move it? I see this also when you are advised to age wine off the floor, why is that? I’ve started using a box with a...

The trough is even more useful at ferment time - fits long spoon/ punchdown, hydrometer and cylinder, wine thief, thermometer. I keep it 1/4 filled and next to my fermenter for the whole ferment phase.

I just finished racking a carboy and wanted to share a few things I’ve learned with other newbies like myself. I am a small time winemaker, a few carboys a year, so this is for small-timers like me. For sanitizing before racking, I fill my new carboy with about an inch of starsan solution and...

We recently remodeled an old kitchen that had wood cabinets with fixed solid wood shelves. I’m big on repurposing things so I pulled off the doors and am using them for wine storage. With bottles across the top as well, this cabinet will hold 100 bottles. Just posting as an FYI in case anyone...

I was moving some bottles with synthetic corks around yesterday and found 2 that looked like they had a little bleed-through at the top of the cork. They had been on their side for almost 2 years. I pulled one and the crease was quite pronounced. My portugese corker looks OK, and many other...

That’s so funny, I have 6 carboys and am trying to figure out how to take advantage of the Midwestsupplies.com coupon for kits since I just bought a different kit Saturday. So off to Craigslist for another carboy... most people seem to price them higher than I can get new from Gino Pinto.

Welcome Patrick. I also get my grapes/juice/supplies from Gino Pinto. Where at the Jersey shore are you moving your operation to? Where will you get Italian grape products? Betsy

Yep, I definitely mashed those names up. I did add the Acti-ML, I will keep you posted. I’ll retest after the New Year. It was 24 here this morning and we keep the house cool. I’m sure temps matter a lot.