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Higher price with better quality is never a bad thing! I'll be ordering a 20L for right now, i have 4 batches of Chilean Cab mix from last year I can rotate thru after I try a "late" MLF. They are sitting at a PH of 3.2 which may be the reason the last MLF never took hold, so i have some Calcium...

I've thought of the Speidel tanks, they claim to give micro-ox similar to a barrel-but you don't get the evaporation. I may get the 15 gallon storage one for this May's Chilean Grape batch. thanks for the reply's.

Well I meant after a put 4 or 5 batches of wine thru the barrel and it becomes neutral, The next size up from a 5 gallon barrel is a 13 gallon barrel and I'd have to adjust the sizes of varietals i make each year if i get the 13 gallon size.

Been wanting to get a couple of barrels, done alot of research. Keep in mind I'm talking about NEUTRAL barrels, after you have gotten all the "oak" out of it. I want it for the micro-oxidation and aging effects. However I've read on here the small 5 gallon barrels you should only keep the wine...

Ok I'll run an malic acid test. Back when i did this my PH meter was broken, I didn't get another until this summer. I may have just use a workhorse MLF(VP 41?) bacteria and alot of nutrients to make it work. I have calcium carbonate to raise the PH when I try this in the spring. the only thing...

I attempted an MLF on my Chilean Cab blend last spring and it obviously didn't work since the PH is around 3.2 to 3.3. I sulfited the batch and its bulk aging now. Would it be worth trying a "late" MLF in the spring? I can't afford SO2 testing right now but I do have an MLF test kit. I'm just...

Here is what I ran into this year. 3 different batches of grapes/juice-Syrah, Grenache and Mixed Black. 72lbs of grapes with 6 gallons of juice. After the crush- Grenache I got around 8 gallons-almost nothing from 72lbs of grapes. Mixed black was better-around 9 1/2 gallons. the Syrah? Around 13...

I have a batch of Granache, 72lbs grapes with 6 gallons of juice-that stuff was so wild to start - I sulfated it and it did nothing. so I just pitched the yeast and we will see. BTW if you guys ever do fruit wine, for some reason Mulberries are like this. they take off from the second you start...

Well the press wine was in one secondary, when I racked to my next step I evenly distributed between all the carboys, then did the MLF. BTW I have a decent PH meter and I do calibrate it before every use. Also sorry about my screwing up the nomenclature, I meant "T/A" acid was a 0.6% on all...

I just did my last transfer of Some Chilean wine i started in may. This batch was a "Chilean Bordeaux" blend of Cab Sav, Cab Franc, and Merlot (33% each). 6 gallon juice bucket of each plus a flat of grapes each. Got 4 - 5 Gallon batches from this combo. Three of the batches I attempted my first...

AK that was for 5 gallons of wine thanks. I've found all this "off flavor" fades with aging, so if anything-it was an education. From now on all my wines I make that are "all juice" are gonna be made with plenty of DAP and agitation during primary. From looking over all my notes the only wines...

Well I needed to treat most of my wine I was oaking with copper sulfate so most are off the Stavin oak. However 3 batches were ok and didn't need a copper sulfate treatment. One batch, an all-grape Mixed Black, was on 2.5oz("full barrel strength" according to Stavin)cubes for 4 months. I just...

uh yea, an acid test kit would help! they are like $10 at my LHBS

Be glad your not in eastern Pa, we are dealing with a super destructive invasive pest called the Spotted Lantern Fly. It decimates grape vines. My buddy has a large amount of grapevines and his yield is zero this year.

If it gets a little too much, age always helps wine. Last week we cracked a bottle of Sangiovese that tasted like crap two years ago. Now its tastes like a $100 bottle of wine. TIME. I Imake 500+ bottles a year and I'm starting to set aside 3-5 bottles for the future on every batch.

Also and this is very important, this smell has only showed up when I've tried to oak a red grape wine. What about oaking would bring this smell out?

Thanks for responding! I got mine from More Wine and all they have in American Oak is the Med+. I've done some research and I've read heavier toasts give a "campfire" smell/taste. The rate was 2.0oz to 2.5oz per 5 gallon batch. Even though this was "new barrel" strength according to More Wine...

Aksarben I took your advice and got a pound of StaVin's med+ cubes. I put them in 7 batches of Italian/California wines at 2.0oz and 2.5 oz. Interesting results. If a wine was all grapes, it didn't take on any flavor after 3 months @ 2.5oz. 3 wines that were just juice started smelling like a...

Yea good points guys. I'm just worried about leaving this wine sit so long without SO2

No didn't SO2 after primary