Search results

What are you using to fortify? I usually use a brandy. A suggestion - you might consider laying up a few bottles with SG around 1.02 and try them in 5 - 10 years.

IMO, the descriptions that the yeast manufacturers write, are written by the sales department. They are mainly waffle. If you want to "up your yeast game", everytime you make a batch of wine, make two or three separate and identical batches, with the only difference being a different yeast and...

Racked the wine, sg down to 1.005. It tasted dry but also quite tart - not sure if it was a vinegar tart or not. Decided to try a second run with the grapes. Time will tell what I wind up with!!

Well, it worked! I decided to shorten up the process, and I think that it was proper. There were a few grapes that had mold spores on them, under a dozen out of 10 pounds. It was a very messy job removing the grapes from the stems as most of the grapes were rather mushy with the most mushy...

II have been reusing screw top bottles , along with the old screw tops for10-12 years. Absolutely no problems, and I still ave a few full bottles from 2005 that are just fine. I also reuse scotch & bourbon bottles along with their cork stoppers - no problems, no spoiled wine. I totally agree...

Welcome, I'm 73 with an 06 Solstice and its pushing 20k miles! Do you have a spare bedroom or closet in the house to age your wines in? They might really cook in the summer out in the garage.

I just picked 10 pounds of wild grapes to try Carbonic Maceration an I picked off all of the dried and damaged grapes from the clusters. I've been using wild grapes for about 12 years and I've always de stemmed them by hand and culled out the bad grapes. How many pounds per gallon are you using?

If you think that the yeast will make much of a difference, make two identical batches, each with a different yeast. After a year, taste the two and decide - then YOU will know.

I picked 10 pounds, including the stems; and picked off green and shriveled grapes. Crushed some and added them to the pail, closed the lid and I'm waiting for a month. I'm very interested to see what it all looks, and tastes like then!

Thanks for the heads up! The recipe calls for 7 to 10 pounds of wild grapes per gallon. That is a lot of em. I plan on using a 5 gallon bucket with a snap on lid that should make it air tight.

What was your starting SG? At this point, I would only offer one suggestion - don't add any more herbs. Make a batch of wine with just the herbs, then blend it with your fruit wine when both are done.

I'm going to give it a try! It will only be a gallon or so. I will be making a larger batch with the standard procedure. I'm really surprised that no one has admitted to trying this!!

This looks like a very good year for wild grapes, so, I was looking thru a recipe book for some ideas. My book of choice was Mary's Recipes and I was drawn to "Wild Grape, Nouveau Style". I tried searching for Carbonic Maceration topics here and found some, but they seemed to a bit vague...

I'm surprised that your SG is down to 1.040. My guess is that the boiling water killed most of the yeast. Add the other 3/4 of the original packet of yeast.

And, when the bottle is empty no one will care.

If your grape quantities allow,I would make two batches - one red and one white. When they are done and ready to drink / bottle, I would then blend the wines to your taste.

Scooter & I disagree, at times, on the amount of fruit to use per gallon of wine; but even by my method, you're way under. IMO, you should not make a Plum, Elderberry, Grape, Blueberry wine. Make a gallon or two of each, then in a year invite a few friends over, taste the wines, blend the...

For Hibiscus flower wine, I've never added tannin. I made a Hibiscus / Heather wine and added 1/8 tsp of tannin for 2 gallons. For my wild Rose Petal wines, I always add 1/2 tsp per gallon.

I have one bottle with a glass cork and I've used it about 3 or 4 times. I like it, but the used screw tops are cheaper!!

It was started in a 7 gallon primary. Even though I used a bag for the fruit, I only would up with 20 bottles. Early on, I spilled about 3/4 of a gallon!!