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Hi, I have about 7 gallons of gorgeous looking mead almost ready for the bottle. Hard to believe I started this in early May of 2008! I was planning on bottling it in summer of this year (well, actually, in spring of this year to coincide with the birth of my daughter, but I never got...

Hi, I made over 6 gallons of mead using a blend of different honeys, which is now ready for bottling. In honour of my first(?) daughter's birth this year, I have decided to call it "Anika's Blend". Since I will end up with so many bottles, maybe one of them will still be left when she...

Hi all, it's been a few months since I last posted. Work is busy and life goes on, and not really much I can do while I have 7 gallons under bulk aging. ;) Anyway, after a rather disappointing 6 gallon peach wine that ended up very tasty but "strangely" sparkly and somewhat sedimentary in the...

Hello: I'm preparing to start on a mead, and want it to be fairly simple, with a taste as close to honey as possible. I have tried a couple of commercial meads, and my favorite so far has to be Lurgashall's English Mead. It tastes, looks, and smells like honey but has a nice alcohol kick...

Hi! After trying my hand at a peach white wine and a mixed berry red wine (both of which are still aging, can't wait!) I have found myself becoming more and more fascinated by mead. To see what all the fuss was about, I purchased a bottle of Lurgashall English Mead over the net and gave it a...

Hi all: Some of you may remember that I started a 6 gallon peach wine back on August 17th. After racking several times, fining and filtering, and about 2.5 months of bulk aging, I finally bottled the peach yesterday. The hydrometer showed a 0.90, and because the recipe started out as a...

Hi, I just did my 2nd racking after a 10 day sit on the lees, as recommended by my recipe book. HOWEVER, there was a *lot* of sediment, and I ended up having to compensate for about 3 litres of wine (3/4 of a gallon!). Mind you, my original wine level when going from primary to secondary was...

http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/beershots/index.html Microscopic images of various beers from around the world. What the heck makes up all those colours? Some of them look like stained glass windows. :) I think I'll go crack open a cold one. :D

Well, this is not about wine so it's off-topic but, some islanders in the south Pacific brew coconut toddy. Apparently they pour coconut water (from a green, immature coconut) into a hollow bamboo section, and let it ferment in the sun for awhile. After a day you get a strong tasting juice...

When I look at my secondary from my very first batch, and see the bubbling action, and witness the "weather system" (it's like a mini-hurricane in a 6 gallon mini-ocean of wine) I think, "I have to wait several months before I can enjoy this"? As one of those, "compulsive shopper, want it...

Hi, a couple of days ago I racked my first batch (a peach must) from primary to secondary. I did not add sulphite when doing so, but I rinsed my carboy, plastic tubing, etc. out with sulphite and then rinsed with water afterward. The carboy is now sitting in a room with the air conditioner set...

Hi: My peach must will soon be ready for racking from primary to secondary! When I do the transfer, should I put the tube as close to the bottom of the secondary carboy as possible to avoid oxygenation? Or, should I hold it near the top so that the wine splashes so that I can introduce as...

How "important" is it to have an accurate hydrometer reading when you first prepare the must? My readings, taken multiple times, ranged from "table wine" down to "dessert wine" depending on how I held the hydrometer. I'm embarrassed to say that, I used the hydrometer's shipping container to...

Hi: I have a 1 gallon jug which contains a 50 gram sulphite / water solution, used for equipment sanitation. I have only started using it yesterday, yet the cap is already showing signs of rust! I will try to find another cap ASAP, but I am currently using this jug twice daily. Should I be...

Hello: A recipe requires a litre of white grape concentrate, but I can't seem to find any in my area. I assume it would be possible to use 100% grape juice instead? If so, what would the quantity needed be? For example, 1 litre of concentrate + 8 litres of water would become something like...

Hello: I have plenty of bentonite finings on hand, but a given recipe is asking for Claro K.C. finings. Would I run into any problems if I were to substitute with bentonite? Thanks and best regards...

Hi: I was planning to brew my first batch of wine, here in Japan. I spent hundreds of dollars getting all the equipment and supplies I would need to brew 6 gallons (the equipment purchased within Japan, or shipped from outside the country, all result in exhorbitant costs). I ordered 7 kg. of...

Hello: I am preparing to make my first batch of wine. I have decided on the raisin wine recipe, from the "Winemaking" book by Anderson & Anderson. I have pretty much everything I need to get started, but before I begin I would like to ask the following questions. - I have a 25 litre (5...