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Nice scientific approach. I might just try that or compare the added lemon juice to the sugar wine to a batch I made last year using the conventional method.

Now, that would be subtly different in flavor. Of course, if you skipped the juice and added lemon zest (1 zested peel per 100 ml ) then you would have limoncello. But that is another story entirely. But to be serious: I don't disagree that the flavor would be a little different - I am using the...

Curious about those who claim that it's the nature of SP to be a high ABV drink. Not necessarily true. One pound of sugar dissolved in water to make 1 US gallon will have an SG of about 1.046. The total SG in 5 gallons will depend on the total amount of sugar you dissolve. Seven pounds in five...

So, when we make SP we typically use around 3 qts of lemon juice awash in preservatives added to inhibit spoilage (AKA fermentation). My question: would there not be far less of any risk or problems if we simply fermented the sugar and added the lemon juice as if we were adding fruit to the...

hmm... I suspect that the "superfood" is nutritional yeast and not "brewer's yeast" or baker's yeast or wine yeast. Nutritional yeast is the basis for Marmite and Vegemite and is used by vegans to flavor nuts and grains in a semblance of cheese made from cow or goat or sheep milk. Can be used to...

But Harry Kloman, these days suggests that we use lab cultured yeasts - the indigenous yeasts in the honey and on the gesho (assuming the latter have not been killed when imported) can make for a very unpredictable mead. Note that in Ethiopia standard practice is to hold back the lees from the...

While there may be technical reasons to enable kits to be drunk after a few weeks or months, I have to agree with the others who suggest that the more significant reason comes from the marketing departments of the kit manufacturers. They are very dependent on customers buying a next kit not...

Would a solution be to rack into another carboy and only when you are ready to bottle to rack into the bottling bucket? I guess I am sufficiently anxious when I bottle 5 or 6 gallons and so have the bottles sitting uncorked for 30 minutes, to shiver at the thought of racking into a wide mouthed...

I wonder if another possible solution to prevent bungs from riding up and out the mouth of a carboy is a) to insert the airlock after you have inserted the bung. IF - IF the airlock to bung fitting is to be air-tight, inserting the airlock after (and not inserting the bung AND airlock as if a...

The thing is fresh fruit that you buy is rarely picked at the peak of ripeness. It's harvested early and is typically grown to be able to be shipped across the country with little damage. Taste is NEVER near the top priority for such produce. Frozen fruit is always [picked at the peak of...

Hi Grape Expectations, and I know that this is a sidebar issue, but making wine from orange juice is - in my opinion - never going to make a delightful drink: the amount of acid in the juice- not the strength but the volume (the TA, not the pH) is off the roof. You want to make a good orange...

I routinely make liqueurs and I can see an issue with your recipe. I strongly agree that you should allow the fruit to macerate before you add the sugar syrup, but the amount of water and sugar you add to the syrup should dilute the alcohol to a specific amount that YOU want. Most liqueurs are...

Here's the thing. You say you have access to only 6 gallon carboys at the moment. Even if the kit was designed to make 5 gallons, having a 6 gallon carboy as your primary is never a problem. Headroom, the space above the wine in a fermenter is only an issue AFTER active fermentation has ended...

I only occasionally make kit wines and a couple of weeks ago I bought an inexpensive medium-bodied Pinot Noir kit from ABC Crafted Series located in Ontario. This was to make a nominal six gallon batch. I intended to add water to make a five gallon batch and after thoroughly mixing, I measured...

So all other things being equal, 30 points of sugar would reduce the ABV by about 4% and so the berry wine would be around 14% . If there was no added nutrients, the wine could have stalled at 14% and if they bottled, the wine over time could have restarted spontaneously so there could be...

My son-in-law is a research microbiologist and the federal govt does not pay directly for research. NIH and NIMH does , but under very, very strict principles such that you are far more likely to find a research project, supported by the chair of the lab faculty dismissed by the agencies as you...

Just joining this party, albeit a bit late. I see the original recipe called for "water". Trouble is that water does not suggest a volume. That they fermented in a 6 gallon carboy tells you diddly squat about the total volume of must they fermented. Could it have been 2 gallons (OK 12.5 lbs of...

True , true... unless the yeast is grown on grain.

Thanks, sour_grapes. I have plenty of nutrient. No problem adding some

Just acquired a Pinot Noir kit that came with EC 1118. I have BM45; QA 23 and D47. Which yeast would you pick? Thanks