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I think it depends on what you want to do... if you just want to adjust the pH then tartaric might be the better choice. If you want to adjust for flavor to make more tart or offset sweetness, then more "flavorful" acids like citric would be better. The acid blend is an easy "middle of the road"...

To add to the comments about yeast, all of the commercially available wine yeast is much more tolerant to kmeta than wild yeasts and bacteria, since those strains have been bred to do that. As stated you should use a yeast that will positively influence your wine, so for fruit wines, strains...

Great idea, just make sure you sample both at the same temperature. The temperature of the wine will DRASTICALLY influence flavors.

I can't imagine any yeast being able to restart a fermentation above 18%, unless it is specifically designed to do so (I know there are super yeasts that can go to 22-25%). Even EC1188 and K1V1116 can be tough to get up to 18%. This is certainly based on my own personal comfort level, but if I...

As John said, I think it comes down to how much you need of something to get what you want out of it. With oak you're bringing a whole lot more stuff with it, instead of JUST the tannin. It's like having chili peppers and chili powder in cooking; you can add the powder to get the heat you want...

Some mead makers make sure NOT to clear the meads. There's a large number of mead makers who are adamant about keeping mead "natural" and scoff at a clear mead. I'm not judgemental either way, but I do find the two polar opposites interesting (wine makers fanatical about clarity and mead makers...

We have two 6 gallon glass, one 5 gallon glass, two 1 gallon glass, four 6 gallon plastic, and four 3 gallon plastic. The glass we keep for vacuum degassing and the 1 gallons come in handy if after racking we end up with something closer to 4 gallons. The 3 gallons we use mostly for experiments...

It all depends on the bottle size and shape. The only true limitation you have is the size of the straight wall of the bottle (if a straight piece of paper encounters a curved surface it creates a wrinkle), everything else is personal preference. Put a ruler to the side of the bottle and measure...

I'm not quite sure what the original question was, but I'll try to help. :h I did an image search on Google for pink camouflage and found an enormous amount of examples you can reference for ideas (I must in good conscience remind everyone to respect other artist's copyrights). As far as size...

I believe most commercial port is made with brandy that was distilled from the same grape as the wine, specifically for the port. So commercial brandy made for sipping or cocktails may not be analogous. The first port I made I used store bought brandy, I made another using everclear, and have...

For sure it takes some time. When my wife got into winemaking as well, we had one year we made one kit after another, as well as "Dragon Blood" Skeeter Pee", and a bunch of my own concoctions (mojito wine, sweet potato, frozen fruit concentrates), and a few meads. Within a couple of years we had...

Mrs. Noontime has a bit of a sweet tooth, so we tend to make WineExpert late harvest riesling (which takes on that sautern like flavor after a few years) regular riesling and moscato. Angel Blanco really shines after a few years and is not too sweet. As lilvixen said, you can make it as dry or...

My advice for anything you want to put into wine (and don't know what it tastes like) is to make a tea from it and give it a taste (assuming you know it's edible). It's certainly not exact since fermentation, alcohol, and other factors will extract and change the flavor of the finished wine. But...

Although it certainly can't hurt to have more information, checking for bubbles doesn't really provide anything dependable. The wine is saturated with CO2 by the end of fermentation, so it can still release that CO2 (via bubbles) for quite some time after fermentation is complete. The most...

The key to really great kit wines is time IMHO. I'm willing to bet the $20 bottles of wine you want to compare to have spent at least 2 or 3 years in the bottle. Get a kit with skins and let it age a few years. I've tasted many good kit wines that were a year or less old, but they really need a...

I'm not sure I would ferment with skins in a carboy. I think I remember seeing problems other people had doing that (the skins get pushed out the neck by the gas maybe?). I'd get a bucket and rack out of the carboy, allowing to get the skins in there with the bag as well. If you do have the...

Agree with Ron completely. I'd go forward with it and see what happens. The airlock is there to help prevent bad stuff from happening, but just because it didn't have water in it doesn't mean something bad DID happen. And even if it did get some other yeast or bacteria in there, that doesn't...

Great looking display Greg! Beautiful!

We made the Mezza Luna and we're still enjoying it very much. It's certainly my personal opinion, but I find the red kits (red wine in general) take a few years to age into something really good. Certainly drinkable sooner, but ours has become very good after 2 years. As others said, you really...

I completely agree that starting out simple is the way I would go. Bucket, hydrometer, thermometer, carboy, and airlock. There are certainly things that will make it easier as you continue, but for me it was always important to understand the problem before finding a solution. An auto-siphon is...