Recent content by menerdari

They get through the holes in the airlock but then die right there, very doubtful that that fly lived long enough to lay eggs and then the eggs survive long enough to become larvae. That said, I prefer the 3 piece airlock. whatever gets in, like the flies, lay in the bottom and the way they work...

I find it easier to crush the tablet in the water, it gets soft pretty quickly in the water and breaks up easily.

I believe the better bottles, or whatever brand brewing bottle (I was told by my LHBS that Better Bottles are no longer available, but a similar replacement is) is safe with alcohol and acids that are common in home brewing/wine making. I am under the understanding that even better bottles...

I recently made several batches of Wine from grape juice, one was welches farmers pick concord. it was 16 brix right out of the bottle, that equals 1.058 SG. I added enough sugar to bring it to 20 brix 1.084 It finished on the dry side at 0.996, I back sweetened with 1/4 cup sugar and it came...

Paul, Did you add any extra meta aside from what came with the kit? I added 1/8 tsp I am not sure adding energizer & nutrients would have changed long term bottle taste? Not sure what effects adding tannin would have long term. aside from the added meta I stuck to kit instructions (actually...

$7 is not a lot if you don't have a brew store nearby, consider gas and what your time is worth vs delivered to your door.

the thing is, you don't rack right after degassing so stirring will not make a difference in racking, either stir up sediment and degass like WE kits have you do and leave it to settle and clear or rack off of the sediment and then degass.

Time will degas wine if you bulk age (with airlock that is) Sorbate is really only needed if you back sweeten/ add F-pack I think they add it to dry wine kits to prevent fermentation from restarting in the bottle for those who don't quite get their wines finished before bottling.

Remember I mentioned I had a 6-1/2 gallon brewing bucket? That is the same one I have, been using it for years, my 7.9 gallon is called a Vino Vessel, for making wine since most wine kits are 6 gallons, made by the same company. If you get that bucket get an airlock for it too

PS: the bucket does have to be food safe, here is one http://www.lowes.com/pd_356492-1152-50640_0__?productId=3694238 The buckets we use in brewing for 5 gallons batches are 6+ gallons, I have one that is 6-1/2 and one that is 7.9 for my 6 gallon batches.

No fruit in Skeeter Pee (original recipe), you are thinking of Dragons Blood I think. Kristi, you can always scale down and make a 4 gallon batch too, if your bucket is not big enough. You do have to allow room, at least 1/2 gallon to a gallon for foam from fermentation.

I did the same as you with a drill in the carboy, I came close to overflow but just stopped when the foam raised to high, I just recently started using vacuum degassing using a brake bleeding kit from Pet Boys, works better than the drill for sure. I have read that you want the wine in the low...

I just bottled my first 5 gallon batch of skeeter pee last week, this stuff is amazing, everyone that has tried it loves it. I divided the 5 gallons in separate 1 gallon batches, I flavored 4 of them with frozen juice concentrate, Pina colada, strawberry daiquiri, apple raspberry and passion...

Lemon juice is kind of hard to ferment, sounds like you got it most of the way, You can stir the yeast back into suspension and see if you can get it any lower but it just may be done right where it is at. Have you tasted it?

Yep Selection International, I can see I will be making this one again. I do love Malbecs