Recent content by Coffee49

I soaked 10 #9's in sulfite water and I wasn't crazy about the color of the water so I am switching to synthetic cork just have to find a comparable size to #9

I have to have 21 brix at startup as my pinot noir and marqette will finish at 14-16%. I will stop my diamond and concord at 0.94, that gives me a semi sweet base to mature for 10 months then at bottling I will post sweeten to get the perfect grape flavor for each

I make wine and the juice prior to pitching yeast is a 21 brix or the wine will suffer In quality one year down the road

Wether the amount of soution is 1 gallon or 5 gallons. Yeast will not start unless there is at least 21 brix (10%) sugar in said solution

I would be concerned about contaminating the cork while attempting to cork the bottle, #9's can be a bear to go in even with a floor corker and speed is of the essence during this final stage.

7# of sugar in 6 gallons of water will get around 14 brix as you are aware 22 brix is needed for a yeast to fire up and eat properly, I would stay away from kits that have incomplete ingredients. I save the sugar for post sweetening the sweet or country wines, that being said the average retail...

Very good kit wine, the reserve are usually $99 and up. Double the first and second racking times, it will be good at bottling. Delicious in the bottle after 6 months

Not adding kiesesol and chitostan back to back may cause clarification issues, on any kit I follow ingredient instructions and spread out the the weeks between racking and bottling. Kits generally turn out ok

5 weeks at 22C should have finished off the active yeast. On occasion I have spun the carboy back and forth at the 3 or 4 week time to agitate the lees into a secondary movement but most dry wines are ready for 1st racking at 6 weeks.

I have never had luck with o j wine, I assumed too much acid in the juice, warmth and patience are the 2 virtues when making wine. The first 3 days can be wild, so an open air relief is a good idea, when the bubble build up on the ring settles down, capping with an airlock is a good gauge to...

I would say right on, whites should be ready in 8 months reds 12 months.

Keep in mind kits are 90 day wonders, if you have the time and have other wines that are ready now it won't hurt to let it set 3 months before bottling

Ensure vessel is elevated and there is no musty basement odor and you should be OK,

I prefer to get my magic juice off the primary lees nlt 4 weeks, rather than risk an odd after taste it is worth the trandfer and topping off. The secondary stage determines if a clarifier is required.

The lifting is a challenge as we get older, i keep my vessels at 3 ft. elevation so I transfer to floor vessel using gravity siphon and clean tubing. I assume it is in its early stages of fermentation so the transfer of juice will have some c02 activity which will prevent 02 contamination as...