Wine Making Tips

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...

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...

Hi,

Can I sweeten my wine at the same time of second racking.

Thank,
Yacoub
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Hello Yacoub,

Before you sweeten the wine, it is important that you wait until the fermentation has completed, and the wine has had plenty of time to clear out all the wine yeast. Quite often, this does not happen by the time you do the second racking.

In actuality, the best time to sweeten a wine is right before bottling. This gives plenty of time for everything to settle out. There is no upside to sweetening...

Hello E.C. Kraus,

I recently purchased your County Fair concord juice. I am planning to use 4 cans to make 5 gallons. I noticed the can shows 5 tsps of acid blend for 4 cans, but your wine recipe page online shows to use 1 tbsp [3 tsps] with 40# of fresh concord grapes and none in 80# version of the recipe.
 
Why is there a difference? I don’t want the wine to have a “bite” it can have with too much acid.  What do you suggest?

Thanks Kelly
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Dear Kelly,
 
I can certainly understand your...

Hi,

When is the best time to filter a wine? I have a wine that is about 4 months old and I'am wondering if it is to early to filter it.
 
Don
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Hello Don,

When first learning how to make your own wine it is important that you don't become too impatient, however since the wine has been bulk aging for 4 months, I would say you've been patient enough. It would be fine to filter your wine at this time.

One of the more common wine making tips I share with beginning winemakers is:

"Only filter...

Dear Kraus --

I have started 5 gals. of wine using your SunCal concentrate along with 6 ½ lbs. of sugar and one pack of wine yeast. It has been fermenting for 3 weeks. I have racked it and checked it with a hydrometer. It had a reading of about .995 SG. When It started it was at 1.075. That is enough sugar to make 10% alcohol. I then added 2 lbs more of sugar and another pack of yeast. Now it has stopped fermenting.  Is the batch ruined or what can I do to start it back to fermenting.

Please...

Hello:

Is there a service that can repair leaking oak wine barrels?  I had used mine for many years and did not do it for a while and now the barrel leaks when I try to put fluid into it. 

Thanx,
Steve
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Good Afternoon Steve,

There is no repair service that we know of for individual wine barrels, but here are a couple of things you can try that might get your wine barrel back into service.
 
Keep adding water to the barrel until the wood has had time to swell back up. This could take a...

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,...

Hello Kraus,

How do you know if the wine yeast is working, I prepared the yeast per the homemade wine instructions that were on the packet and when set to ferment the air-lock is not popping. Did I do something wrong, What would cause this to happen?

Thank you for your help,
Albert the beginner

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Good Morning Albert (the beginner),

Let's see if we can't figure out what's going on...

First, it's important to understand that it can take a wine yeast up to 36 hours to start showing...

Hello,

I am just getting ready to get my first batch of wine brewing with one of your wine making starter kits. I have a quick question. Is it was ok to use tap water from my sink to make this wine kit? Do I need to get bottle water from the store or what? We have good water here in our town, but I'm sure it has chlorine and other stuff in it.

Thanks,
Gerald
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Dear Gerald,

This is a great question that many beginning winemakers ask. Water is one of the main ingredients in any wine, so...

Hello

My name is Lee and I have been making wine from your recipes for awhile. I was wondering what I could do to lower the alcohol content. If I used half the sugar the recipe called for would that do it? If you could help i would appreciate it.

Thank You Lee
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Lee,

A very short answer to your question is, yes, however there is a lot more to this question than meets the eye.

It sounds like you understand that when a wine ferments it is turning sugar into alcohol. Less sugar in the...

Hello,

I bought two wine making kits from you that makes 6 gallons (30 bottles). Last night we bottled the the first wine and got 25 bottles. Is this about right considering you do lose some during racking? Approximately how much waste do you normally have due to sediments in the bottom?

Mary M.
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Dear Mary,

While there will be some waste, there should be nothing close to the five bottles you lost on your first batch. You should be losing no more than one bottle when making wine from...

Greetings:

I saw on your website that you you sell grape presses...  thought maybe you could help me. I have a grape press that is fairly old and would like to press some apple cider. I cannot find mesh bags that will fit inside the basket. Do you have any?

Thank You.
Lance S.
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Hello Lance,

Unfortunately, we do not carry any type of mesh bag to fit inside our grape presses' baskets. Short of sewing one up from scratch, finding one to fit your older model may be difficult. There are...