Search results

Sounds like my neighbors contractor. He started working on the house 3 years ago and has spent the last year fixing the issues that arose bc of corners he cut. He was a subcontractor (painter) who wanted to pick up extra work. Get your job specs in writing and know that not all contractors...

For recipes that call for yeast slurry (like SP) a highly tolerant yeast like 1118 or K1V-1116 will probably do just fine if you rehydrate per the mfg directions. From my experience slurry does take off faster, but does not clear any more quickly or impact how reliably you will get a full...

Sorry to be so late on replying on my own replies. I just hit that magical moment in a dad's life when I am potty training one little guy while another one is teething (so i clean up P÷×+ and S%!#& and then spend most of my night awake w an angry baby). We just hit that time of year when...

Very cool and congrats! When that little one is older you should make the drive north from them to Amnicon Falls (on the WI/MN border near Duluth). Beautiful place either in summer or as the snow is just melting.

Attempting to stabilize while your wine is still fermenting will also stress the remaining yeast - can give off-flavors. If you are using a less tolerant yeast you can also overload it and add sugar beyond its alcohol tolerance, so the yeast quits and dies off before you get below 1.00. Or you...

Never made it as a port, but there's a very yummy coffee wine that would probably pair well with bourbon for a fortified wine: Http://homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=421497 Takes at least 6+ months to age out since it is basically fermented sugar syrup + cold brew coffee. You can do...

Sounds more like this is chunks of your KMS/SMS tablets (Campden) or Sorbate that didn't dissolve and are now suspended solids. You generally want to crush those super fine, dissolve in some wine, whip, and then rack onto that solution to avoid this exact issue. If your wine is clear enough to...

It's quite a bit south from Eau Claire, but Turtle Rock Brewery and Pearl Street Brewery in the La Crosse/Coulee region are very good. The wineries, though, I have not heard great things.

The Leine brewery is pretty cool. They do a huge gravity system and show all the levels. You're pretty close to MSP too if you really want to hit a bigger locale for a day.

This. If you are a big bold red drinker using dark berry concentrate (blueberry Pomegranate juice maybe) and blackberries as your frozen fruit will get you a VERY serviceable blush. Raisins get you extra body, but necessitate more aging time. The formula quoted, 2 lbs of chopped raisins per...

Peach is a PITA to clear. If you are looking for a QUICK tasty wine, 10 cans of juice concentrate (Old Orchard Apple Kiwi Strawberry or Berry Blend work well here), 5-7 lbs of frozen mixed berries, and sugar to 1.09 makes a great blush wine that will clear in 6-8 weeks without filtering. I am...

When I bought my house, I found in the basement several old glass milk bottles (the old quart size with the tapered end). All the benefits of a mason jar, but I can use the same bung as my Better Bottles. WIN! It is gonna sound really white trash, but plastic wrap and a rubber band works fine...

Ditto to all of the other comments. Assuming it does ferment dry, I would start another weaker wine now targeting about 10% ABV that you can blend with the strong stuff and/or drink while you wait for your first one to mellow out. Also assuming you have another fermenter and an extra carboy...

Sanitized marbles or something similar will also work, but you need to be very careful with them for obvious reasons.

Recipe for making vermouth in a legal in the US fashion (taken from The Guardian): http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/jun/19/how-to-make-perfect-vermouth

Would you be willing to part with some of your land to lease it for commercial development? Could help your cash situation. In addition to the lag time from starting to getting usable fruit from your vinyard, there is a process to getting the permitting to grow and harvest fruit for alcohol...

Blueberry/blackberry blush update: Thiefed a few ounces today to check the progress. Still a little suspended gas with a few tiny bubbles coming up. It is dry, fairly tart, but it retained more of the fruity flavors than I expected. Planning to rack one more time, and this one should be ready to...

Almost exclusively "country" fruit wine. The closest I have come to a kit is canned wine base for something that doesn't grow well enough in my area to be cheap and plentiful. No offense to kit wines - they're just not my preference.

So, my smallest carboy of strawberry wine is nearly gone. It is perfectly clear, dead still, and just slightly sweet with a nice bite. Probably the best young wine I have ever made, and over the last 4 days the volume on my 3L port bottle has been getting lower at an alarming rate (my wife loves...

Could not agree more with the general sentiment of the OP. I will always rack at least once (usually twice) , but I never degas, filter, or use finings on my wine. My only acid testing system is my tongue and I occasionally entirely skip measurements altogether when I think I can "more or less"...