Recent content by davefr

I have 2 - 6 gallon batches of Pinot Noir and 2 - 6 gallon batches on Cab Sav. and secondary fermentation is about done. How much Oak should I add after racking? I know part of it is personal preference but this is my first time and I'm trying to come up with a middle of the road estimate...

I just pressed out 14 gallons of Cab Sav. and have it in 2ea 6 gallon carboys and 2ea 1 gallon jugs. I'm trying to estimate what my yield will be after secondary fermentation is complete post racking. Is it like a pint, quart or gallon that get's left behind with the lees. What will 6...

The Cab Savs were fresh from Columbia River Valley. I tried a few kits in the past and wasn't too impressed. IMHO they were like a $5 bottle of wine. I'm hoping using high quality/just picked grapes I can get much better quality then kits. Tomorrow I'm also going to pick 100 lbs of...

Cab Sav.

OK thanks!!

I'm making my first ever batch of wine. I pitched my Wine yeast 24 hours ago and see millions of tiny bubbles and it smells very pungent. However I don't see a cap pushing up or lots of foaming activity like I'm used to with beer. Is this normal at the 24 hr point? I'm sure I did...

Thanks for all the advice!! I just picked up a 32 Rubbermaid Brute from Lowes. It was actually stamped food grade!! I'm glad to have that extra margin. My grapes are Cab Sav. My garage is cold so I made a thermostatically controlled heater to wrap around the fermenter using an old water bed...

No, they were run through a professional crusher/destemer machine this morning. These stems are just fragments that the machine didn't reject. I'm pitching in just a few hours. Should I transfer some of this must into a 7 gallon bucket and ferment it seperately? I could also run down to...

This is my first wine making attempt. There's 200 lbs of grapes in this 24 gallon fermenter. Yeast will be pitched tonight. I'm just wondering if the 6-8" left to the brim of the fermenter is enough extra for the cap and fermentation process? TIA