The rewards and frustrations of home winemaking

Monthly archive: 06 2009

Rack and Test Home Merlots

I noticed that quite a bit of sediment fell out of the home merlots, so I decided it was time to rack them off again and test them for pH and acid levels.  I also figured the Free SO2 levels had dropped (I give up on the test strips) and added ¼ tsp Kmeta to […]

Yakima Synergy and Alsatian Riesling Bottling

The Yakima Synergy is clear enough that I’m not going to filter it for bottling.  It came out great!  I did leave about 700 mL at the bottom of the carboy that had some sediment and poured it off into a separate bottle to clear a little more.  Tasting notes: Very faint nose of apricots […]

Battonage on Sauv Blanc Kit

I’ve been wanting to try some battonage on a wine kit for a while, since I first read about the technique.  Battonage basically involves leaving the wine on the fine lees for an extended period of time, and stirring the lees up every few days to extract additional amino acids and mannoproteins from the yeast.  […]

Dealing with the Acetone

Since Dave has already drunk half of his bottled wine, I asked if he had any acetone problems, and he said no.  So, I checked one of the small bottles of extra merlot, and was very happy that there was no acetone odor or taste there.  OK, then something happened to the carboy.  I checked […]