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I made the one that is in his Home Winemaking book. It didnt have dates or raisins in it. I'll look for the one you mentioned, I have a lot of Jack Keller recipes in electronic format.

It's been pretty warm out since May, but my basement is really cold in the summer because the furnace is turned off (and we have a/c). I use a temperature controlled fermentation box for my primaries because it's so cold down there. I didn't degas because it lived in carboys for nearly 5...

The abv is 13.5% and pH is 3.02 - does that change anything? I know nothing about MLF, so I appreciate all of the info you're providing.

Is there anything I can do to stop it? The recipe says to age it at least 6 months and it really isn't amazing tasting yet

Yes they are pinhead size bubbles. I've never noticed bubbles in my wine before, ever, which is why I thought I'd ask. I added kmeta when I did the third racking on June 8, but not again yesterday. How long do they need to be at 50 degrees? My basement is 62-64 degrees, but my fridge space is...

I made strawberry wine using the recipe in Jack Keller's book. It fermented dry to 0.991. I bottled last night, and this morning there are tiny bubbles at the top in the necks of some of the bottles. Not lots of bubbles just a few in some. I usually backsweeten wine and use K sorbate, but didn't...

I normally wouldn't measure the pH of Skeeter Pee either but I just got a pH meter and thought I'd play around with it. :) I think I will just see if the re-pitched low pH batch will do anything else, and if not, I'm gonna call it, since it's over 11% and I want the primary freed up. Next time I...

If alcohol wasn't so expensive in Canada, I'd buy Everclear and fortify. The cost of alcohol up here was part of the reason we decided to start making out own. 😂

Wouldn't everyone who follows the recipe (which calls for 2 x 32oz bottles of lemon juice at the start) run into this same low pH issue? Should I try to do anything about the pH in that batch?

Thank you for your help! I opted to repitch yeast in the older of the two batches on Tuesday, since it looks like the other is making tiny, slow progress still. This morning, it looks active so fingers crossed. I really want my primaries back because I have other wine I want to make! I tested...

I used Realemon brand lemon juice, which is the only kind I can get here that isn't Walmart/store brand. Is there any risk of a weird taste if I pitch new yeast and they don't finish off? Should I also use nutrient or energizer? Thank you for your help!

The one that I pitched EC-1118 in has been stuck for 2 weeks at 1.014. I started it June 13 and the OG was 1.095, but with EC-1118 it should be fine. It's sitting at under 12% abv right now. This one had 2/3 of the lemon juice at the beginning and went really slow before it stalled. I started...

I consistently struggle to get Skeeter Pee to ferment dry. I have a harder time when following the original recipe which calls for 2 bottles of lemon juice at the start and 1 midway through. I've had more success adding 1 bottle at the start and the rest after fermentation is done, but it seems...

Catching up with my recent few batches. :) 18 DB and 6 SP 5441 + 24 = 5465

Two of them are smooth inside and two feel textured inside. There is nothing printed on the bottom of any of them I don't think they've been in the sun, but they were in my uncle's garage for 20 years, so they've potentially seen temperature shifts from -35C to +35C. I also realized as I...

A couple months ago, my uncle mentioned he had my grandmother's old winemaking stuff in his garage and offered it to us. He dropped it off yesterday and these are the carboys he gave us. I have never seen this kind of plastic carboys before. You can see they are far from clean, but since they...

I have a Milwaukee 102 pH meter, so I feel like I should trust the readings, even as a newbie. Had I not taken the before reading twice, I would assume maybe it was incorrect. Very strange though, I prefer understanding why something has happened. 😂

I tested the PH and got 3.02. I was confused, so I recalibrated and got the same reading. I wasn't expecting a drop in PH - maybe the recipe is correct after all? I read through the other recipes in his book and most have acid adjustment right at the start, but not this one.

I've never seen a recipe without acid at the beginning either, but it's Jack Keller so I felt like I should trust the instructions. I'm not sure if I should disregard that he doesn't say to deal with acidity until 2.5 months in, and adjust the pH when I rack it this weekend. It's almost...

I am making the strawberry wine in Jack Keller's book for the first time, which doesn't call for acid/acid adjustments until a couple months in. The recipe steps: 1. Primary fermentation 2. Rack to secondary once SG is 1.020 or lower if fermentation is still vigorous 3. Wait 30 days, rack again...