Craft Forum / Winemaking / Brewing / Winemaking / August 2008

I'm interested in making a ginger wine --- not the kind like Stone's
Green Ginger Wine (although that's good), but a white or rosé wine
fermented with ginger in it, probably a strong apéritif-like one.
These [1,2] are the closest recipes that I've been able to find, and I

I used to make wine years ago, but never anything "professional". One thing
I avoided was the use of sulfites at the end of fermentation, as I have
several friends that are allergic/sensitive to them (causes migranes).
I recently started brewing 2 5-gallon batches of cherry ...

I plan to make a batch of white wine from the white grapes in my vineyard. I
know that white wines are generally not fermented on the skins but it seems
to me that method wastes a lot of the flavor from the skins. Does anyone
have experience working with white grapes and how did ...

I'm looking at 2 meters.  Both have a resolution of .01.  One has an
accuracy of +_ .1, the other has an accuracy of +_ .2.  Is the
difference in accuracy worth twice the price?  Will that much difference
 make a detectable difference in the wine.  With my fruit wines I never

I have a batch of last year's raspberry, still in 1 gal demijohns. It
has fermented dry at 0.990 which puts its abv at about 14% (I don't know
my margin of error!).
To sweeten, I added 120g of sugar to a gallon. I also added 1/2 tsp of

I'm currently making three gallons of fresh picked blackberry wine.
The must stayed in the primary for 10 days and I transferred to the
secondary (SG=1.00). I had the berries in a paint strainer bag so
there were no huge solids transferred, just juice and lees. I

Hi, All. Long time since I posted, but I read almost daily...I learn a
lot here.
I am getting a large bushel basket of Elderberries from Ohio (dear soul
has so many, so wanted to share). They are being picked today and I get

As a long time fruit wine maker I'm just now beginning to understand the
 intricacies or making wine from grapes in the southeast.  This is the
first year for any grapes and I've never bothered with sulfite because
with fruit, I just made a boiling hot saturated sugar solution ...

Last October I made an alicante / grenache wine based on the
recommendation of my friend. It has been in the barrel since then. I
am not sure what to expect from this wine, although all seems to be
going well. Has anyone had any experience with this wine? Should I let

I happened to have a 2nd Winexpert Selection Limited Edition Brunello wine
kit. I made the first batch according to the directions. Rather than make a
second batch the same way, I thought about "tweaking" it a little to change
it up and make it a little different. Any suggestions ...

Last year when I test the ph of my must I did not get a good reading.
the number kept bouncing around and I took several readings with
wildly different results.  My conclusion at the time was that I needed
to recalibrate my meter, and maybe troubleshoot the electrode. This

I have a three gallon batch of blackberry wine going in which I added
three tsp of yeast nutrient on day one. Three days later, I must have
had brain fade and thought I only added one tsp, so I added two more
tsp. for a total of five. I document all my winemaking but this time

So I went into the wine room the other day and found a significant
amount of green fuzzy mold on the basket press - the wood parts in
particular.  It seems there was some water in the basement through a
closet in the wine room that went undetected.  Needless to say I have

I have a basket I would like to try to use to press some grapes
but the basket is made of aluminum. Would  it cloud the wine ( casse ) or
impart any other problems ?
= Me =