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I tried my hand at brewing beer this summer with the intent of making a braggot. I developed a recipe for the braggot that was based on a stout. I had 50% of the fermentables come from a dry malt extract which I added to my malt extracts (for this I used crystal malt, malted barley, and...

I am currently bulk aging a MM All-Juice Merlot and MM All-Juice Cab. I did a tasting of them the other day when I was adding more K-Met. They each taste fine, but I noticed that the color is not dark for either of them. Is this typical of these kits??? Is it an issue with the...

I recently found a big box of mangos in my kitchen that needed to be used up so I was inspired to make a new mead. Thankfully I still had some honey in the pantry to use (Always a good idea to have some extra on hand). Here is my recipe so far... Mango Inspired Mead (4 L batch) 3...

I am in the process of making an English PaleAle from a kit and Ifound that I lost a lot of wort because I was worried about siphoning the hop residue into my primary fermenter. The kit used pellet hops which may be adding to the problem. Is there a good way to filter the wort so we can get...

I saw a post that mentioned some problems when sanitizing with K-Met for beer brewing. From the stuff I have read I didn't see anything specific about what is the "best" way to sanitize. What would be the preferred way? What kind of problems could I have (will I have with my first...

I have seen a lot of literature about addition of K-met for wines, but i was wondering when people are adding K-met for Meads. Are their certain levels similar to wine that you shoot for? Since they can be bulk aged for so long, do you add K-met at steady intervals? When during...

I am in the process of finishing the last room in my basement. I want to have a space that is complete for wine making. I am planning on including a fullsink that I can clean my carboys in. I also want to have enough counter space to work with. My wine cellar is right off of this space...

I have seen a few people mention the use of glass beads in their carboys to take up the dead volume. Can anyone recommend a source for these beads? Thanks

I thought this was an interesting article... http://www.michwine.com/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=More-bad-press-for-wine-competitions.html&Itemid=179 I guess you just need to keep entering those wines in competitions.

I'm thinking about making a Pyment and wanted to see if anyone had a good recipe to get started with. I was thinking about ordering an All-Juice kit, perhaps a Pinot Grigio or Reisling and adding honey to that.

I started the second wine for my blending experiment coming this summer... I already have a MM Merlot kit aging in the cellar, today I started a MM Cab. I pitched the yeast this morning and its already ramping up. This may be a quick fermentation (This happened to the Merlot as well)...

I'm getting ready to try to back-sweeten one of my meads. I was going to use honey for this, so I made a ~50:50 mixture of honey and water, heated it to just under boiling for 10 minutes, then cooled. I noticed on my test glass that there is a lot of particulates in the mead after I added...

I have seen the posts for the WineMakers Mag Competition. Are there any others that we can enter ametuer wines?

I'm in the middle of making an All-Juice Merlot kit. I modified my procedure just a little. Instead of adding the oak chips when directed I waited until the fermentation was completed (Kept it in the primary until it was finished). Then I racked it into a glass carboy and added the oak chips...

I just wanted to post an update on my mead experiments. I started a few meads earlier this year and haven't posted some of my latest experiments. Here is a pic of the meads I have aging right now... (Note: this pic is a few weeks old at this point) From right to left... 1. Sweet...

It seems I get my next idea for a mead after I get one started. I'm thinking about making a mead using Star Anise as a spice. I will probably use the Buckwheat honey since I have plenty left from my blended honey (and it tasted awesome). I would add the star anise and some other spices...

I'm thinking about making a mead out of a blend of honeys. I'd like to choose some honey that has some distinctive tastes. I was thinking about a Buckwheat/Tupelo or Buckwheat/Orange blossom blend. I would be shooting for a traditional style mead, maybe with some tea/lemon to add some...

I read recently something that seem odd and just wanted to get some clarification before I try using the oak chips. A light toasting on the chips gives a richer oak flavor while a heavy toast gives a lighter oak flavor. I thought it was the opposite until I read this. Maybe someone...

I decided to try making my own mead. I found a recipe for a raspberry mead and was going for that. Of course the black berries at the farm were AWESOME. So I went half and half red/black raspberries. Here is a shot of the must just before I added the yeast... The gravity reading...

I'm going to be bottling my first kit this friday. Here is the label I designed. Let me know what you think... I printed these on gum paper. Any advice on getting them on the bottle. It seems easy enough, but... Also, what would be the best way to get the shrink wrap covers on...