Recent content by james3838

Good Deal! Sounds like you have a pretty good start at wine making. You'll learn a lot as you go and the folks on here can help you with about any issues or questions that you may have.

Lennie, I've done the same and depending on the type of concentrate, the flavor is horrid compared to an F-Pack. You can go to the sticky to get the instructions for the F-Pack. If you haven't bottled yet, you can easily "repair" the medicinal taste that you got from the concentrate with a...

Thanks for the input folks. I racked my small batch of blueberry that I added peppercorns to and you can definitely taste the pepper. It's not overwhelming at all but a nice match with the sweetness of the berries. Can't wait til it's ready.

^^^^ that's what I was hoping to hear. I feel better now. Thanks for the advice!

Had the same thing happen to my first batch of apple...corks a poppin. I had my current mulberry start back up as well after I added sorbate and kmeta but it was a very light fermintation so I stuck it in the fridge in the shop. I keep that fridge cold enough that the beer will get just a...

Steve, I kept the juice in the fridge to keep it from spoiling and after adding the yeast starter, I kept it in the closet at ~ 73*. I keep all my wines in the house to keep 'em cool and in the dark as much as possible, until I get my wine room built. The process that you described above is...

WOW! I have never seen a batch of wine ferment so quickly! Just Sunday afternoon, I added the yeast starter to the batch @ 1.090. I noticed when I stirred yesterday morning that there wasn't much going on. I checked it again when I got home yesterday and it was bone dry at .990. ~ 48 hours...

I'm sure it's gonna turn out fine. Use an fpack or some concentrated juice after you stabilize to get the flavor back to where you want it.

Well, the second attempt went better than than the first. I grabbed 4 more medium sized melons and got enough juice for 1 1/4 gallons. Took 1 gallon and simmered it down slowly to just over a quart. It retained its color and taste heavenly. Put the pot in an ice bath to cool it since it was...

What type of yeast did you use? As Robie mentioned above, certain yeast can only tolerate a certain level of alcohol. I made the same mistake with a batch of fruit blend that I concocted and using red star montrachet my batch made it to around 16% (ie...rocket fuel) but it has mellowed...

Joe, the rocket fuel ended up at ~ 16%. It was a mix of different fruits that I had lying around in the freezer...strawberries, plums, blueberries, peaches, grapes, and grape/raspberry concentrate and probably something else that I have forgotten to list. It was extremely potent for us at...

Well. I tried my hand at my first fpack last night. I used 3/4 gal of watermelon juice with pulp and reduced it down. Unfortunatley, I took it a little too far and it caramelized slightly. I got a little caught up in racking another batch and forgot about it for too long. It still taste...

Steve, I checked out your thread a few days ago and it looked good. How is it going, have you tried it lately? I got home and checked my batch to find that the SG had come down from (before I added the yeast starter )- 1.090 to 1.025 just 26 hours after adding yeast. By far the fastest I...

Guess I'll find out in a few months. I racked my blueberry from the primary yesterday into a 5 gal carboy and took the remaining slurry, added a little water and sugar to bring it up to 1 1/4 gallons and dropped the bag of berries back in it along with 12 small peppercorns. She picked right...

Steve, I thought about leaving the pulp but to be honest, when I got done squeezing everything in the bag, I took a 5 gallon bucket of watermelon down to a double grapefruit sized bag of pulp. Didn't think I would get much out of it so I tossed it. I may try leaving it in next time. I did...