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  1. Scooter68

    Glass vs Cork Closures The way of the future??

    If that matches your bottles it might be a great way to go.
  2. Scooter68

    Timing apple harvest for wine

    Note to Apple cider makers - Sanitize your fruit as soon as you get it (wash the apples at a bare minimum) Secondly as soon as you get the apples cut up, crushed, juiced or however you prepare them - Treat the batch with K-meta. You can even dissolve the K-meta in a bit of water and pour it...
  3. Scooter68

    It was Supposed to be Apple Cider but....Now Making Vinegar

    Okay 4 gallons of apple juice from our apple trees. Plans to make it into Hard Cider went south and clearly it's turning into vinegar. Starting SG was 1.052 (6.9% ABV) the off smell began about 2 days in so clearly this is an example of why good sanitation measures even with the fruit...
  4. Scooter68

    Natural/Spontaneous Fermentation

    A lot of great comments on here regarding the potential benefits of natural/wild yeast fermentation of wine, From the experiences provided it certainly makes a case for going with natural/wild yeasts. The caveats I would add are: > Do you know what yeasts are present in your wine making location...
  5. Scooter68

    Natural/Spontaneous Fermentation

    Obbnw Good that you could go to a backup plan. Sounds like things should work out.
  6. Scooter68

    Natural/Spontaneous Fermentation

    A key point is your source of grapes/fruit. Vineyards that are raising grapes for winemaking are going to treat those grapes differently than a commercial or private grape grower. If you buy your grapes or prepared juice from them, your unlikely to have a problem. (We have heard of some...
  7. Scooter68

    Natural/Spontaneous Fermentation

    Keep in mind that while wine grapes and in fact most fruit have wild yeast on them, wineries that have been in operation for a long period of time have a far higher concentration of wine favorable yeast in the facility than the average home. For that reason a natural or spontaneous...
  8. Scooter68

    Peach Wine

    Best answer to that is to take some of both fruit and crush them to get the juice. Don't bother to sweeten the juice, then try mixing at various ratios. That's about the only way short of going through the full process and finding out after it's all done. Alternatively you could make...
  9. Scooter68

    Timing apple harvest for wine

    There are times when you have a choice between picking apples slightly less than fully ripe, OR letting birds, squirrels and any critter that can get to them take them or just ruin them. In NW Arkansas I started picking a week ago. About 10-15% of the apples are already well pecked on by the...
  10. Scooter68

    Tropical Fruit ferment time

    Sweetness is a relative term when it comes to personal likes and dislikes. In terms of categorizing wine you can find a number of references. The thing that matters most is what YOU like. Back Sweetening brings back flavors for weaker wines or fruit with tender flavors. Having said that I...
  11. Scooter68

    Pressing Blackberry wine

    Ripe blackberries will break down to very little pulp - mostly seeds. If you have a stainless steel strainer you could pour your wine through that and then let it clear. If the berries are already in a mesh bag, just pull that out and squeeze/wring it firmly. You are going to have a lot is...
  12. Scooter68

    Peach Wine Makers, a question?

    Working with a grocer, especially at the smaller stores can really pay off. Tell them you are willing to buy their over-ripe and bruised peaches if he/she can cut you a deal. For peach wine the only parts of the peaches I DON'T use are the stones, the stems and moldy parts - Mushy is fine...
  13. Scooter68

    Peach Wine

    I would get the pH in the range of 3.4 to 3.6 before fermenting. Some folks add pectic enzyme to the fruit before freezing as it can work on the fruit until it freezes and as soon as it's thawed. Yes, I would treat it as a white wine as the flavors can be a bit more delicate than fruits like...
  14. Scooter68

    Getting Started in Country Fruit Wine Making ?

    Make sure you are looking at Vintner's HARVEST (VH) and not Vintner's BEST (VB) - They are VERY different and to me VB has two strikes - 1st it's not a 100% juice wine base - It's a mix of different fruits not just the one on the pretty picture and Title. 2nd As you mentioned it's loaded with...
  15. Scooter68

    Ph Black Raspberry Must

    If his wine is giving a reading of 4.1 during fermentation - it definitely is not acidic enough, but; adding acid during fermentation is a 'iffy' proposition as you can't be certain to what extent the co2 is affecting the reading. (His wine could actually have started out with a reading...
  16. Scooter68

    TA and pH for blackberry must

    I would not make any adjustment to the pH. At 3.3 you are at the low end of the pH range most folks like for fruit wines*, but not really that far at all. Making adjustments from where you are at is not that critical. *[ The typical range folks normally work for is between 3.4 to 3.6]
  17. Scooter68

    Ph Black Raspberry Must

    Lessons to be learned out of this: 1) ALWAYS measure pH before adding any acid to ANY wine must. 2) Adjust and get stable reading of pH before starting the fermentation. 3) NEVER rely on pH measurements once fermentation has started. The very significant production of co2 during fermentation...
  18. Scooter68

    Reusing Screw Top Bottles

    Buy good quality corks and leaking or rotting is not an issue. Removing that sleeve - no thanks adding one more hazard to the process doesn't make it worth it. With a little patience and planning ahead finding corked bottles at the local recycling center hasn't been an issue. So free bottles...
  19. Scooter68

    Reusing Screw Top Bottles

    I'd NEVER try to cork a screw top bottle unless you don't care if you lose that wine. As to screw tops re-sealling - meh. For a short term storage it probably will work but again if you value that wine and want to be able to keep it more than a few months, Find the corked bottles and use...
  20. Scooter68

    Cherry Wine

    Key point to remember with any recipe is to start high. Far easier to deal with a 1 gallon batch the is actually 12 - 20 oz more than a gallon when the fruit bag is pulled than have to top off. Topping off like that pretty much makes all your calculations null and void until you re-calculate...
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