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I canned six pints of tart cherries in juice today and will be canning many more over the next few days. My tree is in full ripening mode. This is my first year canning the cherries and as I read up on it, I have found that citric acid is used to help retain the color. I have a powdered acid...

The day I hit my target OG and volume will be one that I celebrate. Hopefully it comes soon but tonight wasn't it. My goal was to make a one gallon batch of cranberry wine with an OG of ~1.120. Well, first I over shot my OG. I calculated it to be in the neighborhood of 1.217. I couldn't use my...

I started a cranberry wine today and I want it to finish semi-dry. The fruit is macerated and dosed with K-meta. I'll add pectic enzyme and pitch the yeast tomorrow. Do people prefer to start with a high original gravity and let the yeast poop out or ferment it dry and back sweeten? I was...

After two months and a dose of finings I still have little pieces of crab apple floating around. I moved the carboy to a warm area to help degas it for two weeks. I was thinking that the residual CO2 was keeping it afloat. Well, those little buggers are still suspended. I racked off the lees...

Last year was our first summer at the house we rent and I discovered that one of our trees happened to be a cherry varietal. My best guess was it is a Montmorency. It made great pies last summer. This year I picked up wine making. After a vacation I came home and the tree was bearing ripe...

Started my 4-week kit today. I topped it off to 5.5 gallons instead of the recommended 6 gallons. A fair amount of reviews on Amazon suggested doing 5 gallons so I went with a middle number. My thinking is at 5.5 gallons I'll get a bit more body and I won't need to top off my 5 gallon carboy...

If anybody brews beer or wants to have wine on tap, I am selling two used five gallon Firestone ball lock kegs. If you're interested, here is my Craigslist post: http://milwaukee.craigslist.org/for/4510417829.html Milwaukee area only. I will not ship. Sent from my iPhone using Wine Making

What is your favorite yeast for making Riesling? What is your preferred fermentation temperature? I'm leaning towards the Wyeast 4783 Sweet Wine. However the price tag is deterring me since dry yeast is so affordable and I'd need more than one smack pack of the Wyeast for 5 gallons. Sent from...

I'm on day 23 and my wine has had a stable FG of 0.996 for 8 days. My kit's instructions say that I need to degas, add kieselsol, add chitosan, add stabilizer, and clear for 10 days. I want to bulk age my wine for a solid 6+ months before bottling. I also have the wine currently sitting on a...

I decided to try my hand at a dandelion wine since everybody loves my grandmothers. Unfortunately I could not procure her recipe before I started. After browsing the 30 different recipes on Jack Keller's site and using what I had on hand, this is what I came up with: 200 g dandelion petals...

Is it best practice to rack off of the raisins once secondary fermentation reaches a stable final gravity? Or does prolonged contact benefit the wine? I have a Paklab Pinot noir juice bucket sitting on a pound of raisins nearing final gravity in secondary. Sent from my iPhone using Wine Making

Can someone please explain to me how degassing does not cause aeration problems. Sent from my iPhone using Wine Making

I purchased the Reserve du Chateau Pinot Nero 55lb kit to try as my first varietal grape wine. I'd like to post what I've done and planning to do for feedback. I feel like the kit's instructions are written to get the wine finished quickly instead of making it the best it can be. On day one I...

Hi everybody! I'm Aaron from Milwaukee, WI. Brewing beer is my #1 passion but I want to make good wine too. My grandmother in Washington state has been making country wines for 30+ years and I hope to make some as good as hers. About 1-2 years ago I tried making some wine using grape juice...