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Whenever I have a skins kit I punch down/stir twice a day during the most active fermentation, cutting back to once per day once the SG gets down to about 1.010. I skip the bag most of the time and, as of late, generally go with an extended maceration. Once the wine is around SG 1.000 I put...

I know the scotch makers sometimes use alternative wood and/or alternative pre-use applications (sherry/port barrels), but I don't know about wine makers. I personally have a couple mesh bags of wood splits that have been hanging outdoors for 2 years now. The plan is to cut/split them into...

Update on kit #2. Started in June 2019 and racked regularly on a 3-4 month cycle until recently. Racked 7-25-20 and then sat undisturbed until 4/24/21. I had a period of exceptional procrastination from Dec 2020 thru April 2021. My only efforts were aimed at checking the seals on the...

This is the long and winding saga of a 2017 LE kit. I bought this because, at the time, my wife was mostly a white drinker and only liked reds that were off-dry and fruit forward. Started this 4/15/18 and went through 4 rackings (June 2019) with minor tannin and oak additions along the way...

My first batch of Stag's Leap Merlot just turned 3 and is excellent. The 2nd batch just hit one year and will remain in the carboy until it either hits 2 or the first batch runs out, whichever comes first. My bet is on bottling at 18-20 months. This is one of the best kits I have made so far...

In my experience, the wine appears to gain sweetness over time after back sweetening. Knowing this, after doing bench tests I tend to back sweeten to about 80% of whatever blend tasted best, let the wine sit for a month or more and then taste again. If it needs more SS then I can easily give...

I understand some wine loss, but 50% would be extreme even with multiple rackings. Here are my techniques to deal with this issue. - As Cmason said - tilt your container during racking using a board or wedge. The supply stores sell wedges or you can make one like this - start with 6+...

Got a new pillow from my sister . . . I guess she knows me pretty well.

I thought I didn't need a vacuum pump . . . until I finally bought one. Degassing is a big benefit and you naturally degas on every transfer, but for me the side benefits outweigh this feature. Being able to make transfers with carboys on an even level (no gravity concerns) and the ease of...

The firing of Dave reminded me of one of my favorites that runs in the same vein . .

Bob Ross / Will Ferrell and more cowbell . . . how can you got wrong - totally made my day!

Aging really helps any big bold red and I think it is especially true for this wine. I fermented this in April 2018 and bulk aged it until Nov 2019 (about 18 months). It is very good right now, but I think it will still improve quite a bit with a year in the bottle. I know that's a long...

SG 1.102 @ 72 degrees on 4/28/18 FG .993 @ 61 degrees on 5/24/18 Used RC-212 and gave it some Fermax to start and Fermaid-O on 5/3 (SG 1.034) According to the FermCalc app this should be about 15% ABV.

Just throwing my 2 cents in. I made this same kit last year and just bottled it about a month ago. I made it to 6 gal +/- after the initial racking (ie: a little over 23L in primary). Even with the primary being in excess of 23L the starting SG was over 1.100. The end result is a fairly hot...

Having worked at a commercial turkey farm for 10+ years I can truly appreciate the simplicity of Thanksgiving in a can. Probably not quite the same culinary delight, but certainly much simpler.

The kits come with yeast packets (usually EC-1118). You should not need to buy yeast unless you want a special variety.

I definitely had shipping charges, but they seemed less than usual. Possibly because I have been buying the 18L kits lately and two 10L kits probably weigh about the same as one big kit. Still, for less than $120 I got 2 kits on the way which will yield 4 cases of wine after skinnying the...

My Fermonster lid does not seal completely all the time. It doesn't take much of a leak to stop the bubbles from flowing through the airlock. One batch went from 1.045 to .998 without any noticeable action through the lock. The hydrometer is definitely the true measure. 1.008 is getting there!