Recent content by ashappar

attach a blowoff hose and run it into a small jug. use a hose that fits into the neck of the carboy snugly and let it overflow into the jug until it settles down. then re-attach the airlock. anti foaming agent may help. I know it helps keep down the foam during the boil when making beer.

I find it is simple and efficient to steam juice soft fruits like blackberry / strawberry / raspberry/ etc and build the must from that. no pushing down fruit or fretting over primary size. -cheers

montmorency cherry dessert wine from concentrate my notes are awful. I'll try to expand them from memory as I sip the wine. A larger batch I did in a 3G better bottle and 2x 1G glass carboys. final yield was about 4G and some drinking during bottling by me and helper/bystanders. I used the...

for volume, I had two 32oz bottles of cherry concentrate and ended up with about 4G of finished wine. I could have been more efficient, but experiments can be wasteful and I did drink some of the juice too.

thats a good question CG, I should gather up my notes and post something in the recipe section. what I did when I got the concentrate was first do a taste test on single strength juice after reconstituting with water per the bottle instructions. It was quite good and the gravity was ~1050 if...

pretty much same here BobF. finding a US based retailer of pure blackberry concentrate was also a challenge for me. Cherry / blueberry was fairly easy to find. (brownwood acres) as far as advertising on their website that its for making wine, well actually most dealers don't go much farther...

21 brix is what I found on Walker's website.

I looked a bit and found 21brix for their juice products. thats pretty good for a ready made must.

looks like single strength juice Tom. previous vendors listed have 7:1 concentrate which works out to a better price if you want volume. I wish they would quote the brix for their pail products, but I suspect its around 15 - 25. wonder if there is added sugar to up the brix on the fruit...

hey BobF, nice link and they have similar products to these guys : http://www.greenwoodassociates.com/products.asp greenwood has a large selection of juice and puree, and even wine grape concentrates. They are near chicago and closer to my area, and yours too it seems. I think $237 +...

nice blog post Luc thanks for pointing to that. I used your same picking strategy part way through the season. there were so many berries this year, I decided to be choosy and only take the fat sweet ones. Heres hoping they make a wine as delicious as they were to eat.

thanks guys. Sparky, the brix from the berries is a helpful reading. when I steam my blackberries I'll take a reading also to see what that gets me. I haven't steamed long enough to be an expert so always appreciate advice. Its hard to tell when to stop, and to resist fiddling with the lid...

I know it will vary based on type and growing conditions, but can anyone chime in on the average brix of blackberry juice that comes from their steamer? I havent steamed mine yet, they are still in the freezer - but I'm curious about how sweet the product will be. There is a place north of...

I put the year/month I started it since my wines sometimes sit in a carboy for a long time. no abv or other notes besides the name. I never put labels on kit wines, only an identifiable shrink cap and I keep them together on a rack. but I just do cheap kits of mist type stuff and it goes...

I've noticed the hard rubber bungs I have put off a stink when you spray them with starsan. for glass, the ones that are in mxsteve's pic work best. nice shape and good design. I think I got mine from FVW. I put all the hard rubber ones in storage, good riddance.