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Good Morning - This past weekend we planted 30 vines divided up between Marquette, Marechal Foch, Prairie Star, Frontenac Blanc, and Petite Ami. I was looking at getting some Captan and some Sulfur Fungicide for a spray program but then read somewhere that the sulfur may not be great for a...

I've had the MasterBuilt, without the window for about 4 years now and I use it quite a bit with no issues. Living in WI, it can get fairly chilly and that doesn't mean the smoking season needs to come to an end. Its held 225 without a problem when it has been 10 below and windchills 25 below...

I'm guessing if you have any variation in temperature, the expansion of the wine and gases inside could push a stopper out without you knowing. Thanks

Where do you live at? The book "Northern Wineworks" by Tom Plocher and Bob Parke is a pretty good read for the northern varietals and I've gotten quite a bit of info from this website. http://northerngrapesproject.org/

Not too many, just six rows of five vines/row. 2 rows Marquette, 1 Marechal Foch, 1 Prairie Star, 1 Frontenac Blanc, and 1 Petite Ami. I think I am going to install a TWC system with 8' spacing on the vines and 8' between rows on a west facing slope. I might switch to the Modified GDC as you...

Question for you Grapeman, I see on some of your earlier (page 5) you used landscape fabric along your rows. Would you advise using this near Minneapolis? I think I read somewhere it could preheat the rows where they would bud early and then get a frost but I like how nice and tidy your...

The thing that impressed me the most was the smell, unreal! Such a sweet mouth watering smell with the cabernet grapes and even sweeter with the merlot. Can't wait to see how the flavor evolves throughout the process. I added a WE Chilean Malbec kit to the cabernet skins and a WE Petite...

Question - I introduced Wyeast 4007 MLB last night. So, I'm guessing I don't want to rack this again (off the lees) until after MLF is complete? I've read to stir it a couple times a week during MLF. I've left the carboys a little lower than I typically would have because the must wasn't...

Agreed Mike - Learned that last night :) That thing would plug with pulp in about 5 seconds and then I was just dumping it in anyway. I wanted it there to catch any seeds or large pulp but didn't have that problem. Thanks!

Press worked good. I did create somewhat of a false bottom to help the juice run but I don't think it would have been needed. Also, I didn't have any up lift on the basket. Took the pressed grapes then and started another kit :)

Look pretty good Kraffty, nice and simple and looks pretty tasty!

The day after I order two frozen musts from WGD, I get an email from Midwest to pre-order Chilean Juice buckets. So, just an fyi, Midwest will have some fresh juice soon. Thanks

A bacteria that converts malic acid to lactic acid, a softer acid on the palette. If it is added to a wine that has been stabilized with sorbate, you could get off flavors. This is why you don't want to add a kit wine or stabilized wine to a barrel that has had an MLF wine in it.

What kind of smoker do you have, ie. electric, pellet, charcoal?

Hi - When do you need to start a spray program on vines? I have thirty 1-1 or 1-x vines coming from Double A and am wondering if I need to start a spray program in the first year. 10 Marquette 5 Marechal Foch 5 Frontenac Blanc 5 Prairie Star 5 Petite Ami Starting small to see how...

Sounds good Mike, Thanks Next step I guess is to get some frozen musts coming :b

I didn't mount the basket to the pan, not sure if I need to? So, I plan on just lifting the basket off of the base and cleaning it out. If I do get uplift when pressing, I'll probably mount some L brackets to hold the basket down and then have to unscrew it when finished.

At present, they aren't. There are a couple approx. 1/2" diameter rods you can see in the first picture that support the beams. I am planning on getting a couple more about 7" longer. Then, I may drill some holes and run some threaded rod connecting the 4x4's through the beams.

Kind of figured that, so, may need to get myself a brute. How's the Petite Verdot coming? I had a Sangiovese from Wollersheim that really turned me off to all Sangiovese's and I've had that same flavor in an Old Vine Zin. I wish I knew how to determine what the flavor was so I could avoid it...

Here is about the final product, have about $225 invested. I plan on having a screen inside the barrel and I will cut different pieces of the pipe for different press depths to screw into the flange, should work good, hopefully. To the people that have presses, what does the bottom of the...