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Blueberry has a reputation for being hard to get started. Like others have said, give it a good stir to ensure it has some oxygen in it. Make a yeast starter but leave it for at least 12 hours and ensure it is really fermenting very strongly before pitching it. After pitching a yeast it can...

There are at least two ways that people express T.A. (I can't for the life of me see why we need two!) Either as a percentage per 100ml or in grams per litre. Sometimes people leave out the % symbol which makes things confusing. 0.4% T.A. is the same as 4g/l T.A. There are no rules for what is...

A T.A. of 4g/l is quite low; you could probably have raised it a bit higher without dramatically effecting the pH. In that position I would have just tasted it and made adjustments based on that.

While the differences between pH and T.A. can vary by a surprising amount, they don't vary by THAT amount! I suspect you made an error with your units. There are at least two ways that people express T.A. (I can't for the life of me see why we need two!) Either as a percentage per 100ml or in...

Adding metabisulphite will help to preserve the wine if you are ageing it over a long time so I would recommend adding it during your final racking (not directly before bottling). What form does your metabisulphite come in, powder or tablet? Instructions usually say one tablet per gallon but you...

I think just dissolving them in vodka would be the better way to make alcohol from them. I did it years ago with skittles - a separate little bottle for each colour. It turned out tasting exactly like each skittle colour. The only bad part is the off putting white fatty scum that floats to the...

You want to leave them in there long enough for the yeast to break them down and extract flavours from the skin. Four days is probably just about long enough if you have a strong fermentation. Do you plan on pressing the berries through a bag to get the juice out? I'm not sure how long it...

Out of curiosity, why are you using a stir plate on your yeast starter? It only really needs to be stirred very occasionally which you can just do with a spoon. A stir plate would be very useful for degassing though... The main advantage of a yeast starter is that you're sure that the yeast...

The issue with using a high starting gravity is that you don't know the exact point at which the yeast will give up. It could change depending on any number of factors.

Depends what kind of result you want to get with the oak. If you add it in the primary fermenter you will get a more mellow, golden syrup kind of effect from the oak, whereas if you add it to the hard cider / apple wine right at the end then you'll get a stronger oakier flavour. I personally add...

Some champagne bottles should certainly be able to take a crown cap. When the champagne is initially put in the bottle it is sealed with a crown cap. A cork is only put in after disgorging https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1sNq8AfYys

If you want something that has flavour I think you need to up your fruit quantity! You have enough fruit there for about half a gallon. If you put that through a still, you wont be left with much.

Campden tablets can be either sodium or potassium, you'd have to check the ingredients list for your manufacturer. I don't think there is much difference between each in terms of preservative powers. I think the difference between na-meta and k-meta is being blown a bit out of proportion...

For the smaller carboys, tie a piece of string or wire tightly over the bung to hold it in place in the carboy. This is easy to do if it's the type of carboy with one or two handles on the neck. Then if they slosh around or fall over, the wine will stay intact. I was transporting my rhubarb...

For reasons unknown, all the home brew stores in my part of world only sell sodium metabisulphite (usually Young's Campden Tablets) so it's all I've ever used. I've certainly never tasted any saltiness.

Also be careful with the glaze on old antique ceramic. Some used to use lead in the glaze that could be leached out by the alcohol in your wine. I wouldn't make wine in anything other than glass, food grade plastic or stainless steel.

I made a wine out of rhubarb last year, however my understanding is that 'Wild Rhubabrb' is a different plant altogether?

Sulphite does more than prevent bacterial growth, it prevents oxidisation. If you want to ensure that your cider continues to stay nice beyond a few months then you should ensure that you have the right sulphite levels in the cider. If you think you're going to drink it all very quick then it's...