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Wet the label with hot water, In an away from you top to bottom action, scrape with the heaviest and sharpest carving knife you have then scrub with a metal scouring pad dipped in soap powder, come off very easy.

My last batch of red wine has left my 5 gal glass carboy with dry scummy marks on the inside. Ive soaked it, sterilised it and even placed grit stones inside to shake and clean it that way bit its not budging. I cant figure a way to clean this, has anyone got any ideas please.

Ok the wine was started really heavy with raisins and extra concentrate and the OG was 1.100. It was racked after 9 days and left to ferment out for 15 more days down to .992. I then stabilised it after degassing it on the wine whip and cleared it. I then left it in the carboy to age for 4 weeks...

This wine has been thrashed to within an inch of its life and transferred via vacumme method 5 times now, yet every time I transfer it from vessel to vessel, these dam bubbles appear. What are they.

A few months back I tried to make a full bodied wine which was stronger than normal. I added more concentrate and some sultanas and it ended up a very very full bodied dry white with an ABV of 14.5%. Now my wife said she prefers the light and fruity Sauvignon blanc I made before. Its all...

Does nobody use this product on here.

In the past I have made several Irish d=cream (Baileys) and no matter what I do, My finished product ends up with scum on the top and bits floating in it. Ive blended it, Ive even followed the latest advice from ICON by mixing the base pack with warm water but now the mix goes solid when its put...

Put it in a bucket of warm water and keep topping it up with hot to get the temp up to 23c. Stir it as much as twice a day till it starts to show activity and then let her go. You might want to also consider dropping another yeast packet into it as the other might be weak after 3 weeks. If mine...

I use an 8 gallon bucket.I leave it on the floor so I can get in and stir it. I use a loose lid until im ready for secondary into a 6 gallon fermenting vessel and then it is airlocked and put on the belt or pad to bring the temp up to 23 to 25C.

Ive had this before. Its an excess of co2 holding the lees in suspension. I gave mine a quick vigorous whiz and knocked a bit of the co2 out of it and the lees settled very quickly, I then racked and let 2nd fermentation begin and all was well. the nose will tell you if you are in trouble. If it...

My post was meant to infer that us simple wine makers are not that fully informed so we find it hard but big brewers have researched and tried and tested different methods. One thing I have found success with is setting the mix off fermenting and gradually adding the extra juice, fruit or...

Raising the abv to a borderline vermouth status is an art that simple wine makers have never got on top of. Every time I add sugar and try to irk the abv, the end result is lacking in body which I feel is the primary for my taste buds. Kits are designed by people that know their onions, Adding...

Having never worked with grape packs before, could you be a little more specific. How much grapes, do they need crushing, should I press them instead and does the addition of dried fruits do a similar job.

The end Lees are dead cells that wont help in any way with flavour. They are important in the beginning and stirring them in can aid the release of certain flavours which promote mouth feel, but once fermentation is slowing down or has ended, they need getting rid of, hence the age old advice of...

Does nobody agree that more fruit or juice = more flavour and body ???????? Seems a shame to me to allow the kits with less juice in them to slide away and allow the big boys to flourish when all the difference lies in the volume of juice available to ferment. Bad grapes = bad...

There seems to be many healthy debates on how RGJ and 100% fruit juices can be used to make wine but from someone that likes the fruitiness of wine, without overly sweetening it, my question is simple..... Could the addition of RGJ or juice to the mix prior to fermentation, enhance the...

In the beginning I never used to rack due to equipment issues and Ive never had a bad wine. These days I do it because I can but there isn't much, if any difference. The lees or sediment wont effect the wine when left for a month or less so why rack is a weird one. The secret lies in the...

After this has been considered, your next move is to your trusty Hydrometer. Drop it in tap water at a normal room temp and check it reads '0'. Also check that you racked at 1000 and not too early. Ive got a hydrometer that reads 30 too much so ive rectified it with a rubber band to make it...

Have you considered the fact that the temp you fermented at was a little low and the racking's were premature. Ive noticed that these kits need to be done at the right temp, otherwise they can take a lot longer. It might be the yeast they are using but ive allways done mine on belts and warming...

I have an in line gauge and on transfer from one carboy to the other (exactly the same setup as the allinone pump set up) under vacuum, the gauge sits at 25inhg. When the setup is just left to vacuum status, the gauge goes up to 28.5inhg. The one thing I did notice was that the bubbles...