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Won't this cause oxidation? I thought oxygen was meads enemy.

I gave it a good stir for degassing, that is all. I don't have specialized equipment to degas and I was concerned about oxidation. The yeast I used was K1V-1116. SG was 1.090. FG was 1.003. Recipe was: 1.7kg honey Water to 5L 2kg nectarine/peach mix (seeded and chopped). Frozen...

Hi everyone, I have a fairly urgent question. I have a small (5L) batch of Peach and Nectarine Melomel. It is my first melomel apart from JAO. I am really happy with the flavour. I added 1 Campden tablet and 1/2 teaspoon sorbate - after racking and let sit for 2 weeks. I did...

I have noticed that some recipes call for using Campden tablets (without using sorbate) and then leaving for a period of time prior to bottling. This is only for wines not requiring backsweetening (in which sorbate would also be used to stabilise). Is this necessary? Perhaps designed to aid...

Thanks a lot. This sounds like really logical advice. I measured the pH at pitching (3.95) and then after 8 days (3.33) but not after that. Presumably it continued to become more acidic. When we say that fruit wines should be around 3.5, does this anticipate that the pH will reduce during the...

I had made a few batches of this Strong Ginger Beer (or sparkling wine). OG is about 1.070 so 9.5% potential. It is nice and easy to make but it think the flavour needs a bit of improvement. The recipe is: 4 teaspoons citric acid 2 teaspoons cream of tartar 3.5kg of sugar – depending on level...

Will definitely try not sealing it next time until ferment is close to completion, thanks for the advice.

Thanks everyone - seems the fruit flies were most likely a coincidence then.. Julie, for most of my wines and meads so far I have had a primary with the lid loose and stirred for the first few days. I didn't for the skeeter pee - just sealed it and fitted airlock until I added the second dose...

Thanks for the replies. I hope you are right about the taste. Whether it was the fruit flies or not, the first batch most certainly turned to vinegar. The ferment went on for ages and the smell and taste was unmistakenly acetic acid. I even gave a blind taste to my wife (who likes dry white...

Am currently on to my second attempt at skeeter pee. Bot using freshly squeezed lemon juice. During the first batch, I found 2 fruit flies dead in my air lock. I took it out, washed it and sterilised it. I didn't think much more about it other than it seemed like it was taking quite a while...

Thanks. Will save up a bit in the freezer and see if I can get 7lbs to start. Guess I should pasteurise the pulp with a campden tablet at the same time as adding pectinase as there would be a lot of wild yeast on the beetroot/carrot skins.

Hi all, I like to make fresh vege/fruit juice mixtures for breakfast. I usually use beetroot, apple, ginger, celery, carrot. I throw out the pulp as I live in an apartment so no compost/chickens. I was emptying the pulp container in to the bin the other day and thought about the...

Thanks a lot for the feedback. Good to know that some people at least feel that it is necessary to backsweeten in most cases. It will allow me to see the potential in a different way when tasting the wine throughout it's aging. Will also keep an eye on the starting pH.

Hi everyone, I would really appreciate some feedback on making fruit wines in general. I have just started getting into this hobby and so far have made some mead (JAO, peach and sparkling gingermead) and a few fruit wines that are aging (banana, plum, orange). The issue I...

Hi again, So I decided to check my plum wine today and after 2.5 days the specific gravity is 1.010. I decided I had no choice but to rack it. Unfortunately it has been very hot here that last couple of days - 30 degree Celsius (86 f) which may explain the rapid fermentation. I am...

Thanks for all of the helpful replies. I did add pectic enzyme - forgot to mention that. I added at a rate of 5 teaspoons 5 gallon. This worked out to be 10g on my scales per 5 gallon which surprised me. The packet of pectic enzyme said 1-2g per L which for 5 gallons would have been 20-40g which...

Hi everyone, This is one of my first real fruit wines from scratch so sorry for the noob questions, but i;m a bit anxious about it. On the weekend I put down a batch of plum wine. 103lbs of plums. It is in 3 x 5 gallon primaries. I only had to add about 2 gallons of water to...

Thanks. I put down a large batch of plum wine over the weekend after getting given 103lbs of ripe plums. I ended up going with 15 gallons and put 1/2 tsp tannin per 5 gallons. I had a bit of trouble identifying the change in flavour. The unfermented plum pulp was quite zingy - I think quite...

Hi guys, I have a general question regarding the process of reusing yeast. I have read what I could find on the forums and there seems to be a few different techniques to this - the most simplest seems to be adding the new must straight on top of the previous yeast cake. I have a...

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