I've just started making my own wine and I have a couple questions I was hoping you guys could help me with. My wife and I have a friend that owns a vineyard in Western NY but I decided to go with a Vintners Reserve Merlot kit for my first attempt before even attempting to use fresh grapes.
Everything seems to be going well, except the instructions tell me to cover the fermenter after I add the yeast. The thing that concerns me is there is a small hole on the lid by the manufacture and a co- worker is telling me that it needs to be sealed with an air lock and I should not take the lid off until I'm ready to rack into the carboy. The instructions tell me to use the air lock after I rack to the carboy. To be honest, I love to take the lid off just to see what's going on and I love the smell. Also I like to check the SG. Am I ruining this batch by doing this?
Thanks for any help you can give.
John