On Jan 10, 9:49*am, wrote:
> Since starting your first batch of wine, what have you changed in the
> way you make wine?
>
> Here are a few of the things I'm doing differently.
>
> - No longer using wine conditioner (sugar/sorbate syrup). I found that
> too often fermentation started up again after adding it.
> - No longer sterilizing oak chips. It was an extra step that didn't
> appear to be necessary. I do, however, make sure to adjust sulfite
> levels with the addition of the oak chips.
> - No longer boiling the honey/water for my meads. They seem to turn
> out just fine without this extra step.
>
> What are you doing differently?
>
> Greg

All of that to begin with, exactly the same. I have given up on
titrettes for reds, they are worse than useless in reds. Instead of
sorbate i am making a simple heat exchanger out of food grade tubing
that can handle 130F and will hot bottle by wines with any residual
sugar. I'll post the results. I got the idea from Bird.

Joe