Recent content by Barley-and-Hops

I disagree, there are over 10,000 varieties and hybrids of wine grapes in the world, coupled with the thousands of rootstocks there is certainly a combination coupled with the right management that can work for your location. I am growing Barbera and Tempranillo on 1103P rootstock in the...

Assuming that you are west of the desert region of Washington and more in the cool rainy coastal area. I would recommend German white varietals like Riesling and gewurztraminer. Pinot Nior/Gris and Chardonnay from the Burgundy region of France are well suited for coastal areas but if you get a...

Given the circumstances I would say it was the result of a bloom of a spoilage organism in the wine that produced an adverse chemical that she is sensitive to. There are many different types, but to name one Pediococcus is a bacteria that can produce histamines and other compounds that are...

Reds are always bigger and better with skins in my opinion, the main difference between O2 in wine and beer is not the yeast requirements but the damage that O2 can do to other compounds in wines. There is also a considerably longer aging cycle and dissolved O2 remaining after fermentation leads...

It is usually always recommended that blending occurs after the wine is finished aging with a careful bench trial. I understand how you would want to blend it early given that most containers are 1, 3 or 5gal. If you planning on doing nothing different with the new batch I would keep your 1 gal...

So it is harder to answer this without more info about the kit, is it white, red? does it have grape skins in it? With skins you always want to "punch down the cap" 1-2daily during fermentation. For whites and no-skin reds you'll want to stir the wine lees once a day during primary to prevent a...

Not inoculating is like playing russian roulette with your wine. You will have better reliability, consistency and less stuck fermentation with the tried and true strains.

So I stumbled across this thread and just wanted to clear up quite a bit of misinformation on it. The main source of buttery flavor in chardonnay is produced during malolactic fermentation using [I]Oenococcus oeni[I] bacteria. These bacteria will convert Malic Acid(green apples) into the softer...

Thanks man, Good to know I was able to help somebody out. :mug:

Well sorry for the long response, I was just letting people who wanted to know, why orange juice tastes like vomit when it ferments and other things don't. Provided they can understand without their brain hurting. ;)

I am surprised nobody has mentioned citric acid yet. In college I have tried to make wine and mead out of many different types of fruits because I was so curious since there are very little fruit wines on the market. I started to realize that although there are many other factors at play, the...

What was the temp of the garage? I've found with any fermentation wine, cider, beer you always want to ferment on the lowest end of the temperature range for your yeast. I use champagne yeast and ferment at 61F. Primary takes a few days longer but it ferments a lot cleaner and smoother. If your...

So I'm at a dire stage of an experimental cider batch I made. Started with 4 gallons treetop juice + 2 cans frozen concentrate. I like tart ciders so I decided to add acid and added 30g tartaric + 30g malic to bring the pH down to 3.3. It seemed fine with all the sugar at the beginning but...

MindenMan, I am very curious to learn more about this as it seems like a pretty sweet way to go about doing it. What strain of yeast and brand of juice/concentrate do you use? And what temp do you ferment at? do you add acid? Also how do you determine your abv once you have already started the...

So I am very new to both drinking and making mead/melomel however I have made some semi-successful beer, cider and wine batches. The only mead I have ever drank was my own and I was not overly impressed. I think the lack of aging and using too little honey was my downfall. What is the best...