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Finally broke down and got me a rather nice PH meter in order to gain more insight of the acidity levels of my wines and how they change the flavor profiles. I have a few questions. Is there a guide somewhere that outlines the preferred PH levels based on fruit? The blackberry has added water...

I am interested in getting input from those that have brewed this kit. This is my very first kit after having successfully brewed several batches of fruit type wines and find that after aging since 01/10/15 that the taste still tends to have a tartness to it. I followed the instructions exactly...

I am seriously thinking about doing this as my first kit type brew. What level of ABV are you seeing in this wine with the start SG 1.080–1.097? I assume about 13%?

Where are you getting your juice pails and grapes?

Wow! A very good amount of information here to consider. I think I am going to start off with switching to two 6.5 gallon brew bucks at a time for the primary fermentation and rack to 5 gallon glass carboys to begin the process of increasing the amount of bulk aged batches especially if I plan...

Seriously thinking about upping to 3 to 4 wines going at one time to meet the demands of my wife and I. How many do most of you brew at one time with a household of 2?

Bottled for about 4 weeks now and very drinkable. I decided on starting a new batch with the knowledge gained from this first batch. Confirmed 1.090 SG and awaiting the 12 hours before pitching the yeast. I can tell you that this is a very easy to make wine and everyone that I have given a...

I don't have a SO2 test kit and want to add K-meta. How much do you usually add for 5 gallons?

Now you have me thinking about my second batch. I am torn on which I should do now that the Blackberry is completing and almost ready to bottle. Has anyone used K-meta to make sure there is not further fermenting after bottling?

I am just completing my first blackberry from their concentrate and it does take pretty darn good now at the end of the ferment at 4 weeks. I just added acid and sorbate when I racked to secondary and will not add any sugar to sweet because it tastes that good. I am pretty satisfied so far.

I's that .013 correct? I know after about 1 week the SG was at 1.090. Perhaps it was because I used distilled water. I am almost to the point I am going to chuck this initial batch and start correctly.

Thank you so much for the analysis. I used 15 cans which from your calculation is equivalent to 5lbs of sugar and I also added 5lbs of sugar. This was put in 6.5 gallon carboy which was just at the curved part before it starts to get narrow.

Yes it was starting to clear and was about 14 days. I had pitch additional nutrients and it still did not move.

So I am going to probably end up with fairly sweet wine then? I plan on letting it site for a couple weeks before racking off the lees to another carboy and plan on tasting at that time. Really don't know what to expect.

So I am new to the wine making scene and learned a great deal with my first ever wine using Old Orchard Apple Cherry concentrate. What I didn't plan for was the fact that I believe my starting SG (Didn't have the hydro yet) was very high causing the fermentation to stop at 1.030. Question I have...

I added the 8lb's of sugar that it recommended and only got it to 1.070. Considering what I went through with my very first batch of wine this might be a good starting point for me. I can always back sweeten. I am just a tad concerned with the alc level.

Does anyone deviate from the directions? Do you add yeast nutrient? I just put some of the blackberry is my carboy and am waiting for the temp to get down to room temp before pitching the 71b yeast.

I went ahead and added the recommended amount of Campden and sorbate to the carboy and will start to degas. Unfortunately, I don't have one of those fancy carboy degassing rods yet so I will have to figure out some alternative way of stirring to degas.

Checked yesterday evening. No change in SG. I am using 71b. Could it be I hit 14% alcohol and cannot go any higher?

Well fermentation has started back at a good rate with bubbles through the airlock at around 1 every 7 seconds. Going to let this run for a couple of days before checking. Should I just let this run until I see no more bubbles even though the SG doesn't drop or should I see drops in SG because...