Carboys

One of the most important aspects of making your own wine is keeping things sanitary. It's important because wine is a like a living thing.

It needs to be protected from wild molds, bacteria, etc. Without proper care your wine can become overtaken by these foreign organisms and eventually spoiled.

Yet, sanitizing is overlooked or treated lightly by many home wine makers and understandably so. It takes time and effort to be sanitary. Simply put, it's work!

Who wants to spend their time sanitizing...

Hi:

Today is day 8 and I just transferred my wine from the plastic fermenter to a glass carboy like the homemade wine instructions say to do. I do not see the wine brewing at all. Shouldn't the wine still be fermenting? Do I have a problem?

Please help!
Robert
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Hello Robert.

I am going to assume that you are making your wine from a wine ingredient kit such as our European Select or KenRidge Classic since you mentioned "day 8" much like their directions would.

How fast your fermentation goes can...

Hi E.C.Kraus!

I'm new to home winemaking. I made red and white wines this year and have them resting in 54 L carboys (with air-locks) after the initial fermentation is completed. The storage room does have a pretty high temperature (65degF), but it doesn't fluctuate.

After a month, I decided to start drinking the red one. It tastes great now. So, every weekend I open the carboy and have 1.5 L of wine siphoned into a regular bottle.

I'm wondering if opening the carboy every week (as a result...

Hi,

I crushed my grapes in late September & squeezed them. Then racked it 2 times since then. It's been almost 2 months since the last racking and 1 of the 5 gallon wine carboys is starting to bubble again just slightly. What is happening should I do anything. The other 3 carboys are not doing this???
 
Thanks Rick
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Hello Rick,

It's hard to know exactly what is going on with your forth carboy, but here are your possibilities:

1) Your wine has started to ferment again: This means that the...

Kraus folks:

Could you tell me what solution should go into the bottle tree rinser -- could I use campden tables?

Rick F.
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Hello Rick,

The Bottle Tree Rinser/Sulphatizer is designed to be used with a sulfite solution. What this means is that you can use either Campden Tablets, Sodium Metabisulfite or Potassium Metabisulfite with water to make the sanitizing solution that goes into the bottle rinser's reservoir.

The dosage is pretty straight-forward. You use either 16 Campden Tablets or one...

Dear Kraus,

Has anyone used STEVIA to sweeten the wine before bottling? It might take more than expected but I would like to try it.

I am Diabetic and adding sugar to sweeten the wine just adds problems, so I don’t drink my wine, which my wife is okay with… because she can drink it without problem.  

Could there be problem using this sweetener after fermentation?

Thanks in advance.
Bob W.
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Hello Bob,

There is nothing wrong with using stevia to sweeten a wine at bottling time. I have not used it...

Hello

Are there electric heater covers available for carboys or plastic fermenters to keep the working wine at a constant temperature?  I have no ideal place in my location where a constant temp is available.
 
Thank You
Carl M.
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Hello Carl,

The difficult part about keeping a fermentation artificially warm is that you need a very mild heat source. It is easy to over-heat a fermentation and ruining the wine must with too much heat.

An example of this would be an electric blanket....

Hello:

I have been having problems with residue in my bottles of rhubarb, choke cherry, pear and plum wine but have never had a problem with my wild grape, plum or even choke cherry before.

Bottled three weeks ago and the only one with no residue is my wild grape. Will unbottle and redo if you think it's warranted.

Thank you in Advance
Mike
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Hello Mike,

It sounds like there is one of two things you could do to eliminate the residue problem from occurring in the future. First, you could...

Hello:

I'm getting ready to bottle my wine and noticed that it has a bubbly taste. Like champagne. Is this because I need to degas it? Or is there something else going on?

Ken
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Hello Ken,

It is very possible that you are correct in your assumption. The wine may simply need to be degassed. But you should also verify with a gravity hydrometer that the wine has actually completed its fermentation. It is possible that the bubbles you are experiencing are from a slight, but still...

Hello Kraus,

I made 5 gallons of grape juice by using a steam juicer. In this process the stems were still attached to the grapes. Do I need to do anything special from the normal wine making process? I was told the stems contain pectin and may require additives.

Thank you,
Henry
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Hello Henry,
 
I believe what your friend was referring to is the tannin that is in the stems of the grapes. Tannin is also found in the seeds and skins.

Some tannin in wine is a good thing. It helps the wine...

Hi.

Can you give me any information on how barometric pressure would affect the fluid level in an air lock. Some days they show negative pressure and a day or two later they are making bubbles again. I can't tell if fermentation is done or not.

Thank you
Jerry
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Hello Jerry,

An air-lock is what seals the outside world from your wine during and after fermentation. It is a barrier that allows gases from the fermentation to escape while keeping little bugs and other intruders out.

You attach...

Hello EC Kraus:

We have 17 gal of 2009 Syrah, it tastes a little bitter to us. Should we add conditioner before bottling?

Thank you
Bobbi
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Hello Bobbi,

Wine Conditioner is not designed to cover up bitterness. It is a wine sweetener for people that do not like their wines dry. A better avenue would be to try to figure out why the wine is bitter. Then see if it can be remedied, not masked.

There are two primary faults that can cause bitterness in a wine: 

1. Excessive Tannin
   Tannin is a bitter...

Hi Kraus People -

How is the best way to tell when your wine is ready to bottle?

Thank You,
Rick
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Hello Rick,

Great question, and an important one too. The last thing anyone wants to do is bottle their wine too soon. This is especially important if you plan on handing any of it out as wine making gifts. A significant amount of sediment could eventually form in the wine bottle, or corks could possibly push out causing a mess.

Fortunately for us winemakers, it's very easy to determine if...

Dear Sir;

I have a question concerning adding the wine conditioner (sweetener) to a batch of Zinfandel wine I just made.

If the wine has a rather harsh taste at this point (before aging) won't that affect the determination of how much sweetener that needs to be added before bottling?  In other words will the harsh taste mask or interfere with the sweetness taste adjustment?

Jay
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Hello Jay,

Yes, you are correct. You have to be careful with how much of a sweetener, such as Wine Conditioner,...