Dear
Mr. Kraus,
I am a winemaker and I use used wine bottles. Used cork type
wine bottles are becoming harder to find. I was told
by a winery around here that it is ok to use corks in screw
type wine bottles as they both have the same inside neck
diameter. I tried corking one filled water and it seemed to
work fine. I would like to get your thoughts on this.
Thanks
William P.
----------
Hello William,
As you have already discovered, it is very possible to put
cork
stoppers into screw-cap...
Read More » »
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
----------
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...
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Here
is a very real fact. If you want to put a
full-size
wine bottle cork into a
wine
bottle, you need to become a
real corker... What
I mean to say is,
you need to use a real
corker.
When you decant a bottle of wine, the cork stopper that you pull
out is only a fraction of its original size. This is
because the cork was compressed before it was plunged into the wine
bottle. Wine corks are pressed in this way in an
attempt to get the optimum seal for aging the wine.
A standard size wine cork...
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Hello
Kraus,
I just started to look into making wine. I read some
articles on your website and others. One thing confusing me is
it seems like air in the wine is good when it is being made but
bad after it is made. How can it be both?
Thanking you in advance,
Greg
----------
Hello Greg,
Oxygen plays a role in wine making in two different ways at
two different stages. Early on it's what allows the
wine
yeast to grow successfully, insuring a vigorous
fermentation.
Later on, it's what allows the...
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Hello
Can I bottle my wine in beer bottles and use bottle caps or do I
have to use cork bottle stoppers because it is wine? I have the
stuff to bottle beer but I do not have wine making materials for
bottling. If I have to buy corks for beer bottles
what ones should i get?
I am planning to make mostly fruit wines. Right now I have a
blackberry wine working that I made from frozen blackberries.
Thanks Manny
__________
Hello Manny,
In theory, there is no reason why you can't use beer bottles...
Read More » »
If
you didn't already know what this blog was about, the term
bottle shock might conger up some interesting
visions. I personally think of someone getting hit over the head by
a bottle while in some bar fight or even hitting yourself in the
head like our friend here on the right, but, I digress...
What Is Bottle Shock?
Bottle shock is a term
used to refer to a wine that is suffering
from the symptoms of getting too much
air in too little time. These wines tend to be
flat in their overall...
Read More » »
One
of the long, ongoing discussions in the world of home wine making
is, "
should I age my wine in bulk or in
bottles?"
What Exactly Is Bulk Aging?
Bulk aging refers
to storing the wine in something similar to a glass water bottle.
Home wine makers refer to them as carboys or demijohns. It's
important to have a container with a neck of some sort so that the
head-space, or air gap, can be mitigated as the
bottle becomes full. It is usually sealed airtight with
either a rubber stopper or cork...
Read More » »
Almost
everyone understands that wines need to age, but very few
people realize just how important aging actually is to a
wine. Aging is a process that is most often either
underestimated or completely ignored by the home winemaker.
In reality, I would venture to say that aging a wine is just as
important as the quality of the grapes used to produce the wine. If
you're missing either one, the wine will suffer
noticeably.
Within the first 30 days of aging most people experience enough
improvement...
Read More » »
Many
beginning winemakers will be happy to know that you do not have to
buy a
corker to bottle your wine. We have solutions for sealing
wine bottles that can be done without a corker as
well as with a corker.
When you go to buy corks for your wine bottles you will find that
most
wine cork
stoppers require a corker to press the cork into the wine
bottle. This is because a new cork starts out much fatter than what
you are used to seeing coming out of the wine bottle.
These are the type of wine...
Read More » »
Hello
E.C.
My question is in regards to Splenda as a sweetener. I
belong to two wine making groups from Yahoo Groups and on occasion
Splenda comes up as the subject. There are both pros and cons
regarding Splenda as a sweetener. Would very much
appreciate hearing your opinion on using Splenda as a
sweetener.
Thank you.
Melinda
__________
Dear Melinda,
This is definitely an area of home wine making that has yet to be
covered in any wine making books or other instructionals that
cover how to make...
