Recent content by Craig

A nylon or mesh scrubber really makes short work of the glue and clingy bits. Run a small stream of hot water over the glued area and scrub. Most of the glues come off this way, but there are a couple that don't work and have to resort to things like GOO-GONE.

Use a brew belt or a heating device to raise the temp of your primary and later secondary fermenters. A cool temp when starting the ferment may delay or halt fermentation. Raise the temp of the primary to between 21 C (70F) and 24 C (75F). I find the a lower temp for the secondary is OK (so...

Sour wine is usually considered to be vinegar. Think of a cooking example, Sweet and sour food has sugar or fruit for the sweet and vinegar for the sour.

Did you people hear what he said "this is the small rack of the 3"? Another person consumed by this hobby. LOL

Or even use 2 2X6's or 2X8's?

A buddy of mine and myself both have the wine on tap kit. The manufacturer says the wine will keep "for 6 months or more". The bag holds 7L or 1.8 US gal. You can stuff more in the bag but then the bag will stick out the top of the container. Also the manufacturer says bags are single use...

Fruit from somebody's tree is a big plus as far as savings go. Esp when you can make something you really enjoy for less than $1 a bottle or even $0.45 a bottle when using "alternate sourced" fruit. Thanks for the comparisons. $2 a gallon for juice is really good, best I saw today was $3.35 gal...

I was curious of your costs of the following recipe? My pricing apple juice and sugar today for a first batch of apple wine. Juice 23L (6 US gal) about $22.00 cdn Sugar 5lb $.52/ lb 2.60 yeast + misc chems 3.50 est. Total $28.10 cdn or...

Hope so, I would actually like to age some grape wine down the road. (chuckle). Stir, and more foam, when will this stuff calm down? Oh well, kitchen floor needed a mopping anyway. BTW SG is moving, now around 1.042 ish.Temp 73F Started 1.070+ . Followed recipe, except adding extra yeast lees.

I would watch the S.G. very closely to see if there is still any fermentation in progress. You could raise the temp of the batch as well to help if there is any residual fermentation. Then if there isn't more fermentation happening, the higher temp (75F) will help with the degassing .

Seriously, knowing what your physical limits are. 1 carboy to 4 to 7 to 11 and so on........ Actually, jump in, get your feet wet (so to speak) and if any problems come up, this is the best place to figure them out. Use a hydrometer. Always. Record your readings.

Hey Lon and gang thanks for the great info on Skeeter Pee. I added the lees from 3 red primary batches I had going. Hey what the heck, SP is a way to use what otherwise goes down the drain. Well this worked so well I had signs of fermentation in about 2 hours, now the batch is working overtime...

A local ice cream store was more than happy to give my empty ice cream tubs and lids. They are 11.4 L or about 2.5 US gal. Work out well for the small batches.

Actually, that might be a good "jello" shooter.

Hey check out "the Map" under winemakers tools. Stick your location on there, I knew I wasn't the only person in Sask, Man, NW Ontario and ND.