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Amizake is a sweet rice based liquid made from Koji yeast enzyme activity converting the starches to sweet liquid - Very good for use in cooking and pitching yeast to make a rice wine and often consumed sweet as a refreshing drink or perhaps soupy mush depending on whether you strain and clear...

I made some saki with jasmine and koji spores i picked up at the LHBS. Now I buy different kinds of koji and experiment with different rices too. A lactic culture can help with acidity and a cool ferment is generally preferred so I make sake in the winter. Rice wine vinegar too and it’s nice and...

There are various "Angel products" so it depends on which one. Try it and see. For Saki I culture my own koji and use a sake yeast or experiment with different yeasts as well as lacto bacteria for some acidity. Cheers! -johann

I’m interested in Nashville. Not on here often.

I did it in a cool area with a few frozen musts and they turned out well. Got down to 40 ambient but the must stayed a bit higher probably 30-40 day ferment?. One of the juice buckets stalled pretty hard and took like 7-8 months even when I moved it back into cellar temps and hit it with an...

I did both a aussie Cab Sav and PV and didn't care much for the CS but love the PV. This CS that I ended up bottling is a frozen Calistoga must from winegrapesdirect.com. I'll buy their grapes again and thinking about doing one or two small'ish batches later this year.. Cheers! -johann

Bottled single varietals of what I had left of Petit Verdot, Carignan, and Cab Sav - About 18 months bulk aging and settling. All three came out very nice and 75 bottles total. I had done a blend using some of these that I called Coronavirus 420 (bottled right around 4/20 last year)... Glad I...

#BLENDSRULE !!! I've moved towards making a number of single varietals and blending a couple bottlings at least and still keeping some pure. Tend to enjoy the blends more but maybe the singles just need time? Cheers, johann

Yeast won't hurt you but many folks get upset stomach from different foods. It's a tradition here to drink the new wine as it's pressed along with last years wine as it goes into bottles making room in carboys... A good comparison and we haven't gotten sick yet. The new wine is fairly murky at...

I added it after fermentation was complete and I had racked off the gross lees sediment. Adding the brandy will bring the ABV up to a point (theoretically 19%ABV) that will kill the yeast and prevent further fermentation. Depending on whether you want to ferment out all the way and add sugar or...

I have used brandy in my most recent port'ish which is a raspberry chocolate kit as well as whiskey flavored oak chips plus a good amount of top-up wine from grapes... It's ended up as quite a blend and probably too high ABV - about a year on glass now but I'm about to move it into a 10 liter...

I was planning to source a pallet of grapes/CD/FlexTank this year but plans changed of course... Might still do three buckets worth of frozen must to get a good 6g carboy in the pipeline. A good PN would be nice. Cheers, johann

RIP Jack Keller and condolences to all family and winemakers. Thank you for your contributions to humanity. - johann

Little update on this 2018 Calistoga Napa Cab Sav from Winegrapesdirect.com. http://winegrapesdirect.com/2018-cabernet-sauvignon-frozen-grape-must-2/ I was concerned about my addition of tartaric acid and potential high TA. Tested this last week and it's very good and smooth. Still have a full...

You could pack it into a 5gallon bucket and send it to me lol! Not kidding. I have a use for pomace and it’s pretty well protected for sealed storage with the acidity and some alcohol content. Cheers, Johann

I started a couple vinegars this weekend. One from a red blend and another from a white blend - Added a sprig of rosemary and a couple sprigs of oregano form the garden to the white. All I did was add some vinegar mother into a mason jar topped with the wine. Cover with cheesecloth and set it in...

Last fall it was getting cold out and I put the brute full of grapes in the dungeon room which is exposed to the outside with no HVAC. I think it was in the mid 40’s to low 50’s. Those were carignan grapes and I let them start ferment slowly with the wild yeast. It went pretty slow for 10-14...

Nice! And big score on saving the shipping costs. I’ve done a few wine grapes direct batches and they’ve provided quality product. I opened a bottle made from their Calistoga cab sav tonight. Cheers, Johann

I'll stir mine to keep all the goodies in suspension during AF and add grapes or skins if available. Sometimes I'll do a white wine on the lee's where you rack off the initial drop of sediment (Gross Lee's) as AF completes then leave the fine lee's in suspension and stir it up every couple days...

Time helps. It can take a while and dissolved CO2 does keep sediment in suspension. To assist and expedite degassing I'll warm it up to mid 70's as racking date approaches (this helps CO2 release - sorta like warm soda) then vacuum rack to the next carboy and adding potassium meta-bisulfite...