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Welcome Aaron! I think you’ll like it here. Lots of very experienced and very friendly folk.

Usually primary fermentation is done in an open bucket with just a towel covering it or a lid resting loosely on top. Much easier to clean, and gives your yeast better access to oxygen when it needs it. 9 days seems like a long time to only come down to 1.044, unless you are intentionally going...

Temperature changes the volume of 6 gallons by about 1 ounce for every 10°F. In the neck of my carboys (1 1/4” ID), that correspond to 1 1/2”. Dissolved CO2 would change the density of a liquid too, but I have no idea how significantly. Maybe a combination of both.

It’s also a way for a beginner to know they’re reading the hydrometer correctly: that the mark the must is at is 1.075, not 1.75. A lot of beginners have trouble reading one. If your kit says the SG should be over 1.075, and it’s not, I would take a picture of the hydrometer and contact the...

Whenever you read about time in wine-making, it’s to give you an idea what to expect. Every wine is different. Even with the same ingredients, every batch can be different. The SG is the ultimate indication of how your fermentation is doing. 1.000 is a very common point to rack to secondary, as...

It may not hit 0.990. You are now waiting for it to be the same reading 3 days in a row. And the air lock bubbling is not an indication of fermentation. It can bubble for a long time after fermentation is complete as CO2 comes out of solution (degassing).

There are varying opinions about that, but most leave the skins on, I believe, and slice them. Make sure to use very ripe (black, or at least mostly brown) bananas. The ripening process converts starch into sugar. Starch can cause a haze that prevents the wine from clearing.

@Val-the-Brew-Gal uses clothes baskets from Target. They’re just the right size, round, and best of all, they’re white inside, so you can more easily see how clear the wine is.

@Yooper🍷, I may be coming into some choke cherries. How many pounds per gallon did you use? Did you otherwise follow the Dragon Blood recipe?

Thanks, to both of you. It was extremely interesting to see the amount of scientific energy expended on explaining this curiosity.

Thanks. Good to know. I’ve only tried once. I did follow directions, 64 oz to start, etc. I hydrated the yeast. I did just use generic nutrient & energizer from my home brew store, so not sure how good or even what exactly it was. Fermentation started OK but got stuck a couple times. Eventually...

The oil dissolves in ethanol, but not water, so it’s clear when in the Everclear, but comes out of solution when diluted with water.

Probably “Ouzo Effect”. That stumped me too, but I think it was @sour_grapes that mentioned it in some thread. It is very interesting reading. Also why limoncello is cloudy. It won’t settle out, if that’s what it is. It’s tiny droplets of the lemon oil.

That’s what I’ve read since my first attempt as well. I will definitely give it another go. Also, I’ve read that using the slurry from a previous fermentation (of anything) can help too, as you’re starting with a large, healthy, acclimated, colony. The recipe calls for a slurry, but says you can...

Basically, and less lemon. DangerDave explains in his recipe that Skeeter Pee was his first home-made wine, and: And the rest, as they say, is history. So the SP that I converted into DB had twice the lemon juice (96 oz) and 3/4 of the berries (4 1/2 lbs) that the DB recipe calls for. I...

Saw the pictures, yup. Dragon Blood and Skeeter Pee are all I've tried. I had trouble with the SP and "converted" it into DB.

Oooo... exciting! You're in trouble now. haha.

Freezing helps to extract the juice, and to kill some living things (pretty sure it doesn't kill bacteria or wild yeast though). Do you have a hydrometer? You need one, and you need to learn how to read it. There is a tutorial in the beginners forum. The only way to know for sure that...

I assume both batches exhibit this medicinal taste. Everyone's definition of "medicinal" is different, but my thoughts are: It's young. It will change (improve) during the coming months in the bottle. You may simply be objecting to the normal, characteristic flavour of Dragon Blood -- more...

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