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Now for a slightly off topic question, has anyone taken home made wine in checked baggage? Anyone have any problems with TSA on taking our wines on flights? I know commercial wines are OK, but couldn’t get a clear answer from TSAon Home made wines.

Thanks Joe, hadn’t thought of Strawberries. That should be interesting.

Expecting a French Rose kit shortly, any hints as to what to add? Was thinking of a bit of lemon or orange zest, just a touch. Also if doing a long term (2-4 months) bulk aging, should I fill the carboy to within 2” of the plug? Also, should I change the water lock to a solid plug? Thanks...

My Chablis is almost done with the clarification stage (2 weeks), and looking good. Will rack it this weekend and I am thinking of letting it sit in the carboy for some bulk aging. Any ideas on this? This is the Chablis that I put the 1/2 Grapefruit zest in during the primary fermentation. I...

I have about a gallon of Cabernet Sauvignon skins frozen from August when we picked them and used for the primary fermentation. Plan to use them agin in a kit as soon as I have an empty carboy. Have done this a couple of times no problems.

Mine was definitely black, stained the porch with it. Rinsed it out three times, still got black. Think I may look at another barrel toused for wine. Don’t know many folk that use a 20L barrel for Whisky though.

By the way, wish I had gotten those barrel prep instructions with my barrel. They do make a lot of sense and seem to work. Thanks for the reply, that was what I thought, but ya never know.

Just wondering, got a new barrel, and started the soaking process after tightening the hoops. Had some end leakage and some from the staves. The water came out black. Is that normal? Barrel is supposed to be medium toast. Had to use a bit of wax on the ends and looks like leakeding has...

Chablis SG was 0.9904, now in secondary fermentation for 10 to 14 days. Smell was great and calculated ABV is 14.16%. Was very cloudy when first transferred, now clearing and is a clear Golden yellow for about the top 8”. Will let gravity work. Of course when I de-gas, it all gets stirred...

That’s what proof reading is all about. Not that we do that all the time. Gotta love the automatic correction and spell checkers. Back to wine, the Chablis should be ready for secondary fermentation tomorrow. Will check the SG first, but the yeast has been bubbling away all week and is down...

I think the “Nose” in wine depends on a ton of variables, we are having a super high mold count here in South Texas right now. My sinuses are a bit overwhelmed and my smeller not so good. I have a Malbec that was bottled 18 months ago that we opened last night. I could smell a pleasant light...

The Chablis is in the Primary Fermenter and bubbling away. Put in the 1/2 Grapefruit of zest and pre-hydrated the yeast. Used both the EC1118 regular yeast and EC1118 Champagne yeast. What is the difference? Both are Red Star. Did the first racking on the Cabernet, looks good, smells good...

I did not know about the bottle cap on the Champagne bottles, I did know about the removal of the Lees after the fermentation. Guess I will have to start saving Champagne bottles and start to think of a wine to tweak. I know how to do this with beer, hopeing the Champagne process is similar...

Was just wondering if anyone has done some tweaking on the kits to make sparkling wine? Just finished re-reading “Wine and war” and will start reading “Champagne” by the same authors. Got me to thinking of using one of the kits and adding a bit of sugar when bottling to kick off just a wee bit...

Really enjoying these threads, lots of ideas and advice on how to make these kits better. These tweaks can also be used with fresh grapes and must, so very important to the whole wine making process. I used a few tweaks for my Cabernet which is in the stabilization and clarification process...

Will be receiving a Chablis Kit from Amazon shortly, plan to put a 1/2 a lemon worth of zest in for the primary. Any other suggestion, or should that do it? It is a WineExpert kit that was on sale (might be from last years harvest?). We made one of these in 2015, but no tweaking done. That...

My Cabernet Sauvignon is almost ready to start the clarification process, will degass this Tuesday and add the Chitosan. I have had it in secondary fermentation since Sept 3rd, 10 days today. I figure about another 10 from Tuesday for clarification, until I begin racking. Will be checking the...

As Joe has said, time is your friend. I learned that with my first tweaking, and it was hard to be patient, but in the end all worked out. I got my Zante currents at our local grocery store, no Sulpher in them. Used one cup currents, one cup French Oak medium toasted and 1 tablespoon wine...

Yep, left out a 9. The finger is faster than the brain. Good catch.

Transferred the Cabernet Sauvignon to a 6 gallon carboy today. Measured the SG at 0.904, must had a very pleasant rich fruity small with a definite alcohol presence. It spent 23 days in primary with good to moderate bubbling through the water lock. All of the Oak chips had sunk, still some of...