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I’ve followed the last paragraph, as good as I can so far anyways, but I am starting to get the impression that I don’t like most kit wines. For me it’s mostly the WE kits that I’m not really liking as I find them to have a “jammy” finish. I have been much happier with the RJS kits so maybe it’s...

Ok, thought it might have something to do with the CO2 because the water didn’t seem to seep at all during the cold soak.

Speaking of top up, just how high are you guys topping up your barrels? It seems pretty easy to leave just a 1/2” space with a carboy but given the barrel doesn’t have a neck I’m not exactly sure what to shoot for. I tried filling just to the bottom of the tapered opening and putting a solid...

Interesting. The grapes were very good and tasted fantastic so this seems to have developed during fermentation.

I’d describe all of my young kit wines as “fruity” but that’s not what I have gotten from my first (4) all grape or juice bucket batches. I don’t think I’d describe it as green pepper but will look for that on my next sample. To me, it’s kind of like a green stem flavor which is off because I...

So MLF is complete and just racked this to a new barrel. The pH was about 3.4 so doesn’t seem as acidic but I still get a green flavor. I’d say it reminds me of stems or something. Obviously it’s way to early to tell how this will turn out but is a “green stem” flavor typical if a red that just...

Will do. I have noticed that during the cold soak I was losing about 1/3 cup a day or so. How often should I be topping up during barrel aging?

Holding strong here the next day. If it’s still dry tomorrow I’ll fill it with wine. Are those of you that have to AIO just using a racking cane to get the wine in or do you have a bigger adaptor for the larger barrel bung size?

Well, I decided to just drain, tighten the hoops again, then redo the hot soak. It’s been about 6hrs since I refilled with cold water and so far no leaks but think it was also good the first day last time so will see how it looks tomorrow.

I’ve always put the 4 half circles all on top never knowing that 2 are supposed to go on the bottom but it still worked!

Using app so don’t see a poll but +1 for time. I bulk age for at least a year and have not noticed a single spec of sediment in my first ~200 bottles of red (some 3.5 years old at this point). I’ve only made one white which was bottled 2.5 years ago now and is still crystal clear. So I guess...

Thanks. It’s bone dry again so tempted to just fill it with wine and see if it holds but maybe I should redo the swelling procedure...

Thanks for all the suggestions. Before I did the initial soak I tightened the hoops pretty good with a dull masonry chisel but maybe it still needs a fee more taps. If there is no harm I’d have no problem putting beeswax on the trouble spot. Two questions: Where can I get beeswax? Does the...

I poured near boiling water on each head and let it sit upright for 45m, flipped and did other side. Then I filled about half way with near boiling water and stood upright and added hot water again to head that was on top (so each exterior head 2x). Flipped after about an hour and repeated on...

It seems to have stopped seeping again this morning. Should I still do the hot soak method over again? It’s now been 3 days so I think that I need to replace the sulfates water anyways or maybe I can just mix in some more kmeta.

So I did a hot soak on my barrel about 3 days ago and it seemed to hold overnight. Then I noticed that it was seeping from the edge of the head a bit, then it stopped for about 24 hours. Then I moved it, still full, to a stand and it’s seeping again. It it common to leak after moving and then...

Oak chips in a week sounds about right but typically oak chips/dust are used for fermentation and then cubes are used for actual oak flavor during aging which is what I was referring to.

Agree with others that time and vac racking are the best answer but can say from my “wine whip days” that some kits took 5 min and others took way longer. The warmer the wine is the easier it comes out but still seems to vary.

No clue but I wouldn’t worry about it. Just opened a bottle of that kit from last year and it’s already my second favorite (1st is the RJS super Tuscan).

Keep in mind that time matters. If you add 3oz of oak for 14 days it won’t have the same impact as leaving it in for 90 days. That being said 4oz for 25gal seems really low. I’d start with what they suggest and add more if needed later. Can’t take it back once it’s in there. Time will help but...