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We wrap the bag around the outside and put the lid on loosely (covering the airlock hole as well). It makes it easy to stir everything, although you have to stir slowly and gently so you don't twirl the bag around the spoon. We've tied the bag as well with no problems. The only think to pay...

Yes you can let it complete fermentation, although you'll still want to transfer out of the primary to get it off the "gross lees" within a reasonable amount of time. You do have a bit more time to do so since you don't have the seeds, skins, etc, that will decompose quickly, but the packed dead...

Mezza Luna Red, Trio, and Zinfandel/Shiraz are fantastic economical kits for reds, and the Angel Blanco is an absolutely great white wine for the price (needs a little aging though).

The yeast will eat through the sugar regardless of what you do, but there are benefits to having the sugar completely integrated. If you're measuring SG with a hydrometer (which hopefully you are) and you dump and mix sugar into your must, you're not going to get an accurate original SG reading...

As others have said, even if you added a full bottle of wine, it's 3% of the total volume so it doesn't affect the flavor considerably. We top up with commercial wines. We buy very inexpensive red and white wines that we know are OK (generic well made wines), and keep them on hand for topping...

That is a very inventive and unique idea. But doesn't the cork rise to the top and displace the wine lower, increasing the exposed surface area instead of reducing it? I'm intrigued.

When you rack, the splashing releases a lot of CO2. So your fermentation can still be going with no activity in the airlock because the yeast activity is much slower this late in the fermentation, and the wine has to get saturated again before it releases it. Like Sal said, it's just about dry...

My wife and I make a lemon/lime based mojito wine, and I'm thinking of fooling around with the recipe. I'd like to try reducing the acidity so I don't have to add as much sugar when back sweetening. I'd like to reduce the citric since it's most abundant and maybe lessen yeast converting citric...

Awesome idea. I'm sure they will all be enjoyable, but more importantly you'll be educating yourself about what you like and the effect your processes have. My guess is there will be a significant difference between the cooked and uncooked berries. I really hope you update this thread when you...

My wife got into making meads a few years ago...it is interesting how many "camps" there are; some think it's not mead unless it's as alcoholic as possible and you should NEVER filter a mead (I've noticed they are usually the renaissance fair crowd). Then there are the "meads should be closer to...

I get those divots with my Italian floor corker. It seems to just be a cosmetic issue and I never really gave it too much concern (would obviously prefer not to have it though). NorCal's comment is interesting...I'll have to look at my bottles and see if there any correlation between deeper...

OMG those are good ones! :db It took me so long to keep notes (and I still don't do it well). Get in the habit and you'll be rewarded with better wine. And relax and enjoy the wine...such a good point. It's uncommon for a wine to go bad, mostly you're just shepherding it and making sure nothing...

It's an interesting question. I think no matter what you do, you're going to get something different than the 2nd run you usually make, since your source material is different. The skins, seeds, (and lees I'm guessing) have a bunch of stuff missing that's been metabolized by the yeast, but also...

The higher temps will cause your wines to age a bit faster, but unless they get HOT I wouldn't worry about it. We live in S. Florida and our wines are kept at room temp (72 to 80 depending on season). We've made some great wines everything, from whites, to reds, to fruit, and crazy concoctions...

The wine (often referred to as must) has to become completely saturated with CO2 before it really starts to expel a lot of it, so a larger container will take a little longer. You'll also notice a dramatic drop in activity when you rack to secondary container... unless it's bone dry the yeast...

I agree with your comments and have a few additions: 1) Keep the demographic in mind when listening to other people's advice. Remember that the majority of people in the "beginners" forum are probably beginners and don't have much experience. 4) Wine should always be safe to drink; no...

As others have said, using a carboy for fermentation can lead to the situation you're in. It's a perfectly fine vessel for fermentation, as long as you don't have a strong fermentation or extreme foaming; so a bucket is always a better bet. Don't worry about ruining your wine, you're fine. It's...

I've seen a lot of posts lately extolling the virtues of oxygen exposure during fermentation, and although I'm not an expert I wanted to share a little bit of info from a layman's level of understanding. Fermentation is by definition an anaerobic process, meaning the conversion of sugars to...

Not that I disagree with the ideas being shared, but I think a little too much importance is being paid to O2 being your friend during fermentation. Yes the yeast require some oxygen during the first stages of fermentation as their building up the humongous colony of yeast cells. Gently punching...

I've never tasted "black raspberries", but my standard advice for anyone using raspberries is to be very conservative. Raspberry flavor seems to dominate everything else if there is too much added. We made a raspberry zinfandel, and a raspberry gewurztraminer, and a fruit blend with...