The key is to stir your wine very, very vigorously until there are no more bubbles rising to the top of your carboy. Once you have done this, stir it one more time, just to make sure! One of the most common flaws in homemade wine is excess CO2. This excess CO2 will give you a fizzy taste sensation on the tongue. If you are finding this to be a common problem with your wines, you will need to stir more. Wine Sense sells a neat tool called The Whip. The Whip will fit into any standard power drill. The Whip's unique hook shape combined with the speed of the drill will easily de-gas your wine with less work for you, and the all-plastic construction makes it easy to clean.

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No. Once a cork has been in a wine bottle for any amount of time it will lose its straight shape. More importantly a used cork would be at high risk for microbial growth, which would spoil future bottles of wine.

Your wine should be topped up to the narrowest part of the carboy, within 2 inches below the rubber stopper.

Elderberries and banana flakes were at one time used in an attempt to compensate for the aromatic and flavour shortcomings of the concentrates used before 1985. Since then concentrate production methods have improved to the point where you can now match fine commercial wines- as a result these additives have fallen out of favor. Although some wine kits (although rare) still have elderberries, there is no reason that you should be required to add these types of additives to a good quality wine kit. In fact the addition of these additives would bring down the quality of a quality wine kit.

NO! Pouring your wine back and forth between two pails will oxidise your wine. Follow the instructions that came with your wine kit and simply stir the wine vigorously when the instructions advise. If you don't enjoy stirring, Wine Sense sells a neat tool called The Whip. The Whip will fit into any standard power drill. The Whip's unique hook shape combined with the speed of the drill will easily de-gas your wine with less work for you, and the all-plastic construction makes it easy to clean.

Yes. Many of today's wines are offering big oak flavours. Many California Cabernets and Chardonnays and in fact most Australian wines are known for their big, oak character. For example, the Selection International Wine Series Australian Chardonnay is designed in this fashion and has enough body and character to handle 4 packages of oak. It is not uncommon at all to find more than 1 pack of oak in many of the Selection styles.

Whenever a wine kit calls for the addition of any item you are to add all of the packages of that item.

The thought process that usually prompts this question is- if I add less water, I will get a more full-bodied wine. This is true- you will get a more full-bodied wine; you will also get more tannins, more acidity and more alcohol. As a result you get a wine that is very rough when young and will require a much longer time to age. A wine made this way will never taste properly balanced. Think of making frozen orange juice and adding only two cans of water instead of three.

You may also have troubles with your fermentation and clearing due to the higher pH, acidity and sugar levels. And don't forget- using the smaller size carboy will reduce the volume of wine you produce by about 20% (about five bottles of wine) thus increasing the cost of your wine per bottle at the same time reducing its quality.

If you are interested in a more full-bodied wine try making a Selection kit. The larger volume of raw materials will give you a properly balanced, full-bodied wine. Also, look for styles of wine that are typically "bigger", wines like Cabernets and Chardonnays. Luna Rossa and Luna Bianca will definitely give you a 'big' wine.

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The Buon Vino #2 pad will do a fine job of filtering both red and white wines. If you are expecting to age the wine for an extended amount of time you can also run your wine through a set of Buon Vino #3 pads but this is optional. The key to remember is to make sure your wine is properly cleared prior to filtering. Wine Sense also recommends using only Buon Vino brand filter pads with your Mini-Jet filter- other pads do not meet the quality standards for the Buon Vino Mini-Jet filter and may result in inferior filtering.

There is common misconception that the more you rack the wine the better. Many people don't want to stir up the sediment that has settled out of their wine at the stabilizing stage. In fact, many of the fining (clearing) agents that are used need a large amount of sediment to work effectively.

Another misconception is the more they rack the wine the clearer the wine will be. Racking your wine will not give you a clearer wine- once the fining agent has done its job the only way to improve the clarity is to filter your wine.

The only thing that excess racking guarantees is exposure to oxygen. Unnecessary exposure to oxygen reduces the ability of the wine to store and may damage the wine due to oxidation.

Follow the instructions that come with your wine kit and rack your wine only when it is recommended.

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The short answer is yes. Although today's fining agents do a very good job of clearing wine, filtering does offer many benefits to your wine. The most obvious benefit is that your wine will have a professional clarity and polish that can only be achieved by filtering.

