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A quick question about the taste of DB-- I haven't made classic DB myself yet- I did a tropical blend from freezer fallout, and it was great! Used pineapple juice and some banana instead of the lemon juice, then a bunch (4-6 lbs of each) of mango and strawberry- I'd add some lemon juice next...

I probably drink 1-3 bottles a week. Just getting into winemaking, which I'm really enjoying. My bf on the other hand, can put away a couple of bottles a day if he's off work and sitting around playing video games. So, it lets me get my creative side going, and cuts back on his beer spending...

Thank you! I was getting confused with the GoFerm, Fermaid K and O and all that. Time to do some more reading!

Ok... maybe someone can help me out here. Our local wine supply place (read ONLY wine supply place in town) sells "Yeast Nutrient"- a white, crystalline powder- and "Yeast energizer"- a fine beige powder which contains "Diamond phosphate, Vitamin B complex, and Magnesium sulphate" (???)...

I am really going to have to start buying yeast from Amazon. Anywhere within a 2 hr drive here only carries EC1118 and K1V116. If I go further afield (3 hr drive) I can find D47, BM4X4, RC212 and a few Red Star choices, but not sure it's worth the $15 for shipping from there or the $50 in gas...

Speaking of distributors, I'm seeing if my budget will allow me to get one of these... Do you sell direct to Canada, or do you have a "local" distributor? I'm in Alberta if that helps.

Just started an "Australian Trio"- Cabernet sauvignon, shiraz, merlot kit (7L of juice, just under 2gal). It was $39 (CAD) so I couldn't pass up! Started it up at 5 gal instead of 6 gal, added a Fpac of 1 cup currants and 1 lb 5oz. raspberries. I cooked the raspberries in about 5 oz of a...

I hope it will be ok- the label on the cider I'm using only lists apples in the ingredients. It is a refrigerated product with a fairly short shelf life, so I'm thinking there are no preservatives. Thanks for the tip on the apple concentrate!

I'm having similar issues- I used 36 lbs of apples quartered and frozen (for a medium body apple wine) and added about 2 gal water and 2 gal apple cider (on sale at local grocery). Hardly any free liquid in it, so it's hard to stir, and yeast activity seems low. I have strained out half the...

Glass of dragon's blood tropicale I bottled in July.

Oh! I actually saw that a few pages back in the thread, thank you! I may have to try that on my next batch!

Yes, it was definitely clove wine, not rhubarb. I do not recommend that amount of cloves!!

Well, that's interesting, thank you for sharing! I wasn't aware of that. I did harvest 80% of the growth in June, and what's there is new growth, but it has been pretty warm since then, I wonder if the oxalic acid movement is time or temperature related. I will have to pick up a TA kit sooner...

Just found this thread when searching for "crabapple". I do however have a batch of rhubarb wine on the go right now-clearing, as I just started mine in July. So many great tips here!!! This is my second batch, the first we decided to try the "old fashioned German" version, which included 3/4...

I have used Red Star Cotes des Blancs (I know, different yeast!) a few times and it always takes about 3-4 days to show any activity. I generally "proof" the yeast in about a half a cup of warm water with a tsp or two of sugar for 15-30 min before I pitch. Good luck! Oops, saw after I posted...

Today I racked a 5 gal batch of rhubarb to a new carboy and degassed slightly (SG 0.996), and am setting up a sour cherry batch, as after this years harvest I think I have enough for 5 more batches still in the freezer- 60 lbs this year off my two little trees! And then I'm going to reward...

Granted I'm very new to this, but I stirred 2 cups sugar in to 2 cups of inexpensive Pinot Grigio until it was clear, and used that to sweeten some sour cherry and concord grape and a blend of these. For a batch of DB, I added the sugar for all 5 gallons (3.75 cups) into a bottle of another...

Hello there! I think I started a little backwards- making fruit wines first and now thinking about kits! Started making wine last year because our sour cherry trees were overachieving, and there's only so much pie and jam you can make! I picked up some used equipment and then friends and...

Just sweetening my first batch of DB. Had a bunch of frozen mango and strawberries in the freezer, so am calling it a Dragon's Blood Tropicale... Started with 2L of unsweetened pineapple juice, some banana juice (5 bananas simmered in 1L of water for 30 min, then filtered), 3 lbs frozen mango...

We've done 3 5-gallon batches of sour cherry over the last couple of years with fruit from trees in our yard. First batch sat on lees too long and had a bit of a nasty bitterness to it, next was much better, and the latest batch we tried a couple of different things. Backsweetened some (1/2 cup...