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Hello everyone. Thoughts welcome. I'm part way through an elderberry port. Made by manipulating an elderberry wine kit (it's mostly grape). I made the wine up as instructed. But only to 3.2 litres rather than the suggested 4.5 to counteract dilution of body/richness, fruity flavour in...

Yesterday I started a gallon of elderberry wine (kit). This afternoon it smelled pretty good, fermentation was quite vigorous and I was hopeful. But not 4 hours later and it's kicking out a bit of tang. Quite sour. But not awful. Does this sound normal? I've only made "true" wine once before...

Good afternoon all. Can anyone advise of the active ingredients of these products? Thanks

Afternoon all I'm bulk aging in a 4.5 litre demijohn. It's full to about 1 inch off the neck. I'd say the diameter of the wine/air contact area is about 10-12 cm. I added a campden tablet prior to racking over once fermentation was complete. Does that sound ok or should I try to reduce the...

Hello. I don't need it yet but I'm just looking for dining recommendations. I was looking at bentonite but I had read that it's not ideal for reds. Any suggestions? Also, if I am to use bentonite. Do I need to get anything I particular. There are plenty of food grade (or not) offerings on...

Yeah. It came with a kit. I'm surprised how it's widely available but no retailer lists it's composition. Neither does the manufacturer. Weird.

Afternoon all Quick question. Does anyone know what's in it? The label doesn't say. If smells chlorine-y. I'm not worried but I got some in my mouth by syphoning like a bad guy in movie. Didn't swallow it but if I end up having seizures and being rushed to hospital they say to bring...

Thanks. Last question. I also read that racking with an sg of 1.010 or lower could result in a stuck fermentation. Any truth in this?

Thank you. That's awesome. This stuff had better turn out like papasmurf-du-pape after all this. Just want to check. You say add kmeta and sorbate of backsweetening. Would I be adding kmeta at this point regardless and sorbate only if backsweetening or is it an all or nothing situation? Thanks...

Edit. I've just checked one of the resources. It definitely refers to the continued fermentation in the secondary vessel after racking off gross lees as a 'secondary fermentation'. No wonder I was confused. But I now know better.

I'm with you. I am with you. One fermentation, two vessels. I'll re read my resources to be sure but I think you're right about where the confusion has arisen. They're referring to racking off gross lees into a secondary vessel. And I don't need to rack so early as I have no gross lees. So I...

This is interesting. Every resource I have read says to rack after primary fermentation. It's one of the few things most resources agree on. But you guys say to continue un racked until all fermentation is complete. I'm not disputing. I'm grateful for your advice. But so you know why the...

To confirm. You're saying rack at the end of secondary fermentation but not after primary?

Hello I'm making wine from store bought juice and sugar. Because I'm a classy guy. I plan to rack once in the next day or two. Then ferment for the next two to three weeks. I'm then going to pop some oak chips in for a while. Do I need to rack again at this point? (And do I need a campden...

Too late for that I'm afraid. But thanks. I'll let you know if I die.

Thanks for the reassurance. I was using enough yeast for 25 litres in 4.5. so I'm hoping it's fine and there was enough living yeast. Chances are I'll tell during tasting. It smells ok at the moment. Thanks again

Hello. According to other threads here yeast is only good for a year or so. I've already put mine in. I got a very vigorous fermentation. Have I got lucky? Could there have been enough good yeast in there to develop to a usable quantity? To be safe should I rack and begin the primary...

In another thread I asked if yeast is fine if it still activates. The answer was yes. So I've just used some 6 year old yeast and it's working fine. Why is everyone sayin hee that new yeast is vital? It's got me a little concerned.

Use mass over volume to get density. To get specific gravity you just need to divide by the density of water, which is 1 anyway. In the end I've disregarded that. I've worked only with what I know yo be true. And I've lost confidence in my scales. So I used fermcalc and the known weight of...

Ok. I'm completely lost. I downloaded fermcalc (useful. Thank you). It told me what I needed to do. The main problem I have now is that it give cometely different figures to this resource: Adjusting Specific Gravity which I followed initially. I've now added an extra 350g sugar. As directed...