Read More » »
Hello:
I am getting ready to start my first batch of wine from
concentrate. I am a little confused about the sanitizing process
for large pieces of equipment. The directions say to dissolve so
much sanitizing stuff to one gallon of water. Does this mean a
gallon will do the job? With a 6 gallon tuft tank or a 6 gallon
glass carboy, for example, do you pour the gallon in the container
and slosh it around? If so for how long? Directions say to soak
corks from 5 to 10 minutes. Small items such as...
Read More » »
Hello,
I made elderberry wine with elderberries I put in the
freezer last year. I made juice out of them by cooking them in
my steam juicer and followed your wine recipe on the website. I
want to bottle the wine but do not have a corker. Do you have
suggestions on how to stopper a wine bottle with out a
corker?
Thank you for your help.
Becky
----------
Dear Becky,
You are correct in assuming that you need a
corker
to put in a
regular wine
cork stopper. The corker compresses the wine cork and...
Read More » »
Good
Morning,
Thank you for the info in the newsletters they
have been helpful.
I need to know how much air should be above the wine in the
bottle. Could you let me know about that so I don’t over/under
fill.
Dr. Thomas
----------
Dear Dr. Thomas,
I'm very glad to hear that you find our wine making
newsletters informative and helpful. It is are sincerest goal to
provide home winemakers with the tools they need to become
successful, including information. Now, on to your
question...
I am assuming...
Read More » »
Hi,
I ordered a starter kit and some
other cool stuff from you, and will be ready to bottle my
first batch of wine soon. I would rather use regular corks
instead of the plastic top corks in the kit. I have a hodge podge
of scavenged wine bottles to use in the 750ml range (or what
ever the regular wine bottle is). What size corks would you
recommend for this? I didn't know there were so many different
sizes to choose from, and what are the different lengths
for?
Thanks,
Paul K.
----------
Dear...
Read More » »
Hi:
About 18 months ago I bought 2 bags of cork stoppers from you.
Well, I've been doing some wine brewing and made 2-3 different
batches of wine and have used your wine corks. I have been having a
problem getting them out of the bottles with a cork screw. The cork
just comes apart and doesn’t come out of the bottle as a single
unit. This has happened at least ten times with different bottles
and different corkscrews. Am I doing something wrong?
Thanking you in advance.
Adam B.
----------
Hell...
Read More » »
You
can't read too far on the subject of wine making without
running across the warnings of excessive air exposure and how
oxygen can turn a great wine into a brown, caramelized mess through
oxidation. Books, websites and even this blog have
expressed these cautions.
The reality is without some oxygen being available, the progression
of a wine's aging process can be brought to a near standstill. Wine
does need some oxygen to fully reach its aging potential. It's just
a matter of finely...
Read More » »
Please
remember when you are ordering
our gallon glass jugs, that you will need to
order closures such as any screw caps or rubber stoppers that
may be needed separately. These items are not included with
these gallon jugs simply because we do not know what you
intend to do with the jugs. Whether your bottling, fermenting
or storing wine with them will determine what else you will
need.
For Bottling:
Bottling your wine in gallon
glass carboys is a great idea so long as you can consume a
gallon of...
Read More » »
This
is part I of a two part series. Look for
part II later this month.
With each passing year
synthetic
corks are becoming an increasingly popular way to seal
wine bottles. They have proven themselves to be a worthy
replacement of the natural cork stopper, whose production costs and
shortages have continuously driven their prices up and
their quality down.
Synthetic corks are made of high-grade polymer plastics. The inside
is filled with a thermoplastic that has elastic qualities. This
allow...
Read More » »
If
you're getting ready to
buy corks to bottle your wine you may be wondering which size
you should get. We offer four different sizes of wine cork
stopper. They are sizes: #7, #8, #9 and #10. These numbers refer to
the diameter of the cork. The higher the number, the
larger the diameter.
The opening of a standard, 750 ml wine bottle is 3/4 of an inch. If
you have a wine bottle corker you will want to purchase either the
size #8 or
size
#9 corks.
Which size you get depends on the type of corker...
Read More » »
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