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I understand that wine itself (or the alcohol in the wine) acts as a preservative of sorts when storing wine. The lowest wine I have seen on the market is ~10%. Is there a reason wine is not made down in the 6 or 7% range (or even 5%)? Will it be what I have seen on the forum called too...

Will, I have also lurked and learned.... I had a grapefruit wine that was bitter... I grew and juiced the grapefruit and it may be the pith from the juicing that is causing the bitterness (it may be acid concentration as well). If you have not looked it up yet, check out egg white fining (it...

Newbie question..... Is there a "magic number" for a % of the blend? Should it be at least 25%? I see some of the comments that looks like they may be 25/25/50 or variations... I like blending my blackberry wine with grape wines... and, as every one says, seems to make it better than either...

Thanks, @Johnd, not only do you know your stuff, you have a great way with words to express it! With the Covid, State of Affairs in the County and some other issues... who needs more "wretched despair and sadness"! Count me OUT on this idea. Thanks to all who provided guidance... Listen...

@sour_grapes, its the Wine Lovers kits, 5.2Liter ($55 est ABV11.5%)and 16 Liter ($90 est ABV 13.5%).. I was thinking they were the same concentration of the juice.....but I guess that if they were the same concentration then the finished ABV would also have to be about triple but it's not, so...

Maybe @Johnd could wade in and clarify this for us....

@KCCam .... I was under the impression that the 16 litre kit was of the same concentration as the 5.2 litre kit.... ?? is it not? I thought the 16 liter would just make a much more flavorful wine. The 5.2 litre was ok, so I was thinking one at 8 liter would be better than the 5.2 but maybe...

I have made a lot of fruit wines, and I have made a 5.2liter kit. I was thinking about buying a 16 liter kit designed for 6 gallons but making 2 six gallon batches. That would be 8 liters vs the 5.2 liters of my first kit. I plan to get the initial SG at 1.09 or so for both batches, but I...

That's it. and yes, I just double the fruit (all fruit is home grown so got plenty). After about 9 batches, I have not had any failures and everyone really enjoys it. I did reduce the lemon (since I used fresh frozen lemon juice) to reduce tartness. Seems to be balanced and it ferments...

Another option.... I have made straight up blackberry, and I have made Danger Dave's Dragon Blood Blackberry (with 12lbs of BBs). I actually prefer the Danger Daves... it's pretty dark when finished. But if you want it darker, I have mixed it with a cabernet I had made... and liked that even...

DDDB it calls for 48oz of lemon juice (but says any amount can be added).... I have made Blackberry with 48, 40 and 32oz.... and I seem to be liking it heading that direction (though I have enjoyed it all)... how low has anyone gone on the lemon juice? I am now doing a muscadine, and went back...

Hey James, I have the same issue... hot in the summer, but I still ferment in the garage, I just put the fermentation bucket in a cooler, fill the cooler with water, and periodically add frozen bottles of water to keep the temp I want. I have seen what @Johnd mentions, it heats up as it gets...

Got enough batches going that bottling (actually bottle prep, I have an AIO for filling, great tool btw) is becoming a log jam... going to get the pump sanitizer and a bottle drying rack... can some of the experienced folks weigh in and let me know your opinion on if a bottle tree (which one)...

I tried by hand, with a potato masher and those muscadines were exploding juice all over the place.... ended up putting about a quart at a time into a gallon ziploc freezer bag, pushing the air out and squishing them with the heal of my hand on the counter top... no more mess! Since I am...

Val, just to be sure, you put the entire grape/muscadine (mashed up but with skins & seeds) for the entire time it takes to ferment down to 1.000, as the recipe calls for, correct? I've read so much about how much time "on skins" I get a sense it is important, but not having done grapes, just...

Hey Jme, I am about to start a DangerDave Dragon Blood Muscadine and was looking at muscadine threads... I am also fairly new, done about a dozen batches... but looking above... I would double check that SG.... from the other data you proved it looks like it should be more like 1.054 instead of...

Thanks @KCCam, if I read it correctly in the link you provided, @MickeyB, just "substituted double the muscadines (12 lbs) for berry blend and added 1 tsp of acid" and went with the recipe. And he indicated it was great.... I am assuming that it's acid blend he added... if this sounds right...

@dangerdave @KCCam See above... forgot about adding the @ !

I've searched this thread for a DD muscadine recipe... but only found a recipe for triple berry (6lb) and muscadine (8lb) combo ... would the Danger Dave Recipe work with using muscadine only? or would there be an imbalance because of not enough acid or tartness from the berries? I have...

Thanks... I will do the taste and smell test. I had the carboy full well up into the neck, it was in an enclosed space, no signs of fruit flies, so I am hoping you are correct and it will be ok. It is time to rack, sweeten, add kmeta and sorbate and bottle. I plan to leave it another 6 months...