Recent content by blackpage

I have done that the last couple of times and the water answer just seems to be unsure. This last time i used 9 lbs and followed your recipe to the T! haha but I think I still used to much water. but next time I will definitely put it on here for awhile before so we can discuss it.

Thanks so much Wade!! I do feel better that water is my main problem. I'll just have to play with how much fruit to use. I'm increasing each batch. Eventually I'll get there I'm sure. Thanks again!

Wow guys thank you so much. Turok I have read a couple things about MLF and I was fairly certain I was good not to but thought I would ask. As far as my issues with fruit wine I THINK I'm starting to figure out that water is my problem. I've been topping with water (on top of adding water...

Thanks for your response I feel better haha I am sure I have tried some wines that have been but I've never actually been told the difference or handed one that has been followed by one that hasn't. I am just trying to work out the bugs as to why my wines aren't turning out as good as I...

Just a quick question... Is encouraging a malolactic fermentation (MLF) a general practice when making fruit wines? Everytime I see someone talk about MLF they are talking about grape wines. Since I am mainly trying my hands at fruit wines I wonder if this is something I should be doing...

Lo and behold it was the temperature. It took leaving a space heater in my bedroom with the door closed all weekend to get it fermented but it is dry now...whew!! Now the question is this...does the fact that I just had such a hard time fermenting that the wine might be tainted or hurt in some...

so it's Friday...4 days after I added yeast and there doesn't seem to be any change. :-( I just took the SG and it is 1.08 which is SLIGHTLY lower than it was on Monday (1.088) but I don't know that I want to get excited that it's doing something with that small of a change. The temperature...

Thanks grapeman (for putting the posts together and the advice) I sadly have 2 things working against me right now. I did stir when I added the yeast (I did it without thinking and as soon as I stopped I realized what I did) also my heater spazzed out yesterday and out house was only about 60...

thanks I will post anything else in my original thread but I'll chill for a couple more days before I get nervous. Just the first one that started slow for me

It's only day 2...what's wrong? nothing is bubbling...grr I did everything with my blackberry batch by the recipe and nothing is bubbling to show fermentation. I posted the recipe and what I have done so far in a post a couple of nights ago as "Second try at Blackberry" What's wrong with my...

what is the reason that you don't stir the must after you pitch the yeast. I have read some that say to stir and others that say not to but I was just curious why not to?

I was only intending to make 1 gallon. I had originally held back on the water and got an SG of 1.1 which I would have originally left alone but I'm going by Tom's blackberry recipe that the SG should be around 1.085 so I added the rest of the water and it brought it down to 1.088. I guess...

I meant the SG is at 1.088 (obviously) oops!

I started my second batch of Blackberry tonight and I figure I'll just talk with you guys every step of the way and hopefully this one will turn out awesome...I've done tons of research and THINK I can do it well but...we'll see. here is what i've done so far: Recipe (1 gallon) 3 3/4 quarts...

I was just thinking about my next batch and what I will do and I was wondering about the amounts of water that you put into a batch. It seems that all recipes (no matter how much fruit you use) call for X gallons minus 1/4 gallon of water. I would think that if you are using significantly more...