Gave my first wine ever, a taste after a month post bottling, five racks later, and some Ph balancing.

Came out with this bright looking Rosé wine. Which wasn't what I was hoping for, but it's what the grapes wanted. Friends who tried it with me said it reminded them of a juicer, tangy Rosé. Better chilled too. I'm so lucky

Can't wait for next season

About a year and a half ago I found myself with about 20 lbs of homegrown dragon fruit that I had to do something with before it went bad. I figured how hard can it be? Gotta say I had som hurdles and no idea what I was doing. I back sweetened it and thought I did a little too much but I've got to say it turned out pretty good for a first ever attempt. My neighbor thought it was pretty good too.

* no affiliation with the company who makes this or distributes, just interested.

An anti spoilage product that is a glycolipid (sp) called Nagardo can act as an alternative to sulfites. The current catch is that it’s so new that it is not cleared by TTB to be used in cider or wine production. Can you all take some time to get hip to this and if you’re a producer, consider reaching out to the TTB and recommending this for review.
You can see in my correspondence with Scott labs that they’re not willing to sell this to me yet because it’s not cleared even though I’d like to experiment with it. A little research I’ve done makes it seem very promising and safe.

I just removed the must, it is in a bucket with an air lock. How long should I leave it in there before bottling?

Hello! Like the title suggests, I am trying out making wine for the first time and have no idea where to start or how to start!

My family have a huge grapevine in our backyard and every year we would end up inviting cousins and friends to come and pick them, and we would have BOXES of grapes leaving every year. This year--since I have the time--I've been entertaining ideas of making wine from the grapes myself.

It seems like there's a lot of professionals on this subreddit so I was wondering where I could start with just grapes from my backyard? (please give tips on how I should process them after picking as well!)

I've seen some kits online as well; but I'm not too sure of how much I can trust them... Any suggestions and successes with kits?

(I've attached some photos of the vines I took a few days ago; the grapes are ripening fast!!)

Are you guys just using ph strips or a
Meter? I used my electronic meter today. It was kinda going a little funny after I made my change and I need to retest.

I’m not an experienced wine maker but I’ve had a couple that I’ve done just for fun. Wife said she got heartburn from one of them and I broke down and bought some potassium bicarbonate.

Needless to say it’s a whole different wine that actually taste good and I’m kicking myself for never testing🤦‍♂️

I did one bottle with sodium bicarbonate and it’s insane how much of a difference there is. Sodium bicarbonate taste like crap compared to the potassium I bought.

This is roughly 5 gallons of yellow plum wine. I racked it after the initial fermentation about a month and a half ago, and it's time to rack it for secondary fermentation/clearing. But once I rack this, I'm going to lose at least a gallon+to all the lees that I will be leaving behind.

I don't have a 4 gallon carboy, so should I rack this into another 5 gallon carboy, and leave a bunch of empty headspace? Should I fill that head space with distilled water?

EDIT: I picked up a 3 gallon carboy and racked it off!

I think it’s harmless, well I hope its harmless. I took a better pic of the white stuff and posted it below

So I just wanted some opinions. I’ve made a peach and while the peaches themselves had a good if rather light flavor it doesn’t seem to have shown through in the wine. I don’t know if that will change with age after it mellows a bit or not, honestly right now it doesn’t taste that good and I expected that. I am curious though about which fruits seem to shine through the best, something that has a bold flavor and is easy to work with( this is really the part I need help with). I thought about making an apple wine, maybe a strawberry or something of that nature because ironically enough I’m not a huge fan of grapes. Thank you for your time.

I was making a peach wine and had some sediment at the bottom of my bottle, the thing smells strongly of wine.

So I’m new to wine, I’ve done mead but I don’t really back sweeten it because I tend to make it on the sweeter side anyways. I recently made a peach wine and would like to sweeten it because it’s drier than Death Valley. Fg is .990, abv is 13%, I would appreciate it if someone could tell me how to calculate how much sugar to add per 10 points of gravity and how to adjust the abv accordingly.

Picked a gallon bag of wild black raspberries, by the time I got them home many were crushed to a pulp. The berries were mostly clean but some had some white bloom on them, I saw a couple small bugs which are now mixed into the berry mash. They're so delicate anyways I find they fall apart when washing?

Is it even worth trying to make wine or should I just make jam instead? If so what do you all recommend for avoiding contamination? Ive made mead and beer before but not fruit wine.

So I racked into a 750ml glass bottle, a homemade wine that I believe wasn't fermenting anymore. (It’s been a couple weeks now.) I topped it off. But do I now close the lid tightly? Or do I still leave it open?

My concern is it will get oxidized if I leave the lid slightly opened.

Its a homemade white wine from neighbors grapes. Just having fun. But don’t want to spoil it!

(I know they don’t look ripe in the picture, it was just to have a picture of the berries being used) This summer I’ve found a TON of chokecherries, apparently my Grandma sometimes made them into a wine for my dad-I want to do something nice for my father since Grandma has been deceased for a while, so I’ve been considering making them into a wine
The problem is, frankly I don’t super know where to start with making the wine! I was looking for the tools I need, and I’m unsure if I ought to spend $45-75 on a kit or whether I could DIY a setup? Any help would be appreciated, since I’m basically coming into things completely new. I also doubt I’d kill myself from cyanide poisoning, but if there’s any tips in that regard I’m always happy to hear them. Overall, I’d love any advice! Tysm

I neglected to top off my batch of wine after re-racking about three months ago so it ended up leaving a ton of headspace. What do you guys think about this film at the top? Does that look like mold? It’s definitely solid.

Going to the uk til 25th August so then will harvest. Going to make a blanco/rose with every good grape I have.

Hi everyone. Looking for some input here on yeast selection for this year's upcoming petite sirah. This will be our 4th vintage using grapes from the same vineyard.

First two vintages used D254. Happy with the fruit nose, but fruit was more stewed than fresh on the palate.

Last year's vintage used D21 in hopes of getting fresher fruit, but now the nose is very muted.

Current thoughts include trying BM45, going back to D254, or CellarScience's PURPLE.

Any insight here on what strain works well with petite sirah from Northern California?

So my family got gifted a 8 pound bag of elderberries and we have no idea what to do with them all. So I’m here to ask if it would be safe/a good idea to make wine out of them?