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You're welcome! (It's nice to know that I've given at least one piece of solid advice on this forum for all that I've received. . .) I have pictures in some of my notes, but not many. I'm trying to get better about embedding them.

Having them in a mesh bag makes transferring much easier. If they aren't in a bag you have to pour the juice through a strainer to get rid of them. With the mesh bag you can easily pull the bag out and just siphon off the juice. I've done one country wine without the bag. Never again!

I have been using Evernote to document all my progress, plans, recipes and tasting notes. Although my tasting notes are not very descriptive ("no longer tastes like jet fuel," etc). But I've got lots of room to add to each note and I can access it on all of my computers, iPad, etc.

I'm in the DC area, so I'm sure most of what would come our way is going to be expensive. But you are right that if it's fruit no one wants, that would still probably ferment OK!

I was hoping to make a peach wine this year with some farmer's market peaches, but I think that plan is shot now. I don't think I will be able to afford it! I hope next year goes better. (More for those who's livelihood depend on it than for my wine!)

I've got a cranberry wine I'm going to bottle in the next few weeks. I saw many differing ideas on how much to back sweeten. I think I took it up to 1.006. I might need to make a sweeter one next time to see the difference. How sweet would you take the cranberry?

Here's an updated picture of mine. It's clearing quite nicely. I do have a question. I think I've calculate the ABV at 9.5%. That's pretty low for what I've made in the past. I guess I shouldn't expect it to last forever in the bottle. Can you expect any issues with it being that low...

I think it would be hard to know for sure. The starting SG gives you an idea of the potential ABV. Not many home brewers can directly measure the final ABV, so it would be difficult to know how far off you were (if at all). I do mostly country wines, and I just take it as it is. (I don't...

Welcome to the forum. The most important part of wine-making to really enjoy is the process. There is a long "flash to bang" time (to use an Army expression) of getting to the final product, so it's important to enjoy the journey!

Is there any good rule of thumb that lets us know how much ABV you need to age something? I've got a mead going right now that I think will come out to 9.5%. I figure it will be ready to drink sooner than a higher ABV wine would be, but not sure how problematic that low ABV will be if I want...

Welcome to the forums from the other coast!

I'll admit neither one looks very clear right now! I may have picked up too much junk of the dregs when I transferred the cranberry. I'll definitely let them both settle a lot before I think about bottling.

So it's been several months since I started this. The final SG reading was 0.994. I had some leftover cranberry wine from my initial batch, so that was used to top off this one which made it a bit more red. It's still not 100% clear, but that seems to be almost universal with all my batches...

:< Wow, that would make for some expensive wine!

I transferred it day before yesterday (my snow day) to get it off of the lees, which seemed to not be compacting anymore. So now i have almost a full 3 gallon carboy of good stuff, and a half gallon of "dregs" that I'm keeping under vacuum to help settle out. I plan to pull the good stuff off...

The plan for Vanilla was to add it in secondary. I'll have to think about the back sweetening issue. I almost wish I could do two side by side to see the difference, but that's a bit beyond what I want to do right now. I have a 5L oak barrel that I still need to break in (to use for vanilla...

The thought on the vanilla was more for the flavor than the "sweetness" per se. I guess I really need to decide on what % alcohol I really want in the finished product, as I'm not 100% sure what I'm looking for. I think I might just try to run it to 12% (going dry) and then back-sweetening it...

Yeah, a couple of inches of wet sleet to shovel today was all we had. At least the 10th grader was home from school and could help out. I would have loved a lot more, but this isn't the year for it apparently.

OK. With all that I've heard, I think I'll go with this instead. Trader Joes Tart Cherry juice (not from concentrate) 32oz X2 Trader joes Cherry juice (from concentrate) 32ox X1 3 pounds of honey. (Still up for debate) water to 1 gallon. (if needed) 12 oz frozen dark cherries 71B-1122 yeast...

Yeah, living in the DC area makes these forecasts tough. A 20 mile difference in the track of the storm means we could either get 12+ inches or nothing but rain! Dinner plans for us tomorrow is some brunswick stew that's been sitting in the freezer waiting for such an occasion. I'm sure I...