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Making Muscat, Battling VA, Finding Ideal SO₂ Levels

No matter which strain you use, be sure that you read up on all the specifications from the manufacturer around ideal performance conditions

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Fun With Filtration, When To Harvest, and Transporting Wine

. . . a lot of sediment we find in wines actually forms after the wine is bottled, and is nothing that filtration can control.

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Brett in the Winery, Hangover Myths, and Grapes In Albuquerque

Brettanomyces is often an ambient microbe in the air we breathe, but that’s no reason to go inviting concentrated and healthy sto

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Stuck Fermentations, Using Tartaric Acid, and Cooking With Wine

I find that when sugar is that low, the process of re-starting actually lowers the overall quality and you’re better off bottling slightly

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“Fruit Floaties”, Sweetening Wine, Free SO₂ levels

Because sulfur dioxide is so easily-oxidizable, hydrogen peroxide naturally ‘finds’ the easily-oxidized SO₂ and the two hopef

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Alternative Sweeteners, Pomace Compost, and Stuck Fermentations

If you add some kind of sweetener that is fermentable (table sugar, grape concentrate, maple syrup, honey, etc.) you risk an uncontrolled re

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Empty Airlocks, Calculating ABV, and Transplanting Vines

Most top-scoring red wines made in the U.S. are bottled after 18–24 months in barrel.

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Softened Water, High Alcohol Wine, and Tiny Bubbles

Water softeners add another wrinkle, namely because they tend to add a lot of sodium.

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Japanese Beetles, Freezing Grapes, and Adjusting Aged Wine

A really innovative and completely natural way to control Japanese beetles is to implement a longer-term biological control program utilizin

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Fermentation Troubles, Natural Fining, and Get Your Swirl On

Some home winemakers cool down must ferments by freezing gallon water jugs and tossing them (closed tightly) into fermenting totes, bins or

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Understanding “Degree Days”, White Film on Wine, and Glass vs. Wood

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Importing Juice vs. Fresh Grapes, Wild Fermentations, Sediment In The Bottle

I prefer to have as much information as I can about where my raw material is coming from, and being able to handle the actual grapes is one

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When Life Gives You Limes Make Wine, Re-Fermentation, and The Value Of A Vineyard

You could also try to take your lime wine and see what other kind of fun beverages you could make with it as a mixer . . .

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Color Loss in Candy Cane Wine, 23-year-old Concord, Deprived Vines, and Maple Wine

Because of their chemical composition under wine pH (acidity) and fermentation conditions it’s quite possible these color compounds won’

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Moldy Odor In My Wines, Calculating Molecular SO₂, Brown (Red) Wine

TCA, or the “corked” off-aroma, is caused by ambient molds interacting with a chlorine molecule of some kind, usually from domestic wate

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Exploring The Corking Options and Making Acidity Adjustments

Most closures are packaged pre-sanitized, usually with sulfur dioxide in the sealed bags that come from the manufacturer.

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Adding Sparkle To Your Wines, Bottle Sediments, and Reducing Acidity

To maximize your chances of a successful in-the-bottle fermentation you need to prepare a starter culture.

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Measuring Brix in Fermentation, Drinking From Brass, and Yeast Options

I would argue that the rapidity with which the sugar is consumed (and the density is lowered) is almost as important as the level of sugar i

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Red Wine Sediment and What To Consider When Selecting A Yeast

What you’re experiencing is the precipitation over time of all sorts of complex tannins and colored compounds.

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Tartrate Crystals, Blending Stuck Wine, Malolactic Timing

In my experience, doing a traditional cold stability where you chill the wine down and then filter off any precipitation won’t shift the a

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Understanding Bentonite, Refractometers vs. Hydrometers, and Mellowing A Big Wine

Most folks I talk to say that sodium bentonite and calcium bentonite are interchangeable in winemaking.

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Malolactic Problems and Cleaning with Chlorine

Some of the SO₂ gas created by the sulfur wick certainly will transfer into the wine as sulfur dioxide.

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Wine Press Mold Growth and Magnesium Sulfate Vineyard Sprays

It’s very possible this mold bloom was caused by a change in the weather or a change in your cellar environment.

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First-Time Barrel Soaking, Wine Flower and High Brix Grapes

It is entirely normal for the first soaking of a barrel to produce a dark-colored water.

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Sniffing The Cork, Screwcap Closures and the Facts About Wine Headaches

Interestingly, a cork may smell “tainted” and the wine below it might be just fine, or, better said the wine in the bottle may be below