Search results

The cab is still bubbling slowly, will measure the SG this weekend (started Aug. 11), I did put some French Oak in after macerateing the grapes. I am treating this as a kit, having learned that time is your friend with the Merlot kit. Next will be secondary fermentation and perhaps addition of...

Might not be a cheap kit, but doing the same thing with it, and it actually was cheap (free). Actually was thinking that this was the perfect place to discuss small batch wine making, lots of creative ideas and advice. Did post on another thread, but then didn’t see that thread again.

Got my Cabernet Sauvignon last week, hauled home 6 gal+of juice and grapes from 20+ year old Texashill country Cabernet vines. Crushed up grapes, etc. and reserved about 3/4 gal of grapes, stems, a few leaves, etc. and froze them for later. Left a lot of skins, whole grapes, etc. in the juices...

Yes, this should turn out great if everything goes right. No tweaking on this as it is my first from raw juice and fruit. Will keep it a varietal all the way. It is currently bubbling away and tomorrow I will stir the bottom to keep the fruit in there moving. I did pull about 1/2 gallon of...

Meant to put this in here, but put it in another topic on the forum yesterday. Not exactly a kit, but still in the 5 to 6 gallon range. Just got my Cabernet Sauvignon grapes and juice(helped with the picking) from 20+ year old Texas hill country vines. Optical measure of sugar is 25.8 Brix, Ph...

Just got my Cabernet Sauvignon grapes and juice(helped with the picking) from 20+ year old Texas hill country vines. Optical measure of sugar is 25.8 Brix, Ph is 3.6 and Sp Grav. 1.101. Juice with grapes some stems, etc. in the primary fermenter with water lock and pitched pre-hydrated 1118...

Got the Merlot in the bottles, wound up with 27 bottles and 3 glasses. Ya gotta try it fresh from the vat right. As su specter, it is good. Definitely currents, Black Cherry and vanilla. Some other hints in there, but a bit too early to tell if ever. Very smooth, there is definitely still...

Will be bottling my Merlot today, been racked 3 times and has had lots of time to do whatever it needed. Now the hygrometer reads about 0.94 and the sweetness is mostly gone. Not a dry Merlot, but not sweet either. I think that the tongue is getting a fruity taste of currents and black cherry...

Onto the clearing stage for my Merlot, now at 0.93 SG. Still a bit on the sweet side, but maybe a slight dash of coffee? Still smells fine.

Just got a question from my 4 year old granddaughter, where did the name carboy come from? Getting her interested early. John

My batch of Merlot is in secondary fermentation, small circles of very fine bubbles in a larger circle just inside the walls of the carboy. Will be checking the SG and a taste test after the weekend. If the SG is below .998 and not too sweet, may go to clearing step. If above will let it...

OK, that’s what I do when I am brewing beer, different SG, but basically the same. John

John, Thanks, I think I will try the cloth on the next batch. How long do you leave it on, for the whole primary fermentation or just part? John

My plastic fermenter is about 6 1/2 gallon capacity, maybe a tad more. When doing a 5 gallon wine, is that too much airspace? I am thinking that the CO2 would quickly fill that space and using an airlock would prevent O2 from doing any damage. I have used cheese cloth to cover with beer in...

My daughter found a place in Houston that had 6 gallon glass carboys. Got me one for Christmas a few years ago. Great size for either beer or wine making. John

Gotta love it when the spell checker changes what you really wanted to write into something else. Especially when you don’t catch it on the proof reading. Back to the Merlot, will be racking on Wednesday if the SG is down to or below 1.020. This is actually the first thing I have used a food...

Measured the SG and it is down to 1.025, that’s down from 1.040 a few days ago, slow small bubbles in the must, and Ph is around 3.35 to 3.4 from the paper test strips. Instructions say to rack at SG of 1.020, so will let it go for a few more days. Smell is good and taste is a bit sweet still...

My Merlot is still working, the SG is still dropping and everything smells OK. Just taking time. I suspect that the sugar was a bit higher than expected and the yeast decided to take it’s time. No bubbling in the water lack, but it is definitely working. May have a leaky seal somewhere...

Joe, and John, thanks for the pointers, as my first voyage into the experimenting with the wine kits, I am bound to forget a few of the things that you and others have caught. I added 1\2 a gallon of water to the mix as I had not figured that in with the currants and Oak, plus not adding that...

My Hygrometer reads it at about 15%, doubt it would get that high. The room it’s in is about 78 F during the day and drips to high 60s at night. Have done some other kits around that range th did hit high 14s. Not extremely dry wines but tasty. I may put a bit more water in there though...