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My vote would be: 1. Grapes 2. High end Kits 3. Cheap kits with tweaks 4. Cheap kits 1000000000000000. Juice buckets I've made about 30-40 juice buckets and every one except one has been tasteless, watered down garbage (talking red wines here). The one that wasn't was a bucket from Walkers in...

Just keeping it there to wait out the VP-41 MLF. All are giving the telltale small bubbles. I got the Fermonster for high end kits , they are perfect for that. The only knock on them is they don't seal completely but they are fine if you have some MLF activity to keep a CO2 barrier above your...

Pressed out the Carmenere this morning, got over 10 gallons of liquid out of 7 lugs of grapes. You really got to love that Lallzyme! These grapes looked good but very little juice, well a little enzyme took care of that.

Anyone ever make the Nebbiolo kit from WE Eclipse? This one is a little over a year old, it has a completely different flavor, I check my notes from when I bottled it. Very earthy and almost as complex as the Amarone but a completely different taste profile. So I'm going to let all these...

jgmann67 I think it depends on if you use enzymes. I did a Petit Syrah last year and I did a "hot" ferment and it was done in 4 days. I let it sit for a day with LLallzyme EX and its almost black. Its a tannin monster.

Thanks for your post! I still have my Stag's Leap Merlot in a carboy and do have some Tannin Riche Extra laying around but I'm not sure how good that stuff is.

Nooooooooooo I don't EVER "dump" wine. I just run it thru my still and make brandy. Its why I'm quick to give up on wine because alot of times I really need the bottles. For example now I have 6.5 Gallons of Petite Syrah to bottle, plus my Stag's Leap Merlot kit. Plus 2 cheap kits I made. UGH...

Stickman, your making me thirsty!

Just co-innoculated my Carmenere with VP-41, this thread makes me happy

I've heard people say that but if its tasteless now how is it going to improve? I have the space and if it needs to sit another 6 months I can let it do it.

It was an RJS En Primeur kit. It wasn't just me I had two friends who were both winemakers testing them too. Sorry I just expected more. Both of them used me as a tester to see if they wanted to make these kits too. Guys then broke into my prized 2017 Syrah (all grape-central valley). The kits...

Since our local wineries are pumping out some great wines, I really made an effort last year to see how I could ratchet up my grape wine quality. So I went hog wild on some top of line kits, mainly WE-Eclipse and RJS kits. The WE Malbec and RJS Old Vine Zin are 15 months old so I decanted one of...

To be 100% honest that butt press looks easier and more effective than my regular press lol

Yea Stickman I was a little surprised but the brix didn't go up any after soaking in the enzyme but it did free up some liquid. I had a bag of corn sugar laying around and after about 10-12 oz in each fermenter (had to split up the batch) we are right around 25 brix, original brix was actually...

Got a call out of the blue, I actually forgot I ordered Carmenere grapes from Weak Knee. Made the trip yesterday to get them and was surprised at how good the grapes looked. Got 7 lugs. Trying to let then sit a day (he advised to go light on the sulfates since he's finding they are sprayed with...

Just got off the phone with Steve. What a guy. I ordered a new vacuum release since mine is worn out from bottling about a million bottles with my wine pump, I also ordered some 3/8" spare hose for the siphon side. Steve called and wanted to know if my order is correct, since guys who order the...

If you co-innoculate with your MLF you could try a week or two EM with your all grape batch. I did that with my last batch of Petite Syrah and it went great, since the MLF is throwing off a small amount of CO2 it helps plus don't "stir" the wine just push down the cap slightly to wet the top...

https://www.fulkersonwinery.com/u-pick/ Would love to go somewhere and pick my own grapes, if its a hybrid even better. Decent prices and it wouldn't take much picking to get enough for a batch of wine. Google says its a 3.5 hour drive, sounds like a plan!

At those prices I'll be skipping this year lol. I hate having to do the "responsible adult" thing and pay bills. Have fun guys!

Yes I read how to set everything up carefully. Then it was a day of frustration when not a single thing I tried worked, my guess is there might have been a flaw in mine or possibly the big o-ring was a little dried out. Its a shame because I had like 5 batches of wine to filter that day. I...