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The key in using used screw tops is to tighten them! If screw tops were as bad as some of you are touting, the commercial wineries wouldn't be using them.

Use Rose Petals instead. Much better.

My second, and last, kit was a Gamay Beaujolais from 1975 - bottled on 1/2/1976. It was a 5 gallon kit and it was the first wine to be aged in my brand new oak barrel. Well, it turned out too oaky and tart; but I couldn't throw it out! I thought that it might mellow out with bottle ageing...

I've been making Cranberry wine since 1976, usually with fresh cranberries. I've occasionally added some Cranberry juice cocktail and every so often I've made it with canned cranberries. I'm not sure, but I don't believe that a pure Cranberry juice exists. It seems like you would need 50...

The Star Anise wine is doing very nicely. It fermented down to .992, and it seemed to be cloudy so I added some Sparkaloid and after 3 weeks it has nicely cleared. We did some tasting and decided on adding 1/2 c of sugar per gallon - dry it was too bitter. A lot of the anise flavor didn't...

I just added the yeast to a 5 gallon batch of canned cranberry wine. Got the cans for $.375 each - the jellied sauce this time rather than the whole berry sauce, so I'm not really sure exactly how much fruit I actually used. 24 - 14oz cans for the batch. I will keep the board up to date on it.

I no longer use any corks. Screw tops are my bottle of choice, next are used bottles and the plastic tasting corks, and scotch bottles with their cork is third. I have some wine is screw top bottles from 2010 and it is fine. I've been making wine since 1973 and I've never had wine in a bottle...

First, back sweetening imo, generally brings out more fruit flavor. If you want residual sugar after fermentation, start with a higher SG than 1.111, around 1.13. After fermentation seems to have stopped, let it age a year with some periodical racking and it should be just fine to bottle. The...

Canned cranberries vs. fresh is close to equal.

If you make Cranberry wine again, try it with the canned cranberries. Look for them at a closeout grocer, where they sell out of date goods. Our's has them for 75 cents. Aldi has fresh berries right now for 99 cents for a pound. Both canned and fresh will make a better wine than just the juice.

The hops as well as the carrots were in for 6 days.

I'm just a stubborn old f**t whose been doing this for 46 years. I sprinkle, usually Premier Cuvee. When I make Cranberry, I often have to add a second pack, but beside that, I've never had a batch not ferment out. BTW, when I make bread, I add the dry yeast to the mixture!

A few years ago, I mad a carrot / hop wine. It was ok, but would have been better without the carrots! I only used 1/2 ounce of hops per gallon. I didn't boil the hops, just added boiling water to the must.

I've never tried nut wines, but I would like to! Actually, I'm going to make it this fall. Here is Jack Keller's recipe and notes: Walnut Wine Pecans, hazelnuts, peanuts, brazil nuts, cashews, pistachio nuts, and most other nuts are inappropriate for making wine because their oils go rancid...

I started this wine in late June - this is the recipe: 7.28 Oz of Star Anise finely ground 11 lbs Sugar 5 Campden Tabs 1 ¼ tsp Tannin 3 ½ T Acid blend 5 tsp Yeast Nutrient ½ tsp Yeast Energizer 2.33 gal Juicy Juice Punch 1 pkt Premier Cuvee Yeast Starting SG was a bit high = 1.110. I...

After you washed the primary out, try adding a cup of sodium meta solution to it and just leave it until the next fermentation.

I would urge you to work at deciding your own preference in the amount of fruit that you use. I respect Scooter's desire to not use any water in his must, but I also respect Jack Keller's recipe amounts of fruit. You should make three batches of each fruit wine that you make, one with all...

I had a similar problem and I felt that it was due to a crock that I was using for the primary. I could tell that it was absorbing some wine because the outside of the crock was weeping a small amount of a dark sticky liquid after a week of primary fermentation.

Boones Farm sounds about right. Or some of the odd crap that I make! Maybe some Star Anise when its done.

I'll be starting mine in two weeks. I'll keep you posted!