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Reds at room temperature, whites in the fridge.

My 2023 Syrah was bottled in September and is currently going through its 'awkward phase'. This was the first time I used sacrificial tannins and, in combination with the fact that 2/3 of it was aged in new oak, it's rather 'chewy' right now. The underlying fruit and flavor are good, however, so...

I agree with @MiBor and @Garagista - if the larger barrel has been left outside and is filled with rainwater and debris, I don't think it's suitable for wine. Congratulations on your new planter boxes (2 of them since you'll chop it in half) - those things are expensive at the garden center/farm...

Aint that the truth! I've never considered myself a great handyman, however, I now live in the country and regardless of cost it just isn't feasible to call out the repair service every time something goes wrong. But Youtube and various other online resources are a huge help. Last week I took...

It's been a month since I added SO2 to my red wine so I figured it was time to test for SO2, pH and TA. I sampled my barrel and 15-gal keg, assuming that the smaller glass vessels would be similar to the keg to a first approximation. SO2 (modified Ripper method) measured at 14 and 15ppm for the...

A rather strange name, no? Growing up in Britain, we had Richard of York Gave Battle In Vain - History and science in one mnemonic 👍

Not sure if it's exactly a mnemonic - but as a former physics undergraduate I always liked: How I need a drink - alcoholic of course - after the heavy chapters involving quantum mechanics! (Take the number of letters in each word and you get 3.14159265358979, pi to 14 decimal places...)

Maybe ignorance is bliss, but this is a problem I have never considered (or worried about...) When I finish drinking a bottle of wine I typically wash it 2x in tap water and leave to drain (neck end up) on my draining board for a day or two. Then I drain any residual water from the bottle and...

Sunrise...

My 2021 pinot noir (made from fresh grapes) ended up at pH 3.80. I added SO2 to target 50ppm at bottling and it's still going strong. (Good thing, since I still have about 15 cases!) I'm not sure how a kit would be different, but I imagine a 'Super Tuscan' blend will have robust tannins which...

I haven't made a second run wine but I did make a hard press wine one year. Typically, with a basket press the first press doesn't recover all the juice, even if you press quite robustly. For my 2021 pinot noir I pressed out 1/2T grapes, yielding a (60 gal) barrel plus several carboys of topping...

I clearly didn't read your post closely enough when I wrote the above, as it appears that you want to carbonate just one of your bottles of wine. However, much of what I wrote still applies: (i) use a bottle that is rated for the pressure you want to achieve and (ii) Making a yeast culture and...

I'm not familiar with sumac, but I make a small batch of sparkling elderflower every year. I also just disgorged 2 cases of sparkling blanc de noir (pinot noir grapes). For bottle carbonation you have 2 choices - pet-nat or champagne/traditional method. For pet-nat, you bottle the wine before...

If it's stopped leaking you should be good. As @ibglowin said, it wouldn't hurt to spray/wipe with some k-meta to dissuade anything from growing there, but the former leak shouldn't affect your wine. I think you'll see many cases like this in most commercial wineries.

Good luck with the chromatography! I too had not done one since school days until I started doing them for winemaking purposes. It's pretty straightforward. I didn't watch your Youtube video but I am nervous about the inset picture which appearsto be dipping a capillary directly into carboy...

I bought a pack of 5x2lb Maxtite from Amazon... for some reason this was cheaper than buying a single 10lb bucket. Should be enough to last me several years!

Yes, both at the winery and at home - Highly recommended! However, I rinse with tartaric acid if I'm about to use the vessel/equipment for grape wine. Citric is cheaper but I don't want it getting in my wine. Be aware that some reagents sold as 'sodium percarbonate' have a much lower % of...

Disgorging methode champenoise wine

Today was disgorging day... We disgorged 24 bottles of my 2022 Blanc de Noir. Here is the disgorging line: 1. Neck freezer (-5F at time of starting) 2. Dunk bucket (to remove salt water residue from bottles) 3. Bottle opener! 4. Dosage and topping solutions with pipette 5. Crown capper Neck...

The answer, as in so many cases is 'it depends'... If you're new to winemaking (making your first or second wine?) I would first ask if you really need a barrel. They are wonderful vehicles for aging wine, but also an investment - not just in the initial cost, but in maintenance and management...