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Actually, truth is trad is very simple to make but simplicity can be a problem not in the making but in the fact that there is very little , if anything , that less than strong protocols can hide behind. You have only the honey and if you ferment at too hot a temperature or aim for too high an...

Not sure that that is KISS but it is method of measuring the alcohol content of a wine directly , unlike using hydrometers which use density as an indicator for the sugar or the alcohol content as long as you know the starting gravity (density). Boiling off the alcohol present and replacing...

Welcome, Diane. Folk here are open-hearted and are happy to share what we know. No question is silly (though sometimes answers can be) and in my opinion, no one can ask the same questions too many times. When we are ill-prepared for an answer the answer often has little meaning..

Hi Earl, Not sure I follow.If you know the Brix which is the sugar content as a percentage of the liquid (22 Brix = 22% sugar and 78% water) then you know, or can calculate the SG (which is about 4 times the Brix for all intents and purposes) . So , a Brix of 22 is an SG of about 1.090 and a...

Very true- In my opinion. Those who use well water may introduce bacteria and those who use city water may find their faucets are less sanitary than they imagine- good enough for daily use but liable to introduce bacteria and mold that will thrive and grow in tools and equipment that touch...

Of course. Obviously:slp

50 ppm is the outcome but what's the input: typically, how much K-meta per gallon of must?

But good to know that 1% +/- is what is being called for. I had not thought about the ratios one way or another and had always weighed the K-meta I was going to use, but 4 T makes creating a solution so much less of a task. Different but related question. For treating fruit to remove indigenous...

I doubt the source of wild yeast is the air. Far more likely they are on the grapes and given the fact that you crush the grapes if you have been making wine for several harvests, my assumption is that the yeast are on/in the crusher. Gotta say that I don't make a lot of grape wine - my...

The package on my K-meta suggests I use 2 oz per gallon to sanitize - so that is about 4 T (and 2 T is a fluid ounce, so 2 fl oz /128 fl oz 1.5%

Totally agree. And that's one good reason not to work to remove indigenous yeast before you pitch lab cultured yeast. You want the delightful complexities of flavor and aroma that the volunteer yeast provide. It's one thing for commercial wineries to adopt factory production methods - but quite...

How to do you stop that speeding bullet? I always use the amount of sugar I want for the final ABV and then allow the yeast to ferment brut dry and back sweeten. How do you successfully halt the yeast at 1.030? The colony size will be enormous and unless you are using indigenous yeast, they are...

absolutely, but indigenous yeast are much like amateur athletes. The lab cultured yeast are professionals and they are grown to beat word records. The amateurs can run a marathon but it may take them 5 or 6 hours. The professionals can run the distance in 2 plus hours...

BigDaveK, Sorry but while I love garlic, I can't see me making a wine from scapes BUT one thing you can make is a scape pesto. My basic recipe for basil pesto is to simply substitute the basil with the scapes (as long as they are fresh and soft) 3 C scapes 3 cloves of garlic 1/3 C of lightly...

Hi Oaks - hope this is not a silly question, but you say you have grapes in your freezer. Grapes? Are these table grapes (usually, a varietal called Thompson) or are these wine grapes which are always recognized in terms of the wines they make (Riesling grapes; Chardonay; Pinot Noir, etc etc)...

I may be wrong but my practice is to simply check the increase in volume that the sugar or syrup adds: so say the original volume was 5 gallons and the SG was 1.090 ( potential ABV of 11.8 %) but after adding the syrup the new volume is 6 gallons , To allow 5 gallons to be 1.090 there would need...

But I wonder: if the yeast was indigenous, how likely would the wine continue to ferment after a few days, assuming that the grapes would have the same amount of sugar as wine grapes. My guess is that the yeast would quit with a great deal of residual sugar and so racking after 3 or 4 days would...

Your journey is your journey. But the bread yeast is integral to the recipe. Other yeasts will ferment brut dry and that is not in and of itself a problem except that many people (even those who claim to love dry wines) tend to prefer some perceived sweetness. Grape wines , for some reason I...

The thing about novelty meads or wines is that you cannot use them to learn anything about wine making. The whole thing about JAOM is that it is both counter-intuitive and at the same time "perfectly" calibrated to finish as a "drinkable" mead. The reason for using the whole orange , albeit...

Not sure I agree with your measurement of the SG. if you take 3.5 lbs of honey and dissolve that in water to make 1 US gallon (and 3 lbs of honey is 1 quart so you would be adding 6 quarts and not 8) , the 3.5 lbs would raise the gravity of the water to 1.122(5) . This has a potential ABV not of...