Recent content by VinoD

Just read another user's post concerning a blackberry wine that lacked flavor. I've got the same problem with a batch of peach that's ready for the bottle all except for it's lack of peach flavor. It tastes more like a white wine. I back-sweetened some to try to bring out the peach. But...

Where might a fellow purchase food-grade silicon??

Do you think, on their sides to keep the neck full, if they didn't leak, they would effectively keep air out??

I just bottled 5 gallons each of strawberry and blueberry over the weekend. While at the shop picking up some cases of 750's, I also got a case of 1/2 gallons. I did 3 of the 1/2 gallons of each wine, then the rest in 750's. The 1/2 gallons have screw-on lids with a waxed cardboard disc...

Thanks for volunteering. :D Actually........I've delivered a couple bottles to York (Dallastown). Probably be down that way again in the late winter/early spring. Be happy to hook up & do a bottle swap. ;)

...can I reasonably expect my bottled wines to keep?? This is my 2nd year at winemaking and I've had overwhelmingly good successes. Last year I did blueberry, blackberry, red raspberry, elderberry and yellow pear tomato in gallon batches. Currently, this year, I have done a 5 gal. each of...

Haven't checked the hydrometer yet. Was going to do that Saturday if I racked. It was fresh berries in the primary. But the recipe calls for the removal of the solids (the big chunks) in 10 days......which has been done long ago. I really have no idea of how many lees I have. It's not...

I have a 5 gal. batch of blueberry in the carboy. As per the recipe, I am to rack in 3 days (Saturday.......3 weeks after the addition of the final round of water & sugar). But it's still popping the airlock quite regularly and has not clarified much at all, yet. I was thinking of racking...

I like it!!!!

Yep. Hit Primanti's in the Strip. Go get your micro...............but also try a good old Iron City beer. It'll round out yor trip to the 'Burgh and it ain't bad beer, either.

Thanks to all for the extremely helpful replies. ;) Will let the batch sit for a while and re-check the SG. What I have now looks beautiful and even tastes not too bad. Just that the hydrometer reading tossed me off balance in what I thought I knew should be taking place. I know I'm a lot...

Yeah...........I re-read what I typed and that's what it sounds like to me too. What I did was to siphon some into a sanitized cylinder and dropped the hydro (which I had sanitized, too) in that. I did, however, dump that back into the carboy. I did take an initial reading on the pre-yeast...

Ummm...........I think I have another problem. My inexperience let me neglect to stick the hydrometer in the batch. :cool: Which I just did. I'm still at 1.006 with no visible fermentation going on. Did I "run out" of yeast?? What now??

Ummmmmmm............I don't think so. It's my understanding that the sulfite goes into the whole pot in the primary fermentation vessel BEFORE the yeast goes in. It sterilizes everything but is "gassed off" a day or so later when the yeast goes in. I'm far from an expert. But If I...