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@winemaker81 spot on, thanks. Will just give it a bit of time.

Edit- damn autocorrect! Title should read “ can you lose the yeast when racking to secondary” I recently started 25ltrs of mixed berry. I used rc212 yeast for the first time and was shooting for 15%, which is close to the tolerance, but I thought I’d give it a try anyway. I removed the fruit...

Here goes: In a fermenting bucket. 15ltrs of rinsed oak leaves - sticks, stems and creepy crawlies removed - packed in a fermenting bucket and measured off the scale 0.5kg sultanas (whole organic and rinsed) 2x lemon zest and juice 2x orange zest and juice 3.5kg white sugar 15ltrs boiling...

English oak (Quercus robur, common/pedunculate) I didn’t add any tannins but there’s more than enough in the finished wine. I wouldn’t know how it compares to black or white oak but from reading, it seems that there is much more tannin in the autumn leaves than in the spring leaves. Great...

The elderberries are not looking good this year so I’ll have to save that one for another time. However, our solitary black currant bush has just given up a bumper crop. Between that and the few lbs in the freezer from the last couple of years, I think I have ample for a 3 gallon batch. I’m out...

Finally bottled some of the oak leaf I started at the end of August ‘22. It’s good, like really good. It’s a real surprise because it tasted awful just 2 weeks ago. It definitely didn’t want to clear so I added some bentonite. After 12 or so days It looked crystal clear in the carboy but has...

I’d never heard of Haskap before reading this. After a bit of Googling it seems that the Scottish Honeyberry (haskap) coop was formed just 12 miles from me in 2017, to introduce haskap as a new crop to Scotland. Who knew?? I’ll see if I can get a few pounds to try and maybe half a dozen bushes...

No, not yet. I’ve some tips in the freezer from last year which I might try. The ‘spruce beer’ was very good at around 5 or 6% using brown sugar. If I make spruce wine I’ll aim for 11%ish with a mix of brown and white sugar I think. I did find about 5lb of black currents in the freezer last...

Thanks all. Looks like the consensus is elderberry and blackberry. Both grow wild nearby so they’ll definitely be the right price for me. @vinny I’ve only tried 2 kits. The red was mediocre and the white was absolutely awful. Might just give a kit wine another go though. @Raptor99 I’ll try...

Hi, I’m looking for suggestions. I like a really ‘heavy’ red wine but I haven’t found a country/fruit wine that really hits the spot yet. I’ve made bilberry, mixed red berry, red gooseberry, beech leaf, and I’ve just bottled 3 gallon of blueberry. All good wines and perfectly drinkable but I...

Welcome to WMT. Here’s my CJJ Berry dried bilberry. Just 4 or 5 months old but worth the short wait.

I bottled a couple of gallons of the dried bilberry back in August. It wasn’t brilliant. More like a cheap sherry and quite bitter. It wasn’t repulsive but I struggled drinking more than a glass or 2 in a sitting. To be honest I was a bit disappointed and thought I’d end up chucking the rest...

The winery is just 20 mins off the a9 at a place called Errol. If you’re heading to Dundee you’ll pass right by it. Pretty sure it’s open every day. Check out the website, I dare say they’ll do tastings. Cairn o' Mohr

Yea, of course. I didn’t follow a recipe for this one, pretty much just chucked in some stuff out of the fruit bowl which looked a bit past it for eating. I also had a try at using a starter rather than just pitching a yeast. I did take a lot of notes though….. - 1.2kg of rinsed and gently...

Lunan Bay on the East coast of Scotland. Very dog friendly…..🙄

Thanks @Jovimaple, it cleared on its own. It was pretty clear after 3 months but still had a bit of “fizz” so I left it for another 2 months.

I’ve got 15ltrs or so oak leaf on the go just now. I started it at the end of august. It still looks like dish water but is starting to clear nicely. I’m looking forward to that one. Autumn oak leaf is my all time favourite country wine. Fingers crossed mine tastes as good as the commercial version.

I used the young translucent leaves. I found some information on foraging. If you were to pick the leaves for a salad you’d use the young leaves so I just went with that train of thought. Old leaves would be worth a try but may be quite bitter.

I bottled the Beech leaf a couple of nights ago. It’s good, surprisingly good actually. Definitely one to try again.

Bottled this tonight, 8 and 3/4 bottles in total. What an absolute winner! Small batch Beech Leaf. Very light, quite citrus with a hint of hazelnut yoghurt. Very pleasant. Around 12%. I’ll make this one again in a bigger batch for sure.