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I made several batches before I found this site and found out the correct way to make wine. I learned from my father some 30 years ago. No chemicals/additives - basically fruit, water, sugar, yeast. I have to point out there was no aging involved. From start to bottle was usually 3 months...

That brings up more questions: 1. Recommendations on how to raise the SG and ensure the sugar is dissolved? My standard procedure is to crush fruit, place in straining bag, put fruit and juice in the primary, add water to desired level, pull fruit, check SG, add sugar (usually 4 cups to...

First for me ... started new batch of muscadine yesterday. Brought SG up to 1.090. Added crushed campden tabs, yeast energizer and nutrient, pectic enzyme. 1 hr later, SG is 1.070. Brought back up to 1.090. 2 hrs later, SG is 1.070. Brought it back to 1.090. 12 hrs later, SG is 1.070...

I have zero experience with acid measuring/adjustment. Here’s the situation: First time with a Homewinery concentrate “kit” – concentrate (1 Merlot, 1 Blackberry), yeast and acid for each. Acid packs are labeled “Merlot acid” and “Blackberry acid”, have no idea what’s actually in them...

Just ordered blackberry and merlot concentrates from Homewinery.com. Never made wine from concentrate. Do y'all start the ferment in the carboy per the instructions or start in a bucket for the first week then transfer? Any other tips/suggestions? TIA!!

Set it in front of our living room doors that get lots of sunlight, temp came up to 72. No visible activity after another 12 hrs so I hydrated another yeast packet in 1/2 c of must warmed to 100. Let that work for 4 hrs then added to primary. Fermenting like a freight train now!

Followed Dave's instructions. Initlal mixing was Sunday afternoon. Hydrated and pitched yeast, EC-1118, Monday (16 hrs later), starting SG 1.090. Yeast was working well in the measuring cup before pitching. 12 hrs later, no activity, 24 hrs later (today) no activity. Must temp is 66. So...

Need a DB recipe recommendation Looking for something to get me thru the winter down time. Both the wife and I like a not-so-sweet, dry wine. Merlot is our store bought wine of choice. My blackberry and red muscadine (Nobles) our favorite homemade. After pouring thru this thread for over an...

Greg - there were actually 4 batches - 3 red, 1 white and I did the same to each. The numbers were slightly different for the white: started @ 1.112, at 1.014 when I added 1 gal which put it at 1.008, 0.992 at first rack. Numbers were the same as the OP for all the red.

makes perfect sense to me ... thanks!

actual numbers based on Seth's formula, initial volume 5 gals, final volume 6 gals: 125{[1.112-1.01]*5+[1.004-0.990]*6}/6=12.375% Which leads to another question ... SGs and vols were measured before first racking. After racking off the lees SG is obviously still the same, but now the...

Busy day at the “winery” yesterday: Bottled 10 gals of blackberry, 5 gals of cherry, 5 gals of “original” peach, 2 gals of “new” peach (new recipe) and 2 gals of strawberry. Then racked 15 gals of red muscadine and 5 gals of white muscadine. After all that work (and the mandatory...

Understand why starting sg should be 1.090 (or higher) ...why is 1.010 the magic number for transfer to secondary? Have 3 batches of red muscadine going, 2 are at 1.018, 1 at 1.020 and 1 batch of white muscadine at 1.024. All started at 1.110. Will be topping off with 1 gal of water for...

Thx. I pitched the yeast last night @1.110 assuming it would drop at least 0.02 or more when I added water. This is my first batch using the hydrometer from the start. Due to a variety of reasons (mostly lack of planning and equipment) I wasn't able to have 5 gals at the start. All of my...

What would be a good starting SG for muscadine (Nobles) that I'm going to top off with 1 gal of water once I transfer to the carboy? 5 gal batch.

About to start my first batch using the hydrometer from start to finish. The basis for all my recipes (5 gal batches) is X lbs of fruit, Y lbs of sugar. 1/2Y lbs of sugar is added to 1 gal boiling water, then added to fruit when cool along with yeast that was started at least 4 hrs before...

Turock ... started in May so its only 3 months old. Julie ... patience?!!? The slogan on our labels is "Aging is overated!!!" :)

Follow up to my SG post. Started a new thread so the new question didn't get lost in the first thread ... added 1 crushed Campden tab and 1/2 tsp Sorbate to each gal of strawberry. Campden tab made the wine cloudy. No sign of clearing after 12 hours .... now what????

seth - was wondering that myself. SG of room temp water is 1.000. Anybody have any thoughts as to why it finsiched so dry?

Been making wine 3 years. Learned “old school” from my Dad … no chemicals, hydrometer checks, etc just fruit, yeast, sugar and water. Wine always comes out good but started researching ways to make it better when I found this site. So here’s the situation … first ever strawberry. 5 gal...