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I have somewhat alkali water since I'm on a well and it goes through a water softener. It is about 7.8 out of the tap. I have to dose citric at a rate of about 0.75g/gal at mash to achieve a pH of 5.3. This is in addition to the effects of the malt and 1g/gal dose of gypsum. Your 13g in 10gal is...

Dry wine yeast is typically pitched at a rate of 1g/gal and it's S. Cerevisiae like ale yeast. Proper rehydration is necessary as well as using yeast under 1 year old to avoid stuck fermentations. And these yeasts will ferment a 1.09 SG wine dry. So, I'm not seeing why the dose rate needs to be...

Thanks for the great info @augiedoggy! This really helps frame our approach and helps me keep focused our future needs. No doubt that I will have a myriad of additional detailed questions as we get further down the path. We plan to also offer wine and cider. (I currently own and operate a local...

I'm exploring setting up a nano-brewery in my local town. I figure we would start out small scale with equipment sized at about the 1.5bbl level. As the operation grows over time, then this equipment could eventually become either backup or be used for experimental runs. But it seems that this...

The refractometer is a good way to monitor the progress of your fermentation for the very reason you had said earlier: no need for temperature correction and only a couple drops of liquid. And you were aware of the alcohol convoluting the exact end result. This is what I use it for with my wine...

You'll certainly need a regulator. The double gauge ones will also let you monitor the pressure in your co2 tank so you can tell when it starts to run low.

You can fine it with gelatin to remove the bitterness. Be sure to add sulfites, sorbate and keep air away from it and it will store for a long while

Just to add a couple more points to the good comments here already... Since the pH of wine is typically well under 4, there is no botulism concern. Same for E-coli contamination. In fact state health departments do not even regulate wine making, leaving it to the state and federal government...

Yes it would work but could give a salty taste if you use more than a bit. Better to use potassium. Calcium carbonate works well but can be a little difficult to clear sufficiently which can give it a chalky taste. I've used a LOT of the calcium carbonate in some of my citrus wines, but since I...

Double vote for D47 also. Don't give it any yeast nutrients and it may not even make it over 11%. It doesn't produce off flavors either if it is underfed. It has left me with residual sugar so often that I'm now only using it for my sweet wines. And my starting brix is only like 21, so it...

The peach pits contain upwards of 88mg of cyanide per 100g of seeds. Not sure how much could be extracted with the fermentation but probably not worth the risk. Also the pits can add a bitter, astringent taste to the wine. I would also remove the skins for concern of extracting tannin, pectin...

Nice, hope it all works out for you. I've never been fan of mead. I made a few batches a long time ago and bought a bottle or two since then. But I've always found it to be a waste of good honey that could have gone on homemade biscuits. Sorry!

Most fruit have sufficient trace elements to supply the yeast with what they need. You can also use something like fermaid during yeast rehydration. It considered best practice to make most of your acid adjustments prior to fermentation since it allows for better integration with the must. Of...

What made you need to add the bicarbonate? The pH of strawberries (3.65ish) already borders on the high side. Might be worth buying a budget pH at some point along with an acid titration kit so you can measure and accurately target your acid corrections.

Breathing life into a dead thread! It's the Sulfites that are doing the bleaching. Not sure of the chemistry behind it. I'm guessing it is coming from the sulfites binding with the anthocyanin color molecules which causes them to change their absorption spectrum. You can see a similar effect...

It is best to punch down the cap a couple times a day. This extracts more color and prevents mold from taking root on the surface

The sulfites, no prob. But the sorbate (assuming like 200ppm), you're pretty much screwed man, sorry.

Yeah and I'm down to about 170 bottles now. I'd just bottled it on Apr 3rd too. The lemon frozen concentrate comes in like 75gal batches. Guess I'll double or triple the batch next time.

Figured I'd provide an update on the wine. I racked it a couple times over 6 months. It never cleared up though and still had significant calcium like precipitates at the last racking in early March. Kieselsol and chitosan didn't touch it. I filtered it and that cleared it up as expected and...

These competitions don't need a precise answer. Your answer just allows them to have the wine judged along with other similar wines and not a jarringly sweet wine in the middle of a dry wine flight. You can estimate the RS by hydrometer (dry is roughly 0.990 and every additional 0.010 reading...