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Filtered, Spring or Tap all fine. If using tap and you are really concerned put it in a bucket covered overnight to reduce city addted chemicals (OR filteri it yourself) The only water I would not use is water you would not normally drink yourself. Do you commonly drink distilled water...

Ok That's a couple of good reasons. I was lucky when I picked them from our daughters trees in Irvine CA so I didn't have a problem with browning and once I de-seeded them we froze them for our trip back to NW Arkansas.

This is nit-picking, but; normally a wine batch is not called a brew but a wine must. It's not some grievous error but it does appear a bit odd or suggests that the poster most often "Brews Beer" rather than "Crafting wine." Beware, such high crimes and misdemeanors can get you ...

Wondering why you didn't keep the skins on? Skins in many fruits really add color and a lot of flavor and more.

Have you tasted it? That's the best place to start to figure out things.

It's a learning experience And if the flavor isn't as strong as you'd like. (weak) Then when you serve to friends or family you can describe to friends: "It's a wine that is light on the palate, it doesn't over power your taste buds." :i

Got it - Elderberry is a stronger flavor but still it looks like it would still be a push to go for more than 2 gallons of wine.

The cone fermenter is likely to get seriously clogged with fruit pulp. Invest in a 2 gallon or 5 gallon Food Safe bucket for fermenting. From the amount of fruit you have it sounds like you have enough for one 2 gallon batch. Red Raspberry, if that's what you have, is not a really strong...

Just remember Pineapple is a very dominant flavor and it will take over the taste profile probably at around 25% - That's just a guess but knowing that loquat flavor is not very strong and pineapple is quite strong - you might want to ferment separately and blend afterwards.

I'll definitely second NorCals comments. Unless you are dealing pasteurized or commercially prepared concentrates/fruits, K-Meta will help you avoid a bacterial infection of your wine must before the Alcohol level is sufficient to knock bacteria out. The three pillars of wine protection are...

I've made a triple berry wine with Wild Blackberries, Wild Black Raspberries and domestic Red Raspberries. Turned out fantastic. As to tannin, I would not worry about it. Aging - I'd go at least 6-9 months to let the edges round off. Other than that, I'd just rack every 3 months and add...

Two options as mentioned - Buy/grow and freeze fruit OR go with High quality concentrate or canned prepared fruit. Just be sure in the latter of the two options that you are getting what you expect. There are at least two sources that blend different varieties of fruit* or even add sugar to...

Agreed. Unless you are going to use juice concentrates and not fresh fruit, the conical fermenter will be a royal pain. I personally use 3 gallon carboys because of the weight and my wine consumption rate. Edit (Correction/clarification Carboys for aging, 5 gallon bucket for fermenting.) At...

By the way, I've heard that Zucchini baseball is fun - of course the zucchini as a bat doesn't last long.

SURPRISE - Drive through Gilroy California sometime and check out there.... Are you ready for it.... Garlic Ice Cream! My wife loves it. It's OK but you'd better be ready for that first burp cause yeah, It's coming back for another taste/smell. (Gilroy is the Garlic Capitol of the US)

I use both Campden tablets and k-Meta Powder. When making a single 1 gallon batch I just crush the tablet and if I'm racking, I add the WELL crushed tablet to the 1 gallon carboy before I begin racking. As long as the tablet is well crushed there should be no issue. One other person has...

There are stories / jokes about how in some small towns in NewEngland early to late summer is the only time when folks lock their cars when they go shopping in town. The cause, too many generous folks gifting their over abundance of veggies to anyone whose car is not locked. I believe...

While many alluded to this I think a lot depends on the strength of flavor of the primary wine. for example in country fruit wines topping off an pineapple wine with any decent white wine isn't going to be an issue unless you are topping off with more 20% of the existing volume. Pineapple...

As winemaker said, many plastic containers are purpose made. That means for food stuffs they are safe for what comes in them, however other foodstuffs with an acidic nature or other qualities might affect the plastic and in worst case could leech out chemicals from the container material. That...

Also 6 lbs sound like the right amount for 1 gallon. It might be on the short side of how much you want but I'm pretty sure you'll be happy with not stretching it further.