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Just started the Eclipse Riesling (Columbia Valley, Washington). Hoping it's as good as the Sauvignon Blanc.

First day this year in the 70's, nice sunny day. Had to grill out. Hamburgers, cheese burgers, homemade brats, potato wedges and corn on the cob. AND a 10 year old bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. My god!, was this wine good! Almost wish I'd saved it for a good steak. Life is good! Prep'ing baby...

Drank local wine for several years - Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, in the 80's and 90's. Decided to try making wine myself, but only used recipes, usually based on Welch's concentrates. Just followed the recipe without any real understanding of the process. The only instrument I used was a...

I see. I've been looking at a cheap ($75) vacuum pump - used to evacuate AC systems, but says it has other uses such as degassing wine, etc ..... Cheaper than the all-in-one pump. Any thoughts?

After a couple months drank a few over the next several months - and gave a few away. Now have half the bottles at the 1 year (+) point. Saving them for this summer and will keep at least half of them for another 6 months to a year. Noticed a good improvement after 6 months. Hope to see more...

Don't know, but at this point what i'd do is wait and see if it clears. If it does, rack it per step 5, sample it and add more sugar if needed, then let it sit a week - basically proceed with step 5 after it clears w/o adding more sugar unless needed.

Looks like you need a vacuum pump to draw on one pipe and that causes a balloon to "inflate" inside the top of the carboy?

Eclipse Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Turned out great.

Sometimes I use glass pebbles. You can by them cheap at a dollar store. I buy the clear ones that have no iridescent coating. I wash them thoroughly - you'll be surprised how dirty they can be. And then I soak them in vinegar for about a week. Sanitize them when you are ready to use them, then...

Any news/progress on this? I'm about to start this kit myself.

Deleted duplicate message.No way to delete?

Here are 2 different "Quad Berry" Dragon's Blood wines. The one on the left was made with 3 lbs of frozen fruit, in a 3 gallon batch. The one one the right was made with 4 lbs of frozen fruit, in a 3 gallon batch. No difference in color. Just bottled the right one yesterday. In a few months I...

Yes, love this recipe. I've got a straight blackberry version that is about cleared and ready to rack. Color looks great.

Yes, love this recipe. I've got a straight blackberry version that is about cleared and ready to rack. Color looks great.

I call it "Quad Berry" just to differentiate it from "Triple Berry". It's Walmart Great Value brand "Whole Berry Medley" frozen fruit - strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, blackberry.

Bottled my Quad Berry DB today. Came out 0.50%TA, which is a little lower than usual. Usually 0.55 to 0.60%. Don't know what caused that. Maybe fruit was just different ripeness. Maybe because I used a 5 gallon bucket for a primary (3 gallon batch). Wasn't a lot of surface area with fruit bag...

I did a strawberry using 6 lbs of frozen strawberries in a 3 gallon batch. I too had the strawberry flavoring ready to add, but after backsweetening, I decided it didn't need the flavoring. Tasted pretty good immediately. Think it's going to be a great in a few months. Going to be popular, so...

Well it's bulk aging now. In the end, I pretty much followed the instructions. This kit has you add oak cubes at the same time you add the finning agent. At that point you are supposed to wait 8 days and then rack the wine. I waited 20 days just to make sure I got plenty of oak. That was...

Filtered my Quad Berry today. Will bottle in a few days.

I'd add the lemon juice. I always assumed the lemon juice is required for a good acid level/balance. I've made five 3 gallon batches of Dragon's Blood and use 20 oz lemon juice (for 3 gallon). Final pH is usually 3.1 to 3.2, and total acid ~0.60-0.65%. I'm not sure what you mean by "thin". This...