Recent content by scumbuster

I am an expat outside the US. Wine grapes here are nonexistent. I found a couple places that sell Chilean wine juice concentrate in 65 or 68 Brix. It looks like on charts this would be about SG: 1.300 What would be the dilution factor to bring this down to 1.100. Might this be what you buy in...

As I checked my 5 gallon carboy this morning I was looking at where the SG: was and again thought about the scale on the side for alcohol content. It is scaled from 1.000 up. But that doesn't account for alcohol production below SG 1.000. Is this because if you ferment below 1.000 it really...

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Just curious as to what made you decide it was ready to bottle? It should settle back out if you leave it sit for a while. Don't be in a hurry to bottle if there are lees in suspension. In time it will settle and should clear. If you bottle now it will settle in the bottles.

Just curious as to what made you decide it was ready to bottle? It should settle back out if you leave it sit for a while. Don't be in a hurry to bottle if there are lees in suspension. In time it will settle and should clear. If you bottle it now it will settle in the bottles.

I agree with TexasWine. When I started making wine I thought... OMG I will never drink 5 gallons. When you have it there readily available you will go through it faster than you might think. Myself I would be surprised if 5 gallons lasted much past 1 year unless you rarely drink wine. Especially...

I just ran across this Welches recipe. I started a Welch grape juice wine about 10 days ago but was just winging it to see if it worked before I scaled up my batch. I only added sugar, yeast nutrient and the yeast. No acid blend or tannin. Is it too late to add this now. Not impressed with the...

I just got back to Colombia with my dehydrated blueberries and cherry's. They are not available here and on an earlier post someone recommended dehydrated fruit for traveling convenience and weight. How much dehydrated fruit per gallon? Anyone have a recipe to share? I don't want a weak wine...

Well I just ordered 8 lbs of dried blueberries and 4 lbs of dried cherries. I will bring them back with me on Dec. 8th. Now I just need to find a couple recipes to use the dried fruit as compared to fresh fruit. Blueberry and Cherry wine will be a nice change from what I have made lately. Thanks...

I have been making wine now for about 5 years. About 6 months ago I became an expat and am living in Bogota Colombia. I brought some basic wine making supplies with me and since I have been here have made wine from mangos, guava, plums and skeeter pee from lemons and limes. But there are no...

@scarecrow. The dehydrated fruit sounded like a great idea, but the cost of dehydrated blueberries and cherries is astronomical. hahaha Best blueberry deal I can find is 4 lbs for $30.00 and cherries are higher. Wondering how many dehydrated berries to a gallon of wine. I guess if 4 lbs. made a...

Has anyone ever tried this and what were the results? I am an expat living in South America and while we have a great variety of fruits, some fruits you just cant get here. Blueberry and Cherry for example are unheard of here. Fresh or frozen are a no go, so I was wondering if I got cans of pie...

You might also juice the watermelon rather than chunking it and putting it in a bag in your primary. I crushed a lot but there were still lots of chunks in the bag and as the watermelon juice released it changed the SG quite a bit leaving me with no way of knowing the alcohol content of the...

My batch was 2 gallons and is just finishing fermentation. Maybe another day or two max. SG 1.006 yesterday. Tastes very good. I added 3 lbs of strawberries to the 2 gallons of watermelon. I also used brown sugar so the color now is pretty deep red, but not much has settled out yet so I am...

I agree with zoonose.. If they are making 50 gallons every year and everyone is drinking it why change anything. If you think there is a better way get 5 gallons of there juice and do your own thing with it and compare a year later. Till you can show a better and tastier way don't rock the boat.