The nice thing about filtering is that it actually forces the wine ahead in its evolution. As wine ages, yeast and certain flavour and colour compounds combine and settle out leaving sediment. This aging process enhances the wine by leaving a smooth, clean flavour. Because filtration does such a good job of removing these compounds, it effectively force ages the wine.

Give your wine two to four weeks in the bottle to allow it to recover from "bottle shock" and 'filter shock"- your wine needs time to recover from being handled and disturbed. After this you will see the advantages of filtering, both in visual clarity and in taste. Your wine will continue to improve with age.

Note: Some people believe that filtering a wine removes body and character from the wine- none of the filter pads available to the home winemaker are capable of doing this.

Re-hydrating the yeast will give you the highest live cell count, however the difference is negligible over not re-hydrating. Re-hydrating yeast is such a precise endeavour, if done incorrectly you end up with less than adequate yeast cell-counts and the resulting problems as a result.

Empirical evidence shows that yeast know what to do when sprinkled directly over the must and will give you perfectly acceptable results. So follow the instructions that come with your wine kit and just sprinkle the yeast over the must.

Both glass and plastic carboys have their benefits. Plastic carboys are of course much lighter than glass and are therefore easier to handle when cleaning. Plastic is also more durable and not likely to break if dropped.

Although glass carboys are heavier than plastic, the difference is negligible when filled with 5 gallons of wine. Wine Sense also sells Carboy Handles and Carboy Carriers, which make the glass carboys much easier to handle.

The big difference between the glass and plastic is that glass is much easier to clean and sanitize, that is glass does not retain odour or colour. Plastic carboys will retain odour and colour and scratch easily. Once scratched, they become very difficult to sanitize- this can lead to spoiled wine. For these reasons Wine Sense does prefer glass carboys to plastic carboys. However, if cleaned properly and inspected for scratches, plastic does a fine job.

Yes. If you do not add them you run the risk of your wine spoiling or if you sweeten your wine, the risk of re-fermentation. Always follow the instructions that come with your wine kit.

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Sparkle-Brite is very effective for cleaning and sanitizing and should be used by all winemakers. Soaking with Sparkle-Brite will effectively clean (remove physical dirt) and sanitize with 20 minutes of soaking time. Always rinse well after using Sparkle-Brite.

Metabisulphite can be used for sanitizing- all you do is expose whatever you're sanitizing to the gas released from the liquid (thus the strong odour). Trace amounts of sulphite won't hurt your wine so rinsing is not as important as with Sparkle-Brite (but don't leave a half cup of it in your pail). Metabisulphite is a great way to “quick” sanitize something that is already physically clean. Keep in mind that because sodium metabisulphite does not clean you will need to use Sparkle-Brite as well.

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There are two solutions to this problem. Your hydrometer is set to read at 60 degrees Fahrenheit- therefore if the temperature of your must (unfermented wine) is 80 degrees your hydrometer will read low. For every 10 degrees F you are over will have to add .002 - .003 points of specific gravity. Or you can wait until the must cools and take a new reading.

The other solution is to grab your spoon. After you have added the water to your wine kit it is crucial to stir the must vigorously. Wine concentrates are so viscous that they don't actually mix well with water. Unless the wine is well mixed, it will stratify, with the top layer being very dilute (often below S.G. 1.050) and the bottom layer being extremely concentrated (sometimes above S.G. 1.100). This will throw off any attempt at an accurate specific gravity reading from your hydrometer and can cause problems with your fermentation. So remember, when starting your wine kit - stir well!

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You don't. Over the years the recommendation of cork preparation has changed greatly. Extensive research by Winexpert has shown that the porosity of a cork makes it impossible to sanitize them. Using sulphites can cause a sulphur odour when opening your wine. Soaking a cork only causes the cork to release "corky" water into the wine when compressed by the corker, potentially causing instant damage to your wine. A soaked cork will also be more likely to fall apart when using a corkscrew. Never boil corks. Corks are plant matter and boiling them will drastically change the structure of the plant material (when you boil a potato it goes soft). Buying a good quality cork and inserting it dry is the easiest way to minimize problems and ensure success when bottling your wine.

Wine Sense now carries the Nomacork. Because Nomacork is a synthetic cork it is completely free of microbial activity and has a zero failure rate compared to natural cork.

