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I usually rack off the gross lees (fruit bits and sediment) about a week after starting fermentation. Some on WMT have experimented with leaving it on the gross lees for a longer time. Glass carboys are not designed to withstand pressure. So if you push in CO2 to push the wine out, there is a...

Actually, many fruits are low on tannins. I regularly add extra tannins and/or age on oak chips for most of my fruit (i.e. non-grape fruit) wines. Good point. Apples need malic acid to taste like apples. Blueberries need citric acid. So when I need to add extra acid to a fruit wine/cider, I...

Thanks for looking into this, and for sharing this response with us.

I always stabilize before backsweetening, no matter how long it has bulk aged. It is simple and easy insurance against bottle bombs.

Did you mean frozen blueberries? You will have about 1.5 gals. initial volume. 3 lbs. of fruit is very light on the fruit. I would consider doubling that to 6 lbs. for a more robust fruit flavor. That is a good idea. You can always add more sugar, but you can't take it out.

I'm not an expert, but I think that they mean the same thing. They are also called "pie cherries." https://www.tastingtable.com/939118/the-two-types-of-tart-cherries-explained/ Since I don't have ready access to tart cherries, I use this concentrate...

When glass carboys break, it usually happens when moving them filled with wine. (Unless you drop them on the floor!) If you have to pick up and carry your carboys around, I can understand why you'd want to use plastic. In my case, I never have to pick up filled carboys, so I use glass. This is...

Interesting... Apparently we don't all calculate lbs. of fruit per gallon in the same way. Neither method is wrong, just different. But when we recommend a certain amount of fruit per gallon, we need to specify which method we are using, because the results will be different. Most cooking...

At 40 lbs. of cherries to make 10 gallons, you have 4 lbs/gallon of fruit. For many fruits I use more than that. If you want a stronger cherry flavor, you might aim for a total volume of 7-8 gals. rather than 10. By pounds of fruit per gallon, I am talking about the total volume of the must...

If oxidation is the cause of sorbate breaking down, then if we limit oxygen exposure and add Kmeta we should be good. We want to limit oxygen exposure for many reasons.

All glass carboys so far. I have an AIO pump, so I never have to lift full carboys. The most that I move them when full is to slide them around on the counter.

If there is more than one factory making carboys in each country, then it is likely that some are better than others. So it is overly simplistic to say "Mexican carboys are bad and Italian carboys are good." Just looking at the country of origin is not enough. There might be bad carboys from...

Me too. When in doubt, I usually pass up on the purchase. It may partially depend on where the crack/scratch is located.

One advantage of buying locally, when possible, is that you can carefully inspect the carboys before purchasing. When buying used ones I am especially careful. If you run your fingernail across the visible line, you can tell whether it is a crack or not. More than once, I have purchased only...

I regularly ferment with D47 at 65 degrees F. But I start with warm water + GoFerm to make my starter. For most wine yeasts, the initial temperature for the starter should be around 95 degrees F.

Or just get a small gram scale like this: Amazon.com for about $11. I have one of these, and I use it all the time. Then you can weigh out 0.3 g Kmeta for 1 gallon, or whatever you want. For measuring out small amounts of Kmeta, nutrients, etc., I find that measuring by weight rather than...

I would use at least 5 lbs. of blueberries per gallon of wine. That would give you a darker color and a much richer blueberry flavor.

I have never heard of "tart blueberries" as a separate variety, although some varieties are sweeter than others. Blueberries, like most fruits, are tart when harvested before they are completely ripe. I have made blueberry wine with fully ripe blueberries, and it is awesome. Tart cherries, on...

I guess there is a reason that wine is often served with cheese! This is a good point, at least if you anticipate aging some of your wine for several years.