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I find that drier fruit wines and melomels can benefit from some tannin additions, but it's not anything on the scale as you'd find in red grape wines

1.002-1.005 or 1.020-1.050? Acidity and sweetness are a balancing act, but that act is not complete without adding in alcohol content and the body of the wine. It's a multi-faceted balancing beam that makes up a finished wine. Only calculating/testing for alcohol and sweetness, is only...

You can also use a pH meter in the TA determination process, by starting with the same amount of wine, adding the base and then use the pH meter while adding the reagent until your pH meter reads 8.2. Makes it easier to perform on wines that are harder to see the color change correctly

If its stabilized, you're probably better off with the blending option. I myself, am not a big fan of the DB craze, and prefer bolder flavored/bodied wines.. but it generally requires more fruit. The important thing here is probably going to be the balancing of the acidity pre-fermentation.. Do...

If one method was better than the other, than only one method would exist/be commonplace. They both serve purposes. I find in most instances, that pH relates more to SO2 additions, where TA usually relates more to peoples perception/taste of the wine. You dont want either one to be too high...

Pretty sure the Dragon's Blood-take on Skeeter Pee, is only 2-3 years old..

Wow those are some cold temps! Looking for Spring? It's vacationing on the West Coast lol

Yeah there's a scale of adjustments out there, I just don't have it handy. But it does require adjusting to remaining accurate due to the presence of alcohol

Your yeast distribution idea sounds like it'll do the trick. But refractometers become inaccurate in the presence of alcohol, so once fermentation starts you'll have to use a hydrometer to gauge the progress. Not much harder than a refractometer though.

Smell it and taste it.. Whens the last time you added SO2? Hopefully its topped up adequately as well

Visual aid via Jack Keller's website D & E are expressed as Parts Here's an example from my notes, from a time I helped someone here with this; this goes all the way from 'parts' to 'bottles'. A = Your Brandy, 40%? B = Your wine, ABV 12%? C = The ABV you want - 18%? D = Your wine by...

It tastes and smells like that because it's began to oxidize. That why it looks brownish as well. If you like it though, go for it. I would rack out of the bucket, it's liable to have sediment in it, and leave that film behind. Add 1/4 tsp of K-meta to the carboy and then rack on top of it, and...

Congrats Rocky!

Yeah, looks like pulp... It may have begun fermenting even though it was in the fridge. Smell it / shake it (lightly) to see if it foams.. The smell might be more towards what you find in the fermenting bucket, but the presence of CO2 is the surefire sign that it fermented

Thanks for the interview, Austin; sure was fun to do! Thanks also, for the kind words guys; greatly appreciated

Lmao! 52nd to the 53rd seconds; Not much for popcorn, but I know that pose!

You'll want to measure both, but people usually find themselves focusing on one or the other. They're different measurements; one measures the amount of acids while the other measures the strength of those acids. You could, I suppose, get away with a cheapie. But I have a 'do it right the...

pH is pretty important with meads, and with fruit wines. Traditional meads (honey + water) have a low buffering capacity though, and the pH can swing pretty far with minimal tweaking, so it's best to go slow with any carbonate additions when attempting to raise the pH, as well as going light on...

So if I'm reading this right, you want to split the wine kit into 4: RP15 + FT Rouge RP15 + FT Rouge Soft WLP750 + FT Rouge WLP750 + FT Rouge Soft That doesnt sound impossible, but if it's a 6-gallon kit, just understand that that means it's going to be ~1.5 gallons of 'must', which is gonna...

You'll also want to realize that smaller batches are actually more difficult to ferment cleanly. There's less room for error, and it's harder to cover up flaws. And unless you've got racking down, and are putting that sediment to the side to recover that lost mead, you can have substantially...