Recent content by Rhetoric

I peeled the green papayas, 2, and added about 1/3 each to three vats I'm fermenting in. 12 hours later, there seem to already be results. The must seems less pulpy, and fermentation continues apace. I was also able to freeze the remainder. I used everything except the seeds.

Thanks, John T and Scooter 68. Pushing a strainer down in there and scooping up the liquid with a ladle will work with the fermenters I'm using, an 8 Liter glass jar commonly used here in Japan for making plum wine infusions.

The kind of Papaya I got was a green papaya, more like a veg than a fruit. I peeled the whole thing with a ceramic potato peeler, sans the seeds, added the peelings to the must, and froze some for later use. The guy who grows them says the whole fruit is rich in peptic enzyme. He also said the...

Thanks! That helps a great deal. It's often the practical details that confound me when reading instructions -- I just started winemaking a few weeks ago, and it's going well, but many nagging questions. Two of the musts I've got going, one strawberry-kiwi, one blueberry, are too pulpy for...

Thanks, JohnT, but that begs the question of how to strain a sample. Do you use a big ladle, a funnel, and cheesecloth? (My thought.) A lot of work. How do you sterilize everything? Do you return the liquid to the fermenting container? Do you return the stained pulp to the fermenting container...

Thank you, Menny, for this. I had the same question and the same observation. I tried inserting the hydrometer into the must,and it just sits there, I can take my choice of several readings, so how to find natural buoyancy?

I've read that the peel of 1/2 a papaya can be used as a substitute for a tsp. of pectic enzyme. My question is how to prepare it. Should it be doused with boiling water (the papaya is from a fruit store0? (Heat may destroy the pectic enzyme?) Sprayed with alcohol disinfectant? Large peelings or...

I'm wine making in Japan where most of the chemicals and equipment are not easily available: No wine making stores. I noted the importance of acid blend in making a Blueberry batch and a Kiwi/Strawberry batch. I can add some lemon juice (though there should be enough citric from those fruits)...

I'm kinda in the same situation you're in, though not voluntarily. Wine making is not practiced in Japan, so the basic materials are not easily available. But. I have a small garden and some grape vines, so I tried to make wine out of the produce I'd grown. I used the natural yeast on the grapes...

How do you, like, use a hydrometer? I have never seen one, only pictures on Amazon. It would be nice to have a very obvious description, step by step, assuming nothing. Also, can a refractometer be employed for the same effect? Oh, I just saw a post (why couldn't I see it before?) that explains...

My first time making wine. I have a small garden in my downtown city house in Hiroshima, and I've had grape vines growing for many years. This year I had a bumper crop of purple and white seeded grapes so, without washing them, I mashed them in a 5 Liter bottle with a big mouth and added some...