The rewards and frustrations of home winemaking

Tag archive: white film

Syrah Goes for a Ride

Paul and I are not happy with the way the 2010 Syrah is tasting.ย  It has been hanging out in the Flextank for about a year now, with oak cubes, but it just tastes kind of closed up.ย  Supposedly the Flextank “breathes” like a barrel, but right now I’m not buying that.ย  We both agreed […]

Cleaning Airlocks

We are planning to bottle the syrah soon, and I will also probably bottle the primitivo as well. The merlot and petite sirah in the barrels have not picked up enough oak for our tastes, so we’re going to leave them for another year. I realized I haven’t cleaned out the airlocks on my carboys […]

More White Film on Wine

I checked in on the wines in the shower to make sure the airlocks weren’t contaminated or dried out, and saw another white layer on our 6-gallon carboy of merlot.ย  This was the first time I saw this white layer in this container, I found it previously on a smaller bottle of this merlot as […]

More Infection Problems

I discovered that one of the 4-liter bottles of merlot has a funky white layer similar to the one I found on the rescued petite sirah. I hope I can remedy this one better, since the infection came back in the petite sirah after racking.ย  Before racking I dipped cotton swabs in a Kmeta solution […]

Racking Primitivo and Petite Sirah Sludge

The primitivo has been settling out since October, so it seemed like time to poke at it.ย  I like to splash rack my wine that is bulk aging in carboys at least once to try to give it a little oxygenation while it’s hanging out. The primi has become wonderfully clear already, a lovely purple-ruby […]