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For sure, grapes destined for sparkling wine need to be picked before the main harvest. 18-20 brix is typical for sparkling, whereas the same grapes for still wine will be picked at 23-25 brix. Acidity is also a factor here - since the grapes are less ripe they will be higher in acid. pH 3.00 -...

I get most of my labware from Amazon - there is some good quality cheap gear available. I like Karter Scientific for glassware, though there are several other brands that I'm sure are also good. You can see in the picture that I have a small magnetic stirrer (blue, with the beaker on top) - I...

The aeration-oxidation method is definitely more accurate that Ripper; another potential drawback of the Ripper method is that iodine can bind to phenolics in red wine so you might tend to overestimate the amount of SO2. But the question is, how accurate do you need to be? I'm not sure I could...

TA is the easiest, you just need 0.1N (or similar) NaOH. Titratable acidity (at least in the US) involves titrating your sample to pH 8.2 endpoint, which is why you can use phenolphthalein - that's where it changes from clear to pink. I prefer to use the pH meter since the phenolphthalein color...

Hanna instruments make a series of auto-titrators for measuring SO2, TA and YAN, but I think they're substantially more expensive than Vinmetrica. I have no experience using either, nor the Sentia device that you mention in your title. At the other end of the spectrum you could just get a...

Oh, I used to have one of those! Back in my beer brewing days... I have no idea what happened to it...

I need to buy a new crown capper and wondered what recommendations folks here might have. Up until now I've been using the crown capper attachment for my Italian floor corker, however one of the lugs that attaches it to the corker broke off so it's now useless. I'm probably looking for a...

Yes I have the same (though I bought it from @vacuumpumpman )... 👍

Do you have the 'old' filter unit (a larger cylinder that screws into the side of the pump) or the newer style that is a separate, small filter inline on the input side? I bought the old style pump but recently replaced the filter with the new version. It's a big improvement, and the filter is...

I've done this with pinot noir both professionally and at home. At the winery, whole cluster grapes are loaded into the press and pressed using a gentle program, where the pressure is gradually increased stepwise over several hours up to about 1600mbar. Typical expected yields are ~150gal/ton...

I agree with @winemaker81, if the bottles are brand new I use them straight out of the box (and can confirm that at least the professional winemakers that I know do this as well...) When I'm done with consuming a bottle that I plan to reuse I rinse twice with water and leave to dry, then store...

Brix is % sugar by weight. So, eg 23 brix is 23g sugar in 100g juice/wine.

I would say my Pet-Nat was a qualified success. It's good enough that I opened a bottle to have with dinner last night (and enjoyed it), but there are still some wrinkles to iron out. The flavor is quite good but if anything a bit too much of a good thing. It's also a little bitter; I know I...

I disgorged 4 bottles of my Blanc de Noir today. It's still rather young - only 6 months tirage - but I wanted a few bottles for the holidays, as well as to test out the procedure for when I disgorge a couple of cases this time next year. With the help of my wife we managed to get it done, but...

i beg to differ... not that cork taint/TCA is pleasant, but mousiness just stays in your mouth and nose... it took me several rinses with water and fruit juice to get rid of it 🤮 Then again, apparently at least 30% of the population don't notice it... so if you're one of them i have a gallon of...

I tested for malic/lactic acid about 6 weeks after pitching ML bugs. Despite no visible or audible signs of activity (at least as far as I could tell) it looks like ML has completed. Standards on the left (tartaric, lactic, malic) and 4 samples on the right: Of course I had to sample for...

I wouldn't worry unless you have reason to think there is a problem with your juice, in which case I'd probably go up to 30ppm, no higher if you're planning to do ML You have a YAN measurement for your juice so that combined with some basic info about your yeast nutritional needs is a big help...

We use a Moog for cleaning barrels. Sort of like a pressure washer, except the spray comes out of the middle of the wand and the sprayer rotates around 2 axes so it sprays the whole of the inside of the barrel.

From my limited experience with my single head Enolmatic bottle filler - the overflow into the reservoir depends to some extent on how fast you fill. At least on my unit, you can dial in the vacuum pressure to fill faster or slower; I think faster maybe causes a bit more foam and a bit more...

There is not a huge amount of sediment, it most likely fits into the crown cap. But the problem with sediment in sparkling (aside from esthetics) is that it serves to nucleate bubble formation, so that you can get gushing bottles if you're not careful. I also made a pet-nat style elderflower...