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I use a kitchen blender.Works great. Fred

Troy, You missed #39. Unless you've just been lieing to us all this time! Fred

Rob, I agree with Rawlus. I also have a medical aspirator/suction pump that I bought on ebay. Gomco is a quality brand that's been in the medical suction business a long time; however, any medical suction pump is going to be high quality and rarely will you have any problem with them. They are...

I just bid on them, but my max was $10 each. Someone else had already entered a higher bid. Fred

D, just as you said, tartaric acid should be used to increase TA in grape wine. Acid blend is more often used in fruit wines where malic and citric acids are higher in proportion. Fred

Natural corks are the longest lived and most expensive depending on grade. The following company shows all types of corks and rates their longevity: http://www.widgetco.com/wine-corks Fred

Rawlus, I just learned something new from you. I have a vacuum asperator like yours, but it never occurred to me to close the valve and let it sit until it no longer holds a vacuum. I've always just run the pump continuously and I'm never quite sure when the CO2 has ended and it's O2 boiling...

Wade, Just interested to know. Are you taliking about the vacuum gauge? If so, how do you use it to know when the wine has fully degassed? Fred

Wade, What about frozen must or juice this time of year? It's certainly cold enough that I wouldn't think they'd start fermenting in route. Fred

I agree with Rawlus's list. I especially like my pH meter and A/O setup. Fred

Saskerrtoon, Your calculation is right, but I suspect something else is wrong. I doubt your fermentation would have ever gone to .91 if you really started it at 1.124. The yeast would have been killed off well before you got to 29% ABV. If possible, recheck your s.g. readings. Fred

I will call them and let them know. It was Saturday night when I opened the wine and I would not have drunk anymore had I not tried adding the tartaric acid in the glass. That fixed it so I saw no need to return the bottle. Also, there may have been a screw-up at the wine shop. I thought I...

The wife and I were out driving Saturday afternoon and as we passed a local beer and wine store noticed they were having a wine tasting. Having nothing better to do we decided to drop in and see what they had to taste. Well, there was the usual assortment of inexpensive and ordinary whites and...

Steve, The answer to your question is that the SO2 that clings to utensils and equipment is so small as to render it practically harmless. An analogy is the detergent that clings to dishes after they're washed. Fred

If you used clean, hot water to rinse--------and I'm guessing you did, there shouldn't be any concern. Few, if any, bacteria can survive a hot water tank and chlorination. Fred

Steve, This site covers MLF pretty well: http://www.morewinemaking.com/public/pdf/wmlfinfo.pdf. There are many books, but IMO one of the best is Techniques In Home Winemaking by Daniel Pambianchi available at amazon.com or all winemaking suppliers. Fred

Wyntheef, Do this unless/until you have a method of testing for free SO2. Those other methods are: Accuvin SO2 test kit and A/O titration. Fred

Wyntheef, I didn't mean to imply that MLF is complicated; it's actually quite easy. Only that it requires some additional knowledge of the proper conditions to ensure it completes as it should and provides the intended results. Fred

JDL, Yes, one and the same. Fred

Either the lid isn't on tight or it's stopped fermenting. You should be seeing CO2 bubbles in the airlock if it's fermenting although they may come only every minute or two. This is another reason I like to rack to a carboy at about 1.020 as I said above. You can see better what's going on...