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Writer: Alison Crowe

Is filtering good or bad for your wine?

To filter or not to filter, that is the question. For the home winemaker it often is less a question of quality than a question of cash flow or wanting to be


Can I add grape juice in place of acid blend to my country fruit wine?

Wine Wizard replies: If you’re looking for a way to boost acid without adding extra sugar, stick to acid blend. Using grape-juice concentrate as an additional fermenting agent in fruit wines, on


What can I do to make my wine more dry and less sweet?

More experienced winemakers than yourself have spent eons trying to ponder the conundrum of a stuck fermentation. If you wanted the wine to be dry and it ended up sweet, it means


Do fluted bottles serve any useful purpose other just for looks?

Ah yes, the beloved fluted tops. I’ve heard many justifications for them from various folks, usually that the tops help you to pour the wine without dripping down the side of the


What would happen if you added a vanilla bean to red wine in hopes of getting some vanilla flavors traditionally given off by oak barrels?

The Wine Wizard replies: It’s illegal for commercial winemakers to add anything non-Vitis vinifera to their table wine and still have it be labeled as such. However, I’m sure that many an


Can I make a sulfite-free wine?

Wine Wizard replies: It is impossible to make a sulfite-free wine, because wine yeast produce sulfur dioxide (SO2) during the fermentation process. Wines with no added sulfite contain from 6 to 40


The ABCs of Making Z

In the early days of the California wine industry, growers found that Zinfandel was a good “workhorse” grape that did well in a variety of climates and that could, under hot and dry conditions, be forced to accrue a high concentration of sugar.


Should I boil or soak my corks prior to bottling?

The Wine Wizard replies: In the home winemaking world there is quite a bit of debate on how to treat corks before they’re fed into the hand corker and forced down the


What can I do to prevent my recurring problem of excess CO2 in my wines?

Unless you artificially carbonate your still wines by kegging them, there is only one possible source of carbon dioxide in wines — microbes, specifically little bacteria and yeastie beasties that love to


I am getting different gravity readings in my just-crushed juice from samples taken from the top and bottom of the vessel. What’s going on and is there a proper place to take these readings?

Your question is a valid one — one that many winemakers before you have wondered about. As you have discovered, where you take a sample from in a tank can give you


My first white wine has a fizziness and tasted like it is almost carbonated. Do you have any suggestions?

Wine Wizard replies: First of all, you need to make sure that the fermentation is finished. You do this by checking your sugars with a hyrdrometer. Fermentation for a “dry” wine is


How do I allow for suspended solids when taking hydrometer readings?

You’ve hit the nail on he head — a hydrometer reading does depend on the amount of suspended solids in the juice that you’re measuring. As sugar is more dense than water,


My wine tastes tart and I think there is too much acid. Any suggestions to correct this problem?

You all seem to have the same problem, so I thought I’d answer you all together. Acid adjustment, or better, achieving the right acid balance, is one of the arts of winemaking.


Should I add Campden tablets each time I rack my wine and how do I measure the level of sulfite in my wine?

Hold on there, tiger! If you’ve got a standard 0.44 gram Campden tablet and you’re putting it in one gallon (3.8 L) of wine, you’re blasting it with 66 mg/L sulfur dioxide,


Can you tell me what all those chemicals that come with wine kits are for and if it’s necessary to use them?

Wine Wizard replies: Your question is complex. In fact, it could lead to pages upon pages of response if I elucidated upon “all those chemicals” (and many of them are not really


How can I increase the sugar content of my juice without using refined sugar?

Wine Wizard replies: If you’ve seen a lot of home winemaking recipes that recommend pounds upon pounds of refined sugar, it’s because refined sugar is the cheapest agent available to home winemakers


Can you explain the “solera” system of aging your wine?

The solera system of wine aging was developed by the Spanish and Portuguese as a way to provide wines of a constant average age, as well as to ensure a certain homogeneity


My wine has developed a foul taste and odor from Brettanomyces. Is it correctable?

Brettanomyces is a particularly nasty yeast that is often the bane of the collective existence of many winemakers. Its foul-smelling byproducts have often been called “barnyardy” or “mouse pee-like” on the sensory


From Grape to Glass

Nothing feels as satisfying and authentic as making your first batch of wine from fresh grapes. And there’s no better time to try it than in early autumn, when grapes all over


How can I best rid my wine of tartrate crystals?

Sometimes commercial wineries chill their for months in the 30-degree Fahrenheit range and still get “tartrate fallout.” Even if a wine has been “cold stabilized,” as this process is called, there’s no


How can I best save an open container of grape juice concentrate?

 In regards storing your opened can of concentrate, I would freeze it. Dump the remains into a Tupperware or other freezer-safe storage container and stick it in your freezer. The high sugar


How is Fume Blanc made? I would like to make some at home!

Wine Wizard replies: The short answer to your question is: 0.45 micron nominal filter pads are the industry standard for “sterile” filtration. These pads prevent all yeast and bacteria from getting through.


I picked up two very old glass carboys at a flea market and I don’t know what used to be stored in them. Should I still use them for winemaking?

I have three remonstrative but kindly meant words for you: don’t go there. Though I’m known among my friends and associates as an antiquities enthusiast, when it comes to winemaking, I have


Is yeast extract the same as yeast hulls and yeast nutrient? And what is the best way to use it?

Have no fear of the Champagne yeast failing to take off in your honey. As long as you dilute the honey accordingly, you’ll have a sugar solution that the yeast should happily


What changes the color to blue when water is used to clean containers that held elderberry juice I used for winemaking?

You’re right in assuming that it has something to do with acidity, but the answer you’re looking for is not exactly the presence of an acid but rather the absence of one.


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