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[/USER] Yeah, IF the balloon is rubber there might be an issue but who knows what they are made of these days. The other idea I've seen is taking a little syphon tubing and running it from a drilled stopper down to the bottom of a coke bottle half full of water,

That's a pretty quick and simple way to make a wine. There are of course some variables that could be resolved with two tools. A hydrometer, (With a testing tube) and an airlock. (I question how long a balloon will last in the presence of alcohol vapors or if it could potentially sweat...

Step 1) IGNORE those instructions. Step 2) Find a good book or invest in a starter kit for home wine making. Most kits will have a booklet or basic guide to wine making at home. Step 3) PATIENCE - If you are going to be successful you will need to be patient. First of all in preparing...

CAUTION: MANY YouTube videos contain oversimplified processes or just plain bad ideas. Especially the ones that suggest that you can have great wine in just 2 weeks or something like that. Figure on at least a year before a wine will ready and enjoyable. The exception to that are white...

1) There is only one ferment that turns fermentable sugars into alcohol. 2) There is another type of ferment called Malolactic Fermentation abbreviated as MLF. That is not often done with most fruit wines - You might look it up on this site or the web for complete description. There is no...

Some of the excellent points made in the above posts like the term "natural" is essentially meaningless these days. "Organic" Does have some relatively precise definition per the FDA. Also it helps if there is a reliable list of ingredients and you have some knowledge of what those names really...

There are always exceptions but on your list the only real "Chemicals" are numbers 5 & 6. Bentonite is volcanic clay. The others are extracts which can be made through natural means. If you really want to go 'old-school' you might want to look up/read about the way the Europeans made wine...

Will post notes from my records when I get up to the other house in the next day or so. A little snow here so I'm working on some other things first, like keeping wood stove stoked up with firewood. Not that much snow (3") and not that cold (24f) but.... I'm getting a little lazy these winter...

I know steamers are commonly used for extracting juice especially from certain fruits and veggies that are hard to otherwise process. BUT, personally I believe that heat is not your friend when it comes to the more delicate fruits and flavor/aroma components. Just my personal feeling on...

Well it's been at least 7-8 months since I've opened a bottle of a batch of Apple Cider sweetened with Honey. Pretty certain that I used sorbate and K-Meta. When I pulled the cork I didn't notice an pressure release but as soon as I poured some in a glass it looked a little hazy. Hmm, tasted...

Understand the desire to keep your first batch "Pure" I've always been lucky to start high in volume (Except for my first 6-8 batchs) so that I had 'extra' of the wine in a smaller container to top off. And the careful racking (Not disturbing the current sediment) will help you see...

There is a common fear of exposing new wine or fermenting wine to oxygen. That fear often leads to way too much worry. Racking to remove headspace is much less risky than leaving a wine in a container with too much headspace unless that wine is still doing a lot of gassing off of CO2. One...

Yup =- just like me and fresh peaches. The must is a royal pain to get prepped and measure the SG but the results..... sooo good. And great point about the labels. I always hunt around until I know exactly what's in it. Even with your everyday food shopping they have become very...

Yes, And your comment is not an unseal comment and I don't take any issue with it. I just have this thing about honesty in labeling. Until you read the fine print, you don't really know what you are getting. To get this image of the back label I had to really hunt around on the web to find...

The instructions say to ferment until an SG of 1.000 or lower is reached. Once again instructions that really are not accurate or shall we say ambiguous. This is the sort of thing that makes it more difficult for folks new to wine making. Here's the back label from their "Peach" Wine...

One of the advantages to that is a known type of bottle if the restaurant sells a limited variety or 'pushes' specific brands of wine. That makes it much easier to get matching bottles over time. Fortunately I would hope that most restaurants prefer the old-fashioned "Corked" bottles over...

Yes, when I expect the SG to have reached the bottom I check it for at least 3 days and if it hasn't changed and the SG is below 1.015 I call it done. While a good ferment will usually drop below .998 sometimes things just quit down there close. Especially if you start with a High SG as you...

Remember that your ferment conditions may not match those used in testing the yeast ABV limits in a laboratory. Under your fermentation conditions the yeast may well have already died off and fermentation is probably over unless that SG is still dropping. Also beware of CO2 gas causing an error...

Bit of an old and long thread to post to but... MAKE SURE you add plenty of pectic enzyme, pectinase or whatever product you have to break down the pectin. Pectic Haze is a serious bummer on a peach wine.

Our city (60K Population) has enough flow in the recycling center that I can, if I want to get picky, take only specific known brands of wine empties and then know exactly what label removal requires. I do find it frustrating as at least one person mentioned that front and back labels on the...