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Forgot to answer your questions... No need to wash. You’ll be boiling the wort. Yes, crush any malt. Add some caramel malt per the recipe. Carared is a 15-20L caramel made by Weyermann. Try to stay near that color if you’re aiming for that recipe. The yeast on the grapes is a wildcard. Won’t...

I can understand him. Interesting recipe. He adds some sugar and uses the wild yeast on the grapes. No raisins. Also, you missed some carared malt and some oat flakes. Grains are 80% pilsner malt, 10% carared malt & 10% flaked oats. Match the weight of the grains in grapes. Match the weight...

I use BeerSmith for my brewing purposes. Lots of great features including calculations. This package is barely useful for making wine, but it is a place for me keep all my notes. The calculation employed by the software uses the same formula you list above. The complication is that the factor...

20 cups sugar = 4kg sugar read this regarding your second question: https://www.winemakingtalk.com/threads/how-many-grams-of-sugar-equal-1-alcohol.33077/

I just set aside a quart of the must and sprinkled 5g of EC1118 on top. I didn't bother with the rehydration procedure on this bit, mainly because I did not want to add a bunch a nutrient to the main fermentation that late in the game. I recently added a pack of EC1118 to a 10% beer (Imperial...

Last night, I pitched some BM45 into a RJS Super Tuscan kit. This morning, SG is up to 1.110. Math indicates that this wine will reach 15% ABV (the advertised max tolerance of BM45) at an FG of 1.000. Assuming that the SG does not increase any more (sugars still hiding in the skin packs)...

Anyhow, this SuperTuscan juice has a much different taste than any of the Malbec and Cabernet Sav kits I've made. Lots more dark fruit and less red fruit. Added a heavy dose of FT Rouge and swapped in BM45. Planning on an 8 week EM. Immediately after adding the skins and stirring, I measured...

Title has a lot of nouns. Hopefully it made sense! I read on here a wish for a notch in the box of RJS boxes for the juice bag spout, like the one on the WE kit boxes. I'll admit, my first kit was a RJS, but I was new at this game, so I struggled and spilled a little. Same with my first WE...

I chickened out and racked it off the raisins at 2 weeks. I feared having 30 bottles of raisin flavored wine. I gave them a really good squeeze and put them in a ziplock bag, and into the deep freeze they went for an unidentified future use. RP15 got down to 0.994. I sulfited, degassed and used...

That’s normal. Just because there’s no CO2 leaving the vessel, doesn’t mean there isn’t ~100% CO2 in the headspace (assuming it is sealed well and had enough CO2 flush the headspace before fermentation ended). I think sealing it up with 1.010 - 1.020 left is plenty.

Same here. Bubbles never stop. I’m a sucker for repeatability. Reading this forum through and through, I’ve adopted 5 min at -25mmHg as good enough. Wine tastes fine after that, and doesn’t blow a single bubble in an airlock for the following 9 months (at least) in a carboy.

I don’t have a means of testing free SO2. But you’ve got a sample of one that points to the fact that it’s not worth testing more than one batch. Why not go through the trouble of testing another batch or two, and convince yourself this wasn’t a fluke? I’d love to hear the results for when I...

After a slow start, and a super foamy phase, attenuation is going strong. 1.018 as day 5 nears completion. Fermenter is all sealed up now with airlock. Thermowell in place to keep the bag of raisins submerged. Not sure how long to keep this EM going for. 8 weeks has turned out well, but raisins....

I did get to taste my first kit (D254) last week, after an 8 week EM and 3 months on the oak cubes. It was a really fine tasting wine. I added a bit more tannin (complex) and set it aside for another 3 months.

Looks like things have calmed down in the foamy department. Fermentation is still going very strong and rigorous. Measured 1.065 @ 76*F. Lots of bubbles coming to the surface, but they pop on the surface instead of building foam as before. Added second half dose of Fermaid K and hoping for the...

Wow!!! This kit is super foamy! I had my first overflow that went everywhere! Came right over the top of the 7.5 gallon (measured volume) fermonster and managed to spray out from the very, very loosely threaded cap. I do not think it is the RP15 yeast. Must temp has been kept down to 68*F-70*F...

I think I'll treat all three kits identically, so I can learn exactly how much difference yeast makes in wine. In beer, yeast is huge! Hard to tell the difference at the moment, because one kit has oaked for 3 months, one is mid-oak and the last has not started yet. Just updating this...

I managed to pick up a Chilean Malbec Meglioli kit for a good price on a sale that Homebrew Ohio was having. My first kit was a an RJS Chilean Malbec that I just bottled. My second kits were 3 of the Three Moons Cabernet Sav's; each with a different yeast for blending. I performed an 8 week EM...

The D254 batch got racked off the oak cubes today. (8 week EM, 1 month clearing with finings, 3 months on kit-supplied cubes) It tastes great! A bit sour, but way, way less so than the first Malbec kit I made. The oak level is subtle, but present. And the tannin level is perfect, to a bit...

I got to the drawings and pulled all the dimensions you need to work out your rack. Here they are rounded to the nearest 1/32": You can just continue stacking these triangles as high as you want to go and figure our the height of side from there. Top and bottom construction, I used two layers...