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🤣🤣 Don’t worry, Scots are equally adept at drinking in the rain!

I’ve used cork but they are pretty poor quality to be honest. Quite a few of them split while I was inserting them. Aye, I mean how long I can stop one of our lot from drinking them.

Apart from the 5 berry wine I “bottled” into 5ltr plastic Jerry cans for a camping trip, this is the first wine I have actually managed to bottle rather than drinking it straight out of the jug! 6 rhubarb and 6 pink gooseberry, 2 very different wines but both excellent. Not sure how long...

I made a batch of apple wine from 100% “pressed cloudy” apple juice. I added sugar syrup to SG 1.085 and added pectolaze, nutrient etc. We were in middle of a heat wave when I pitched the yeast but I was still surprised that the SG went from 1.085 to 0.996 in 4 days. I’ve had it in a glass...

I made apple wine from 100% juice a couple of weeks ago. I’d bet a few pounds of raspberries chucked in would be worth a try.

Just bring it up to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer.

4.5 ltr water 250g fresh spruce tips 500g dark brown cane sugar Zest and juice of 1 orange Zest and juice of 1 lemon Boil all above and simmer for 30 mins. Cool and strain into demijohn Add 1tsp yeast and 1/2tsp of nutrient and shake. Let it ferment to dry and then bottle with 1/2tsp table...

Jury is out on this one. I racked all 3 runs of the bilberry tonight. I’ve ended up with almost 60 litres of OK light red table wine. The 3 runs are very different. All drinkable but I can’t see any of them being a favourite. Definitely worth the experiment though.

I’ll definitely be making this again. 4 or 5 weeks in the bottle has made all the difference. Still undecided if it will work as a wine with higher abv, but as a refreshing light beer, it’s spot on.

Spot on, thanks all.

Is there a beginners guide to yeast or maybe a table of yeast strains with all the characteristics listed? I’ve been using Youngs basic dried active yeast. It’s doing exactly what I need it to do but I’m intrigued by all the other strains and curious if they would really make a discernible...

Did you drink that before putting it in the bucket?

All “bottled” and ready for the camping trip. Back sweetened with 10g sugar per litre. The bentonite definitely did the trick.

I’m looking forward to reading your experiences. I’m sure I could find 1 or 2 of them oaks over here if I looked hard but the only 2 in abundance here are pedunculate and sessile. I have no idea how they will compare. Did you use just leaves or did you add anything else? I’m curious as my...

@winemaker81 I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. Just now I can’t see past making small batches of country wine. However, 1 gallon batches are just a bit too small and a bit of a faff. I’d like to have enough in front of me that I can age some for a good period. But, I’m not adverse to...

Thanks again for all your comments. I’m pretty settled 3g (11ltr) carboys and have ordered 4 today. I think they will do me for a while. Having racked a couple of my wines I’ve currently got 6 (3 clear and 3 brown) 1g demijohns empty so, with the 4 new carboys on the way, I’m itching to get...

I don’t know to be honest. I’ll have a look. I do have a 23ltr plastic wide mouth fermenter with handles. That’s dead handy but only really good as a primary. I’m planning to start a batch of oak leaf in that. That’s pretty much where I am at the mo. I’m making 15 to 25 ltr batches in a bucket...

Just planning on making 4 or 5 5g batches a year of whatever fruit we have at the time. We grow a lot of soft fruit and rhubarb. I hadn’t intended to do any kits but I suppose it would be good to have the equipment to match a kit if the time ever comes. I don’t think the bigger carboys are...

I started making wine just a couple of months ago but I’m already looking to scale up. At the mo I have 20+ 4.5/5 ltr demijohns, 2x ltr buckets, a 10 ltr bucket and a 23 ltr plastic fermenter. The question is, what’s the pros and cons of scaling up to 5 gallon carboys?

I ended up racking all 4 gallons tonight. A wee bit later than I planned but time has got away from me the last while. I added 2 tablespoons of bentonite slurry per gallon to 3 gallons, whipped it up with a drill mounted degassing wand, kept a ltr aside for a taste and used the rest to top up a...