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Would a marble covered bottom of the brew pot be an acceptable substitute for a false bottom? I plan on BIAB and don't want to fry the bag.

I understand corks can become dry over time and become unusable. Would putting them in a humidor for a couple of weeks rejuvenate them?? By humidor, I am referring to a 5-qt ice cream bucket with crumpled aluminum foil in the bottom to keep the corks out of the water. I would probably add some...

I searched for the answer to this and since I found nothing, will ask. I have a wine that is low ABV. Which would be the better solution, Everclear at 190 proof or Vodka at 100 proof? Wine is at about 8% abv now. Would like at least 10-11.

A friend brought over a steam-style kit. The yeast was from 1996!!! We bought new yeast and made the beer. Anyone have experience with kits this old??? Or should we have put it in a museum? Never having made steam beer, what color should it be? This looked liked used oil from a D-8 cat!!!

Has anyone heard of, or have a recipe for, an oat wine???

Would there be any problem using Star-san as a sanitizing rinse before peeling or pressing fruit. My plan is to put apples in a container of solution before running them thru a peeler. thanks in advance.

A friend was given about 10 lbs of sunflower honey. So he asks me, "What do I do with it?. I said I knew of a place that had thousands of winemakers. And here I am. So, what does he do? Is there a recipe out there for sunflower honey wine? Thanks in advance.

Several years ago, I read about the merits of a steam juicer. It seemed like a better way to juice my chokecherries and nanking cherries. So I bought one. I juiced several batches of chokecherries and proceeded to make my wine. However, the wine didn't want to clear. So 2 years and at least 5...

Does someone have a source for parts for the Italian corker? If so, please share. Thanks in advance.

A friends doctor has recommended she drink red wine. (I like this doc already!) But my guess is that the doc is refering to red grape wines. So, the question is, do the benefits of red grape wine also apply to our red country wines? Triple Berry, cranberry, chokecherry, black raspberry merlot...

We are told that the more sophisticated wine consumers become, the more they like the dryer wines. Has anyone seen a breakdown of consumers versus wine dryness/sweetness? What percentage drink sweet , semisweet, semidry and dry? My own gut feeling is that probably 80% of wine drinkers are the...

I have had problems getting the spigot clean after use. After 3 weeks or so, it has become stuck and refuses to turn. So, I break off the handle. I may have found a solution. After use, I rinse the spigot well. Then while closed, I put several drops of glycerine in it from the inside of the...

This has probably been posted before but I haven't seen it, and anyway, it needs to be said again. It is not good to use metal utensils when working with plastic. The metals will scratch the surface. In time, enough scratches will cause a rough surface. This surface can harbor nasty little...

I use chitosan for clearing some of my wines. Since it is a shellfish derivative, is there enough residual in the wine to require a warning label? I have seen some home made wines with a label and am curious. Don't want to injure someones health.

I have just been blessed with a 4 1/2 pound jar of the above cherries. With stems. I can only make so many Brandy Manhattens and so much cherry ice cream. I need any advice from the experts on just what I should do with this windfall. All help will be appreciated.

I would like to measure residual sugar. My theoretical method is as follows. With a known quantity of wine, boil off the alcohol, reconstitute to previous quantity and measure directly with a triple-scale hydrometer. Will this then yield the results I seek??

For some reason, this year seems to be producing a bumper crop of ants. Both inside and out. I figure that as long as everything has stoppers or is covered, they can't get in the fermenters or other places. However, is there some remedy that will keep them outside the work room??? I am not...

Would anyone recommend using paper coffee filters for filtering wine? I don't know if they are fine enough.

I measure abv by taking a specific gravity reading, simmering off the alcohol, reconstituting with water and taking another s.g. reading. my chart then shows the abv. My question is: once you have the second reading, could you then add spirits to drop the s.g. and increase the abv without...

I made beet wine years ago but I always thought it tasted "earthy". To be more exact, it tasted like dirt. Any ideas on how to eliminate that taste? Yes, I did wash and peel the beets before processing. Thanks.