Search results

Thanks Muscadine. I did cold stabilize after I added the P. Bicarbonate and it's been only a week so I'll wait 2 more weeks and see where it's at. I only added 8 grams to the gallon I am treating. The other gallon I left untreated until I know what I'm doing. The instructions say to add no...

There really is no minimum. You can make as little as a gallon or less. The important thing is that after you destem and crush your fruit that you put it in a container so that it is no more than 2/3rds full. Once the fermentation has stopped you need to transfer the wine to a smaller...

I work off the brix scale rather than the SG so I am not sure what the equivalent is. I recently made a raspberry and blackberry wine and let it ferment in the primary bucket until the brix reached 0. That told me the primary fermentation was just about complete. I the transferred the wine to...

I don't use pectic enzymes with red wine making. I do use it when I am making a fruit wine like raspberry.

Sorry, read the previous post incorrectly. Muscadine said 1 campden tablet per gal. I mistook it at 1 per 5 gals.

I don't know the equivalent of campden tablets to potassium metabisulfite but if 1 tablet equals 1/4 tsp of meta then that would mean your recipe calls for 1 1/2 tsp of meta? That would be fine for 30 gals but if you are making 5 gals it is way too much. How much wine are you making...

Navi... see my post under Bottling. TwoR... sounds like you are experimenting in ways best left unexplored. When you say you crushed and processed the stems and grape, did you do this by using a food processor? If so, I would end my experiement. I can't comment on the methanol levels, don't...

You probably transferred the wine to the carboys before the fermenation was completed. If you were fermenting to dryness the brix reading should have been 0 to -1. Don't worry though, your wine will finish fermenting in the carboys. Leave enough air space (about 25% of the carboy) to allow...

I don't rinse after sanitizing the equipment. If it is a small piece of equipment I just shake it off; otherwise, I just let it drip dry. The small amount of pot. meta left on is not enough to worry about.

I sanitize all equipment before it touches my wine. I keep a small 2 1/2 pint pump spray bottle filled with a sanitizing solution of potassium meta. I use 2.1 g per 2 1/2 pints of water. This way I can give everything a quick spray before it goes into the wine. As for the fumes, just be...

Sounds like you are off to a good start. Did you add or are you planning on adding a yeast nutrient during fermentation? I would recommend Fermaid as a nutrient. You add 1/2 to 1 gram per gal when the brix reading is about a third completed (e.g if your initial brix was 24 then you would add...

I use my extra refrig to cold stabilize my wine after fermentation is complete. It helps to prevent tartaric crystals (although not harmful) from developing and it helps clear the wine. Depending on how much you are cold stabilizing, make sure your shelf is fully supported. I remove my...

I have not made mead before but recently I made a sauvignon blanc that had a wonder clean citrus smell, you could smell the grapefruit. I would occaisonally test the wine as it was clearing. One day, to my great surprise, I uncorked the carboy and smelled rotton egg (hydrogen sulfite). I...

I've had some large drops (8 or more) in brixs overnight, never 12 which does seem like a lot. I assume you rechecked the brix. The remaining brix may take one or two more days, which would give you a 4 or 5 day fermentation. This should be fine for a white wine. If it were a red wine then 4...

Hi Bill. I would let the wine settle out for a week or two then rack the wine. It will still be cloudy so you could, if you have the ability, cold stabilze the wine. It you have an extra refrig in the garage or basement. Turn the setting down to it's lowest level and keep the wine...

One of these days Steve I just have to fill and measure each one and mark accordingly. And to think I just figured this out after all this time making wine.

Ahhh... to blend the free run juice with the pressed juice, that is the question. There are varying opinions on this subject. The free run (juice before pressing) is generally more sought after because it does not contain as much tannin from the pressed grapes. When you press the grapes you...

I make my own lables using a good quality photo paper and a color printer. What I found best for glue is a good old glue stick, albeit a little time consuming when doing a lot of labeling but the lable comes off very easily with a quick soak in water when I want to reuse the bottle.

Any one ever notice that not all 5 gal carboys are the same size? I have about 15 of them. With some I get 24 bottles and others I get 25 - 26 bottles. Any way to thell the difference? The problem that I have is when I rack from one to the other. If I rack from a slightly smaller one to a...

I agree that floor corkers are the way to go. They are easy to use and I have never had a problem with synthetic corks other than a few times where I didn't use enough pressure and had to remove the cork. All in all though with a floor corker I can cork 25 bottles in about 10 minutes.