Sbuttafrbutt Wine questionDAZ928 Here's how I make a starter. Its given me good results. My method is sort of a hodgepoge of what I've read on the net and stuff...
The price I mentioned was the price listed in a winemakers supply company catalog and included a vacuum pump instead of hooking up to a sink. I am sure that anyone knowledgeable enough of some chemistry and one who has access to some glbuttware can probably kludge one together. Could you send some plans for a kludged setup. I am interested. I have been sending samples off for testing free SO2 and was considering buying a setup. I have been paying $12 per sample which isn't bad but I would test more often if I had my own setup.
I think you helped make the point that if one is going to move up from carboys to barrels, then a little bit of extra expense budgeting upfront prior to purchasing barrel(s) could save a LOT of money, time and effort. Barrels are expensive not to mention the possibility of the contents of a whole barrel going down the drain because of not monitoring pH, SO2 and keeping the barrels topped up. After I started using a barrel, I was amazed at how rapidly the free SO2 can drop off in barreled wine.
After retiring, I worked part time at a small commercial winery. I saw a number of barrels that were discarded because of VA or Brett simply because the winemaker did not keep track of pH and SO2.
