Search results

No change in the taste either. Still sour. I'll give it 6 months before I open a bottle.

Great information. Thanks

Here's a late follow up to my effort to reduce the TA of an RJS Amarone. Left the wine in a refrigerator set to it's maximum coldness setting - about 25⁰F - for a couple of months. It started forming crystals immediately. After a couple months, there didn't seem to be any further crystal...

I've just ordered a 32 quart stainless steel pot to use as a primary fermenter. Apparently no one sells an 8 gallon stainless steel bucket for home winemaking. Most "stock pots" and "brew buckets" are narrow and tall - but I found one that was wider than it is tall. I think I remember reading...

I filter every batch of wine I make - just because I want to. I have never used anything but the #2 filters. I fill a large stainless steel bowl with tap water (about a gallon and a quarter to a gallon and a half). I add 3 or 4 tablespoons of citric acid to it and dissolve. I think the Buon Vino...

I used a American Oak Spiral, medium toast, with an RJS Super Tuscan. Turned out great. Two other batches of Super Tuscan I made with only the oak provided turned out great too. Right now I have the American Oak Spiral, medium toast in yet another batch of Super Tuscan. It's a good choice.

I've heard of doing that, but apparently it wasn't needed since it's "dropping" granules already.

No, rinsing can introduce germs/bacteria. I've always heard 10 minutes. But for daily stirring and specific gravity checks I have to admit I only give the utensils a minute or 2.

pH was 3.2 and TA was 0.90% on 9/8/2021. (Earlier statement that pH was 3.3 wasn't the last reading.) It should have still been the same when it went into the fridge on 10/14/2021.

I mix 3 Tbsp K-meta in a gallon jug. I keep a couple jugs of it ready and fill my spray bottle from them. I spray down everything with the spray bottle - buckets, lids, spoons, graduated cylinders, hydrometers, bowls, auto-siphons, tygon tubes, ....... I pour kmeta into tygon tubes and work it...

I use the "Vintner's Best" Acid Testing Kit. On the box it say's that "Vintner's Best" is a registered trademark of LD Carlson Co. I've bought the kit on Ebay and at a local liquor store - a chain called "Friar Tuck's" - in their beer and wine making section. This kit removes the need for any...

RJS Amarone (pH 3.3, TA 0.90%) - filtered, finished, ready to bottle except for the acidity: Well, instead of reducing the acidity with Potassium Bicarbonate, then cold stabilization, I decided to just cold stabilize it and see if that will precipitate out some Tartaric acid. I'm using a spare...

I use them. Lately, I've started bottling half a batch of wine with the regular corks, but the other half with synthetic corks - which have a longer life span. I put different colored capsules on them then tell them apart - and drink the ones with the regular corks first. Then, if any last until...

Well, I just opened the first bottle of a RJS Super Tuscan (3/9/2020). It had a good pH at bottling - 3.3, but a higher than usual TA - 0.85%. It's now it 18.9 months old. It wasn't bad. The 2 other Super Tuscans I've made were excellent at 18 months. This one is not, but I think it will be at...

I love the RJS Super Tuscan kit. I've made it 4 times. It is easily the best wine I've made. I don't deviate from the instructions too much. I add 1/2 - 3/4 tsp of tannin at the beginning. And some extra oak. I usually give it longer to clear, then rack. And leave it another month or so, then...

You really can't get 6 full gallons from a 6 gallon kit - unless you top it off with a similar wine. That's the only way I've ever gotten 30 bottles (6 gallons). But I quit "topping off". One time I needed 3 bottles to "top off" and decided that if I were making a homemade wine, I didn't want...

Dissolved CO2 is supposed to make the wine more acidic, but I'm not sure it's enough to be measurable. I've measured pH before and after degassing and saw no change. The Island Mist may be just fine in the end. I just thought it was odd for the pH to drop so much during fermentation (3.1 to...

That has been in the back of my mind, but I figured it was more likely on my end. Maybe I'll call them and ask if they changed their En Primeur kits - but then, they have changed all or most of their kits recently to contain a smaller volume of concentrate. I've been having my problems with the...

No, I'm not shorting the water. I measured water as I filled the fermenting bucket once, and marked the level of 6 gallons. It's right at a rim/ridge on the inside of the bucket. Yesterday I bought a new bucket from the same company and it actually says that the top of that rim is 6 gallons - so...

I wouldn't call it vinegar sour or lemon sour - just overly sour wine. Maybe a little bitter.