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For whatever reason, I never considered it with a solid bung for storage. Since I received 2, I assumed the previous owner racked from demijohn to demijohn, which in my mind, sounds very cumbersome. So the primary advantage would be the storage space of a demijohn versus the storage space of...

A while back I was on Craigslist looking for winemaking equipment, and I came across a guy who was selling his dad's old equipment set. Great for me because I just started getting into the hobby. It included all his leftover ingredients and equipment he used to make his wine from juice...

Thanks John. There doesn't seem to be any issues in the new carboy that is topped off. I'll check on it periodically while it bulk ages to make sure nothing else grows. Time to get distracted by another kit! :spm

If we follow the instructions for the kit, we would bottled this weekend, which is why I checked on the carboy last night. We plan to bulk age anyway, so we just racked a few days early, added k-meta, and topped off with a bottle from the original kit we made about 3 months ago. As we racked...

Today we noticed that the wine had some weird looking clumps of stuff in it. It looked kind of slimy on the sides, and the clump floating on top was about 2" in diameter and also looked slimy and kinda bubbly. We're still new to wine making, so does anyone know what this could be? We don't...

Checked on my carboys yesterday, and the cab was down to 0.992 @74F. Skipped the sorbate, added the sulfite, racked into a clean carboy, and then added the clarifiers (in this kit's case chitosan and kieselsol). I plan to let it sit for a couple weeks before I rack again, but it's already...

@DryFly I was pleasantly surprised at how my first batch turned out, too. I only bulk aged for 3 months, so I could free up the carboy for the second batch. I would have bulk aged longer, but this second kit looks to have been manufactured about 12 months ago, so I really wanted to get it...

When we got into wine making about 5 months ago we purchased our first kit, which was a Cru International "Australia Cabernet Sauvignon Style". However, when it arrived, the juice had leaked inside the box. We called Morewine to ask what we should do, and they were super nice and helpful...

@dcbrown73 I might be misreading your second idea, but prior to racking wine, I always just transfer some of my sanitizing solution into the carboy using the AIO. The solution would run through all the wine contact parts, so that is all that you need to sanitize your racking cane and tubing. I...

I had a similar concern when making my first Dragon's Blood batch. I tasted it and was a little concerned by the lack of flavor early on. However after a back sweetened, the berry flavors started popping out. About 3 weeks after I bottled (no bulk aging) I started to become impressed with the...

I didn't consider that possible interpretation, sour grapes, so thanks for clarifying. After reading the yeast pairing PDF that sour grapes has linked once or twice, I think QA23 seems like a good fit for this wine. I'm excited that Varis can pave the way for me since I'm still so new at...

Thanks for the recommendations! I used water to rinse out the rest of the skins, but I was skimpy on the water to avoid lowering my SG too much since it was an afterthought. Also good call on the skins inside the cap. I didn't even consider that, so I'll have to make a note for next time. I...

I just started this kit on Friday, due in part to this thread. It is my first "big red" so I am excited to see how it turns out, and I plan to follow the directions. Merlot is popular in my family, so I will be making a lot of it, and will have plenty of chances to tweak in the future. I...

I just received my LE Gewurz/Verdelho/Muscat, and I was thinking of switching out the yeast to QA23, per this thread, so thanks for keeping us updated, geek. I won't have a carboy free for this kit until the summer, so I'm interested to see how this yeast does. I'm still new to all this, so I...

This post talked me into ordering the WE Eclipse Sonoma Dry Creek Chardonnay, too! I just ordered it as my first wine kit. I'll make a new thread once it comes in and I get it started.

I didn't taste it yet, but it smells great. Is there any reason, aside from possible contamination, that I should not taste it while fermenting? I figure it will just taste weak and yeasty.

I started Dragon's Blood this weekend, and I am following the instructions as closely as I can. This is my first homebrew ever, but so far it seems to be going well! Starting SG 1.075 (per instructions), and it is fermenting away at a happy 70F. Below is a picture on Sunday when I removed the...

Thanks for the tips Jumby! I didn't realize there was a local store in Chadds Ford. That is a very reasonable drive for me, so I'll definitely check it out and Label Peelers.

Thanks (again) Sour Grapes! I assume you mean Montgomery county, which is actually where I work. Small world :D

Thanks for the warm welcome! I have a few homebrew stores near me. I called the closest one, but they only had a few wine kits available. I'm not sure if that one is more catering to beer brewers or if it is just small. I plan to go to another homebrew store this weekend to get a white wine...