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I did a little tasting of the Lodi cab this evening and its coming along nicely. The 12 gallon barrel I got from @Johnd although its neutral, is still absorbing a decent amount of wine. I had to add an entire bottle of the "extra" cab I had bottled and saved when I racked from carboys to barrel...

I'm thinking that might be the source of the color.

@Johnd I did top up each time I opened the barrel. I had planned on leaving the Winestix in longer,and bottling in April or May, but when I saw the color I was concerned something was wrong and decided to go ahead and bottle. The Winestix was a "Dark" Toast French Oak.

To answer a couple of questions, 1)It's really not that oaky. That's why I added the Winestix. I used the "dark" Winestix and I just used one. I can taste the carmel from the oak, but that's really it. Nothing harsh or tannic. 2) The color isn't horrible, but as you can see from this picture...

Thanks. I'm not giving up on it. It's bottled and I'm working on a label design. I certainly hope it improves. The color thing really surprised me though. I wasn't expecting that.

I started this kit on July 30, 2018. The kit has grape skins and I kept the skins on until August 24th, so about 26 days. I pressed the skins to get as much juice as possible. After I racked, I added about 1 cup of oak chips. I racked again on October 10th, then racked to a neutral oak barrell...

I got to taste his Tempranillo today and it was terrific! Really terrific!

I'm fortunate to live near @Johnd ! He's making so much wine these days, he's running out of space! I've been lucky enough to not only learn from him, but also to take some of his used barrels off of his hands to use for my wines! Here's a shot of the 11 gallon barrel I absconded with this...

Sounds good!!

Absolutely would love to borrow that barrel! The Lodi Cab is stashed away in my carboys for now. If I can borrow the Vadai, that would be fantastic! Just let me know when you get the Tempranillo bottled up! I'll try to run the carboys by tomorrow and bring you a check for the grapes! Thanks!

HaHa!! That would be a good time! Plus, I bet he's pulling out a nice bottle from his collection to celebrate the new year! Hang on John, I'm heading over!

@Johnd Glad everything is going well with the Cab! That barrel looks awesome! I'm done with my holiday travels, so I need to bring your carboys back! I'll hit you up on text in a few days to find a good time to drop them off.

Welcome to the forum @Tony_Tiz You will find lots of information on this forum and plenty of folks willing to help you at every step! Keep asking your questions! You'll get the answers you need.

Well, my first winemaking experience is almost complete. I started my Fontana Merlot kit back on 7/18/18 and today I put it in bottles. The wine is about as average a tasting wine as I've ever had, actually, probably well below average for what I currently drink. But hey, I made this myself and...

Thank you @Johnd! Can't tell you how much you've helped me along in this journey! Truly appreciate your kindness and mentorship!

Very nice set up Thig!

My first Merlot kit. My first wine making effort of any kind! The wine is ok. As I've mentioned on here before, it's thin and my oak chips and spiral didn't give it much of a boost. But it's drinkable and I'm going to take it all the way through! I have a WE Eclipse Lodi Cab that's currently in...

Removed labels last night. Soaked bottles in hot water with chlorine free Oxy Clean for 4-5 hours. Scrapped off labels with a large putty knife, then used WD 40 on a paper towel to clean off bottles. Worked like a charm! Sanitized bottles with K meta and letting them dry now.

Thanks for another day of education @Johnd I'm enjoying the process and learning along the way!

The sides would have been a good idea. We did have a few grapes jump off the table. But John's set up worked pretty well!