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Thanks for the response. I haven't read his book but I have watched a number of podcasts featuring him. I believe that he has said he does not add any preservative or stabilizers to his meads. I wonder if traditional mead is not as susceptible to oxidation/flavor change due to oxygen compared to...

I just started a traditional using local wildflower honey a few days ago. Took pH and TA measurements using lab grade equipment. S.G. was 1.100 pH= 4.44 TA = 0.45g/L (I measured TA twice to make sure I didn't mess up). I didn't add acid as I normally would with a wine must given these...

1. Yeast need oxygen to multiply. However, Since you're only making one gallon, the headspace to must ratio you will have in the carboy will have plenty of oxygen for your yeast colony to grow. To be safe, aerate your must well before pitching yeast if you're going to install an airlock right...

Same observations as I had about the tartness. I also doubled the berries and used 32oz lemon juice. The doubling of the berries probably caused the sourness and the little reduction of lemon juice just wasn't enough to offset that. I too will only use 24oz of lemon juice next time if made again...

Enjoyed reading your thread. Your pH and TA numbers look good. As far as tannin goes, you can add some at a later time depending on your taste. Having tannin also helps preserve color as well as gives a wine a longer aging potential depending on the amount. Keep updating with your progress...

Update 03/27/24 - SG 0.990, Abv: 13.1% Racked and split the batch into two. Half blended with a black currant wine and half went into a 5L carboy. Into the 5L I added 1t acid blend, 2 campden tabs, 1/2t sorbate and sparkolloid. The campden tabs immediately turned the wine an orange color...

Thanks for the quick reply. I will wait until next racking then.

Update 03-22-24 This batch is flying through fermentation. Already down to 1.014 gravity in 4 days. I removed the nylon bags with fruit pulp and poured into a 5 gallon carboy. I’m impressed at how much extraction I got from the strawberries. From 22lb of berries I was left with 2.5lb of lightly...

I started my first strawberry wine the other day. Meijer had them on sale for 99 cents per pound so I bought 24lb. The strawberries were somewhat tasteless so I decided to do a 3 gallon batch. After destemming/cleaning I ended up with 22lb of berries. Recipe - 03-17-24 22lb clean strawberries...

Just in case anyone was interested in this. I went ahead and mixed up a 4.5 gallon batch of this in the same 19:1 ratio and same SG as my test sample. My original plan was to add nutrients gradually so I added 2tsp of DAP, 2tsp of Fermax and aerated well. Pitched one packet of 71B yeast directly...

Another one that worked like a charm last night. Not an ounce spilled over.

I bought 10lb of Black currant concentrate that I want to make wine with. I know acidity is high so I diluted a 1oz sample of concentrate to 20oz with well water and enough sugar to bring the SG up to 1.104. I then took it to work for testing. pH was 3.00 and TA came in at 1.1% (11g/L). This was...

Just wanted to share with you all a helpful trick I learned if you’re doing primary in a carboy that you filled up too high. All you have to do is put a little nylon fruit mesh bag over the carboy top, sinch it up and stuff it inside. This will minimize or eliminate the bubbles from coming up...

Bottled the DB last weekend. It is the most aromatic wine I’ve made. Smells strong of raspberries. Taste is great except a little too sour for me. Next time I will use 24oz of lemon juice instead of 32oz. I’m happy with the final product especially for a wine this young. Also, it cleared very...

Taste testing update! I bottled both wines this past weekend (02/24/24). Both wines fermented to 0.990. I racked, sorbated and sulfited both wines, then added enough sugar syrup to get to 1.020. To recap, the easy/hands off method (blueberries in for 3 months and no racking) I'm calling recipe...

She said they fill the 6 gallon carboy just below the shoulder so I'm estimating about 4 gallons of water if you account for the space the berries take up. Also, the sweetness level tasted about 1.030 to me.....Its possible that the yeast did not ferment to its full capacity. I highly doubt that...

First batch of DB almost done fermenting. SG was 1.094 and used 32oz of lemon juice for a pH of 3.30. 8lb of Berry blend to 5 gallons. After stabilizing I will add another 4lb of berries (macerated in some sugar) and let it sit for 2-4 weeks. This will be my first time ever adding fresh fruit...

The mead looks tasty. I do have some advice for you though. Racking to a larger vessel after fermentation is long over and waiting weeks (steps 6 and 7) is risking oxidizing the mead very badly. Next time try omitting steps 4, 5, 6 and 7. Replace them with a step 4 that looks like this: Rack to...

UPDATE!!! I started an experiment based on the original post. I made two (well actually three batches but the third was not relevant to the original experiment) batches of wild blueberry wine. One in a way that I thought would make the best tasting and looking wine, using more modern and...

Never heard of tart blueberries. I do know that tart cherries make a better wine than black/sweet cherries so perhaps it would be the same with blueberries. The only caveat is that blueberries are highly acidic so if tart blueberries are even more acidic it might be a problem getting...