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Here it's: Apple juice, maple syrup and EC1118. Yum! I've been making my last 15 or 20 batches with 100 percent maple syrup. One of the last 3 batches is made with molassas. We'll see how that turns out.

I just read a great article on Marquette and if we decide to do hybrids, that may be one of the grapes we plant. Here's my dilema. I live in Northern Virginia (Frederick County) and it's considered zone 6B. I love Petit Syrah but don't think it will survive our harsher winters. I prefer to...

Arcticsid, which ones did the cats hide from?

The black cherry, maple syrup n Lalvin 1122 has been like Mt. St. Helens for a couple of days now. It's more entertaining when it has a lot of pulp that's visible through glass. It's easier to see the eruptions. Incidentally, I got my hands on a case of Widmer Brothers Pitch Black IPA in...

Ours is in the closet under the stairs too. It's an old country farmhouse. The only stinky ones has been the watermelon. Just did a half gallon of apple juice and 10 ounces of pure maple syrup with cinnamon powder. It started fermenting immediately and is full of bubbles. I've fallen in love...

I've come to the conclusion that watermelon wine is high maintenance. It's the expensive ho of winemaking. I did find Jack Keller's recipe and realize that campden tablets and cooling in a fridge the 1st 24 are a must, er a definite/no compromise. Watermelon is definitely not for people who...

For a gallon of apple cider, how much maple sugar in ounces should you use. I did a half with 8.5 but I have no idea if that was a great choice.

I'm thinking impatience is my problem. I just want to see crazy bubbling and then be done and ready for racking. This is definitely going to teach me patience.:D Back to removing airlocks...

I just reread your post mentioning low and slow fermentation is fine. I reyeasted a batch that only had the tiny bubbles and no airlock action. Now I feel like a fool. What effect will it have if you reyeast when you shouldn't? Live and learn. Thanks again.

As much as I hate to admit it, there's no way around the 5gallon bucket. I had the only bucket occupied so I reyeasted and left in the 4L jugs with just cloth on top but fermentation just didn't want to happen. The one is now fermenting and the other just refuses to do anything but tiny...

Yeah, after searching on Google, I'm sure you're right. Now I'm tempted to try it again without adding in packet yeast and see what happens. The maple syrup isn't cheap so I didn't want to mess it up. I chose the syrup because it blends in better and would have been easier for the yeast to...

So I started a half gallon of apple cider with 8.5 oz maple syrup mixed in and let sit 2 days. This evening I uncovered it to add the yeast (1122) and found non active bubbles sitting on top in kind of a quilted form. I thought it might be fungus of some sort but hoped for the best and added...

Newbie mistake: I've been airlocking after a day or two with the exception of the watermelon which we immediately air locked after adding the sugar and yeast mixture. It bubbled like crazy for two weeks. So realistically what can I expect to end up with after only letting it breath for one or...

It was breathing from wednesday night til last night. Three nights. Now the airlocks are bubbling. I thought too much time uncovered was bad. What's the time on grape wine vs apple wine as far as how long before you airlock it? Hope I didn't mess this up.

Bought a gallon of apple cider, split it between 2 4L jugs, dissolved 32oz brown sugar in hot (on stove) water, split between jugs, waited a day then added 1122 yeast, 2 nights later added airlocks. Not sure what we're gonna end up with but it looks n smells delish. Ideas? Comments?

John, great advise! We already racked the first one on Wednesday night. That night we also started the first batch of cider wine. I took a jug of cider n split it between two gallon jugs, warmed 32 oz of brown sugar in water on the stove, added to the cider, covered with cheese cloth, added...

Thanks, I didn't mean to come across as Brewzilla. Okay, so tonight I worked up the beans to use the hydrometer. It's at the top well above the 1.000. But the hydrometer is still floating and not sitting on the bottom of the tube so I guess that's good. I tasted it and it seems to pack a...

To be clear, the answer to why is: I'm new and I want to get down the basics first BEFORE messing with chemicals. The fruit is free so I'm on a learning curve and don't see dropping a huge dime in a down economy to throw it all away because I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't even...

It's clear I spend too much time on facebook when I try to 'like' someone's response elsewhere. ;) I'll try the metabisulfite (sp?) first in the future. I'm all for washing and rewashing everything (many years in the restaurant industry to thank for that) so I'm hoping any wild strains would...

I want to learn how the old guys made it first before getting into all the chemicals. Is that weird and is there anyone else who does/did this? We're talking fruit, sugar and yeast. I am using an airlock but nothing more for now. Suggestions?