Even though a wine may have finished fermenting it may still be saturated with Carbon Dioxide (CO2). If this is the case, bottling the wine with the fizziness intact may result in some problems. Depending on the conditions, the CO2 could expand pushing the corks out of the bottles. Excessive CO2 will also provide you the pleasure of drinking a sparkling wine when it is supposed to be still (sparkling Cabernet Sauvignon, anyone?).

To get rid of the CO2, stir your wine. Most wine kits call for vigorous stirring when the fermentation is complete and the fining (clearing) agent is added. This stirring is needed to "degas" the wine. Like shaking a soft drink, the vigorous stirring forces the bubbles out of the wine. This not only prevents the wine from being fizzy in the bottle, but will also help the fining agent work well. If you are not sure whether your wine has been properly degassed at bottling time, simply put a small sample in a clean clear glass. If bubbles start appearing on the side of the glass within a few minutes (like a soft drink), you have more degassing to do.

To make degassing your wine easier Wine Sense carries a tool called The Whip. The Whip's unique hook shape combined with the speed of the drill will easily de-gas your wine with less work for you, and the all-plastic construction makes it easy to clean.

The easiest answer to this question is if you enjoy drinking your water, you can make your wine with it. The high level of acids and minerals that are in the wine kit itself make any content in the water you use negligible. Chlorine levels in the public water supplies are federally regulated and are not high enough to affect your wine. Chlorine also dissipates very quickly into the atmosphere so any perceived flavour would not last during fermentation. The only concern is using water from a water softener as the sodium levels are very high and may be tasted. Any money spent on filtered or distilled water would be better spent on the wine kit. You will see a more significant difference in taste by buying a wine kit with a volume of fresh varietal grape juice in it.

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Your Hydrometer provides you with accurate readings that indicate when certain stages of the wine and beer making processes are complete, by measuring the Specific Gravity (s.g.) of the liquid. Specific Gravity is the density of a liquid and in this case of wine and beer making you are measuring the amount of sugar that is in the liquid.

The s.g. of plain water is 1.000, the more sugar that is in a liquid (in this case a wine kit) the higher the reading. Most wine kits read at about 1.080 s.g. at the start of the fermentation process, most beer kits are at about 1.035 s.g. As the fermentation process takes place the hydrometer readings drop as the sugar is consumed by the yeast and is converted to alcohol and carbon dioxide (the bubbles in your air lock are caused by the production of carbon dioxide). Beers will typically have a finished s.g. of about 1.002 - 1.006 as there is usually residual (unfermented) sugars left in a beer. Wines will typically have a finished s.g. of 0.990 - 0.996. Wines will have a lower finished s.g. than beers because the higher alcohol content of wine makes the finished gravity less than that of plain water.

A Hydrometer does not have a mercury scale like a thermometer. Your Hydrometer is designed to float in the liquid you are measuring the Specific Gravity of. To take a Hydrometer reading, simply float your hydrometer in the wine or beer and take the reading where the Hydrometer sticks out of the wine or beer.

Wine Sense carries hydrometer test jars for taking readings when the wine is in the carboy. We also carry The Thief, which makes taking Hydrometer readings a breeze. If you have any questions please call or visit any of the 6 Wine Sense locations.

On occasion a wine kit may not clear properly. There are a few solutions to this, filtering is not one of them. Wine filters are for polishing clear wine. You will likely plug your filter pads if you try to filter a cloudy wine; as a result you end up with a wine just as cloudy as you started with. Sometimes all it takes is a little patience and a wine will clear out on its own. Using another clearing agent may help or stabilizing the wine's temperature will allow the wine to clear. Contact Wine Sense and we will be able to provide the correct solution to your problem

It is possible to avoid clearing problems- here are some common causes:

Stabilizing your wine too soon- if you stabilize your wine before it is completely fermented out (use your hydrometer!) you will cause the still active yeast to become sluggish and lazy resulting in a wine that will not clear out.

Not degassing properly- Excess CO2 will inhibit the clearing process. Temperature Fluctuation- If you have an inconsistent fermentation temperature the wine in the carboy will start to circulate as it warms and cools. This will keep sediment in suspension.

Racking your wine- if you rack your wine off the sediment prior to stabilization and your instructions do not tell you to you will have clearing problems. Many wine kits require the sediment to work with the clearing agent in order to clear the wine (follow your instructions).