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Perhaps I'm just lazy, but I would not try to lower the acid at this point through chemical means. What yeast are you going to use? Lalvin 71B would lower the acid during primary fermentation, though it may not be most people's first choice for reds. That might get you into the range for a...

I wish I could. My log book from that era (going on 10 years ago) lives with the friend I used to live with. Roughly, I would say make sure they are ripe...bring your SG up to 1.090-1.110...don't add any acid. Check your pH, hope it is at least close to 3.3. We used Montrachet back in the...

I grew up in agriculture. Now I know there is nothing more labor-intensive than vineyards and orchards.

I have >10 years of experience with fruit wines...only 3 years with grape wines. The bulk of my grapes (by weight) are Cayuga White. My process has bee: - Crush grapes (the old fashioned way) - Put grapes in press; collect free run wine - Press grapes; separate pressed juice into a separate...

I've made two batches of wine from wild grapes. One turned out pretty good, one not so much. Best advice used 71B for the yeast and MLF to help with the acid. That was certainly the problem with the batch I did that did not turn out. Either way, it's a marginal attempt.

I made a Foch/Oberlin Noir blend last year that was superior to the straight Foch I made the prior year. Part of the difference is attributable to me changing some methods for the better, but it definitely had more body.

Now that would be just mean. I simply relocate them...6 feet in the vertical dimension is a good place to start. :) Best of luck keeping them out for another week, I'm so much happier now that my grapes are in glass. The sweet corn near my vines kept the ***** occupied and out of the...

I've gone to crushing and then picking out the stems by hand. It works pretty well. I had several times over that volume so destemming by hand was a non-starter.

Just today I used one similar to that to make 29 gallons of Cayuga White juice. The only negative to it is the small volume; if you have time to deal with that, they work just fine. I've made >1000 gallons of wine with the little press.

I would recommend ordering from Double A Vineyards. I'm in roughly the same climate as you (central Indiana) and for whites I find Cayuga White reasonably easy to manage and hardy. For reds, Marachel Foch is the only one I've actually made wine from, I would not recommend it if you are looking...

Outstanding. Thanks for the explanation.

Looks like a super sized version of the jack from my old car. What did you use for a pressing basket and press plate?

This thread is useless without pictures...;)

My in-laws used to live on a golf course. One time my wife remembers they were out walking on Christmas morning, and another Asian family walked by headed for one of the water traps where the resident geese hung out...with an iron and a bag of corn... +1, that would have been a dead goose...

Think of all the stuff already on the fruit. As long as you hose it off well, why worry about actually sterilizing it? I've used that approach for a decade without issues. Worry about what gets in contact with the must AFTER you have it in a container and have applied sulfite...within reason.

postassium metasulfite. Research Campden tablets. You need to use them to knock out the wild bacteria/yeast until your wine yeast establish, at which point they will out-compete the competition until the alcohol gets high enough to do that job. But you still add sulfites to a certain extent...

Best guess, your initial reading was wrong...perhaps due to too many solids. I've never seen anything ferment that quickly, even at much higher temps.

Let them hang as long as you can. I took down my Foch last weekend, 21 Brix and pH 3.3. Perfectly manageable with a MLF.

You have to admire the passion. :h

Your typical plastic beverage bottles are not made for long-term storage. The plastic is not actually rated to stop oxygen transfer over time. If you are concerned about aging your drink in the bottle, I would advise against it. If you are going to put it in the bottle then drink it within...