Recent content by springmom

It has been way too long since I started a batch of apfelwein! But amidst finishing up 6 gallons each of Sangiovese and Tempranillo and prepping for Chardonnay, I found myself seriously wanting some apfelwein. It was started yesterday and I look forward to sampling at Thanksgiving and serving...

Just checked mine that I started last fall. It's ready to bottle after a year in the carboy though it seems a bit thin. I'm topping it off with apple juice after filtering it; if it takes off fermenting again I'll probably kill the ferment and bottle. Very promising.

Just re-racked the gallon I started last winter. About time to bottle. I'm debating whether to sweeten it a bit as the jalapeño is quite distinct and a bit of sweet to balance might make it a nice accompaniment to Tex Mex. anybody sweetened theirs? Outcomes?

Last year's attempt didn't work out well. Something nasty, green, and disagreeable grew in it at some point (ew). This year I'm going to do a few things differently: using a whole nutmeg, cinnamon chips, and whole allspice. That way, when I rack it, I won't have so much free floating spice...

Fixing to start a second gallon of this today. I'm considering using one nice big Hatch chili pepper. They have such a nice flavor I'd live to find out how much (if any) difference it'd make.

I got a lovely hibiscus tea from Mountain Rose Herbs and made a scrumptious methylene with it. Just bottled it today. Oh. My. Soooooo good

I did follow the recipe. I let it sit, racking occasionally, for almost a year ( started it at the end of September last year). All meads benefit from time. I bottled a traditional mead about as aged, nd it'll be better for another 6-12 months. But the ZtAt is ready to enjoy nw. ANSI is just...

You know, I think I'd spice it when serving. Hot spiced wine is one of life's true pleasures. If you want to create spiced wine that's spiced in the bottle I'd add the spices in the primary fermentation. (See Disturbed Chemist's awesome Texas Twang recipe for an example). But a couple of cloves...

Lol!!!! When I tasted it, it tasted awful, but I hadn't yet filtered it. ( I filter all my wines since I have a nasty allergy to yeast.). At any rate, we got all the rest of the wines bottled and then opened the blueberry. I reminded my husband that it hadn't been filtered at all yet, so we...

... To all who post here, answer "dumb" newbie questions, etc. This weekend my husband helped me bottle a number of gallons of fruit wine which have been sitting in my wine closet for almost a year. In left them to age in their gallon carboys, thanks to some sound advice, and there was only one...

Tonight, this finally got bottled. I let it sit. And sit. And sit. And am glad I did because THAT, sir, is heaven in a bottle. My husband doesn't like it, but I'll have to beat my daughter-in-law-'s father off with a baseball bat to keep him out of it :-) That is phenomenal, and I will...

Thanks. Found the Braggs at Kroger this evening. I've got several gallons to filter and bottle tomorrow, but once they're safely put to bed, I'll filter the blueberry, then add the Braggs and let it do its thing. Is it better to put it in a primary bucket and just let it do its thing or should...

Hey y'all. Been awhile since I've been here. I've done several wines successfully, but the very first one I put up for aging was a blueberry wine. I got it out today to bottle...and saw that the airlock had gone dry. The wine is sour so is unusable as wine. Blast. However it might make a quite...

Seconding saramc. I have a welches white grape-peach just now bottled and oh my, that's going to be something else for summer consumption. I may make up a gallon and turning into sparkling wine. I certainly will make the wine I just bottled again!!!

You need to degas the wine. Your LHBS should carry a degas see that you can attach to a drill and then whip the air out. It's an important step in winemaking. After you do the degassing let the wine settle then rack and bottle.