Search results

71B is a better culture for blackberry so that you metabolize part of the malic acid, which is what can make this wine seem so harsh.

I've had blueberry wine made with all fruit and very little water addition--it didn't even taste like blueberry. There are some fruit wines that NEED the water dilution, and blueberry is one of them.

Mead has zero nitrogen to start with, so it's nutrient requirements are going to be more than if you're starting a grape-based wine. You might be able to begin with the standard measure of 1 tsp per gallon, however, as you get to 1/3 or 1/2 sugar reduction, if the temp of the ferment is cool...

You can also do this without spending a ton of money on fancy items. You can buy some low-end cabinets at the Big Box store and add a pre-made laminate countertop. A microwave is nice to have for dissolving sugar for backsweetening. A double tub with a pullout sprayer--handy for cleaning...

We have very acidic soil here so many fruits and grapes grown here need acid adjustment. The best way to handle this is to use a PH meter to see where the PH is at. If too acidic, it's best to adjust the PH with CALCIUM carbonate PRE-FERMENT. Adjustments before fermenting integrate into the...

Why do people use antibacterial handsoaps? I think many people are cousins of Sheldon on Big Bang--they are afraid of germs. Sheldon qualifies that statement by saying,"Not all germs!! Only the germs that can kill me." I also take a minimalistic approach to sanitizing. I clean gunky things...

It should not be considered "common" to have a stinky ferment with ANY fruit. I have been making all types of fruit wines for many years and all of them have nice aromas during the ferment. The one thing I learned early on in my winemaking was how important nutrient was to a ferment and that it...

There's nothing like experience. Try some tannin in your wines and see what you think. Small doses can't hurt.

You should not use a copper pipe. This can put too much copper into a wine and that can be toxic. Remember--there's acids in wine which can really react with the copper. Always use Redulees because there's a safe copper level in it--only enough to get the job done. Don't do too much splash...

Ya know---a lot of this could be due to how you're performing your ferments. Yes, you're becoming more experienced now--taking more techniques into consideration. That alone, will help. I was reading an article from lallemand a while back, and thru testing they discovered that vitamins are...

Well, we've made tons of strawberry over the years and go back and forth between having no color issues---and then having color issues. It's all dependent on the berries from what I've been able to figure out. Sometimes we have little red "beads" at the bottom of the carboy and the wine is more...

If the aroma was from too much sulfite, it would smell like a burnt match. I doubt that is your issue. An aroma of "chemicals" is hard to track down. But let me say that certain esters may contribute to this. How long are you bulk aging? If you are giving wines short aging times, then it's...

Well, this is a subjective sort of question. On the whole, we don't use tannin in most fruit wines. But small doses can be used in things like strawberry which can help with color and prevent the plating of color in the bottle. Tannins will always help stabilize color in any wine, and help in...

10% is fine for wines that won't be in the racks very long. 12-14% is good for wines that will be aged long term.

I would say this is a matter of taste. Why not try it on a smaller amount and see what you think?

TA is not total acid. It's the acid available to react with sodium hydroxide. Titratable acid. It's not really possible to say exactly WHERE the PH and TA need to be, especially since TA varies according to ripeness, growing conditions,etc. And because of this, you can't really say there is...

I have no scientific "proof" of how easily it spreads BUT because I was trained in the medical profession, I'm always suspect as to yeasts and bacteria becoming resident. We are very careful and do our MLF's away from the winery "just in case." We then give all the tools a good meta bath...

Boatboy-- thanks, mom, for correcting me. LOL.

Yes, it's always wise to add some tannin to concord because this grape is very low on tannin. We make lots of concord and always use tannin. Tannin also has the nice affect of giving color stability to wine so that you don't have plating of color in the bottle. Don't go crazy with tannin, but a...

We buy most of our supplies from www.morewine.com