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My Petite Pearl vines are a touch shy of ripeness, but we are facing a week of solid rain. Curious if fellow growers would harvest early or try to weather the storm Variety : Petite Pearl Sample date: 9/1/18 Brix: 22 pH: 3.15 GDD: 2892 since Mar 1 Last year's harvest on 9/12 produced a crush...

Buy a half gallon jug or growler, or a couple of 32 oz growlers. Should be able to find bungs for them. If not, siran wrap and a rubber band work. H

Thanks for the reply. No I haven't used it. Don't really know where to find it in the quantities I need. Finding information on it is also difficult H

My checklist for a dry red is Primary fermentation complete (duh, but a lot of people mess this up) Verification that MLF is complete if I did one Oak additions have been in the wine for the manufacturers suggested time Cold stabilization complete pH and TA are where I want them Wine tastes...

Like most wine topics, there are conflicting views on the need for that wait. H

Cold stabilize Acidex Super-K and/or sodium bicarbonate Cold stabilize again Blend with a high pH, low acid wine Dilute with water if you know your ABV is a bit on the high side anyway H

So how many total spirals did you add, and to what volume of wine? Waiting is about all you can do. Might want to buy another kit and get it going for the sole purpose of blending. H

Dualfine (new name for Super-Kleer) has worked wonders on my wines this year. Labelpeelers sells them for $1.91 each.

Three things that could be wrong: Yeast were killed in the process of pitching. SO2 levels too high pH too low How many campden tabs did you add, and to what volume of must or juice? Do you know the pH of the must? Beware that the dosage of campden tabs are not all the same. Mine say that...

I prefer electronic because I am lazy. The spreadsheet does some of the math for me. H

Add me to the list of people that just dump the oak straight it after removing it from its sealed package. My oak of choice are WineStix. Don't ask me why. They look more manly than other forms of oak (well, other than a huge barrel I suppose) H

What kind of vessel are you using for your primary? You could try to strain on the transfer, but you only have so many hands. A lot of fruit wine makers use cheesecloth or paint strainer bags for this purpose. If you are fermenting in a bucket, you could try to force the cloth down into the...

That perception of increased sweetness may be the result of sucrose (table sugar) breaking apart into glucose and fructose during aging. The latter two taste sweeter. This is the reason I prefer to use invert sugar for backsweetening. It preemptively breaks the sucrose down. Ripened honey is...

Most people advise that you sweeten to taste. That is was I do, but I record that sweetness with a hydrometer so my mind (and my wife's mind) don't play tricks on me. Here is the process I follow. Note that I don't backsweeten until the wine is finished and ready for bottling (cold stabilized...

I fill empty space with these, typically in this order Food grade glass marbles My own wine from a previous year (especially if we are talking dry reds) Cheap wine off the shelf that is similar to what I am making Water (especially if I started with high brix, high acid grapes) Like Scooter68...

4.5 oz of sugar would raise 1 gallon of juice from 15.5 brix to 18.5. Do you have 1 gallon of juice? Or do you have 1 gallon of must (crushed grapes, seeds, skins and juice)? You never mentioned pressing. Did you press your grapes after crushing? Advice for the future Always measure and record...

71B + MLF will certainly produce less total lactic acid than a yeast that metabolizes very little malic acid that is followed with the same MLF regiment (that finishes to completion). I don't know how important that is when it comes to high acid grapes where 71B is an attractive option. For...