Recent content by Lady_Grey

It's muscadine season here in North Carolina. My husband really likes a muscadine port style wine he got from Duplin Winery a few years back and I'd like to make something like that for him, but while I think I get the idea of making a basic wine I have no idea how one goes about making *port*...

You bet! Probably sugar, as I haven't extracted my honey supers yet - been a slow year. Next year they should be ready earlier and I want to try a pyment. Do I put the peels in the carboy with the airlock or in the primary fermentation vessel?

Ohhh... that makes sense. I mean, we all know they made elderberry wine but it stands to reason they would have used another yeast source. Well. Maybe I'll go ahead and boil the juice after straining tomorrow, just to be safe. Would it work to throw a few crabapples into the juice to inoculate...

I wanted to make a wild fermented elderberry wine but there's conflicting information online about whether it's safe to just ferment the berries without cooking them. Most people who post recipes and videos don't seem to bother but now I'm not confident that I'm not signing my family up for a...

I guess I didn't think about that. Homesteading Family has a reputation for being a good source but that doesn't mean they're always right. I'll look into it. I did some extensive googling after you said that and now I'm a bit confused; many sources say that the raw berries are poisonous but...

I don't think so, none of the videos or articles I've read say anything about that. From what I understand it's that you don't want to consume the seeds, which are toxic, you just want to extract the juice, which for a jelly or syrup would indeed involve boiling but wouldn't in a wild fermented...

WAIT I just remembered I have wild crabapples on my property! And they should be ready in a week or two. I usually make those into jelly because they are sour but I bet if I squash a few into the apple juice they'd inoculate it fine.

Thanks! Good to know. Um. Well, since I've already done it, and I don't particularly want to buy yeast, could I either put the juice in a jar with a cheesecloth and let it "catch" yeast from the air, or add raisins, or both? I'm doing both with an elderberry wine from elderberries I had in the...

Hi! I'm just now putting my toe in the brewing world so all this is new and exciting but I don't quite know all the little details. I got some homegrown apples, organic and unsprayed, from my father in law's orchard, but it's not quite enough for a gallon of cider, so I was wondering: 1) I froze...