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I got some great apple juice from New England from my local place last year; I believe I got six gallons and I fermented it first in a seven-gallon bucket and then in a six-gallon carboy. I used sweet cider yeast (my husband likes it sweet), and it came out great. I used the homebrew place's...

Has anyone seen this book? It's by Rene Redzepi and David Zilber, the guys who run the famous hoity-toity Noma restaurant in Denmark. They try to use local Scandinavian ingredients exclusively. They are BIG on fermentation. I bought the book, thinking I would love it. Going through it, though, I...

After all the tinkering and Teflon taping and worrying about the sampling port installation on the FastFerment, I loaded it up with Cellar Craft Argentine Malbec. I put the grape skins in the hop basket and squooshed them daily. Toward the end of the 8-week secondary fermentation, I sampled it...

I've been posting a lot today; I have the day off and am delaying the bottling of some mead because the sediment got disturbed. I figured I'd make some kombucha. I am not wearing my watch, but I'm pretty sure I made it after lunch. It's now a few minutes after 5 PM EST and I thought, "Let's...

I had been ordering the black tea blend from getkombucha.com; it's good. I like to be able to taste the tea as well as the flavoring. Recently, I have been making Bray's 3-day mead with the recommended honeybush tea. I ordered some from https://www.tealyra.com; the shipment came with a coupon...

I don't know what to do. EC Kraus was having a sale (25% off on two kits) and I splurged on a Malbec and an Italian wine (Amarone, I think). I got a second FastFerment and two of the fine mesh diffusers for the grape skins. There are all sorts of packets of oak dust and oak chips, kiesel this...

Hi all, After figuring out our preferred honey mixture (2/3 random dark honey, 1/3 buckwheat honey) I resolved to make three gallons. Whenever I up a recipe, I worry that I'm going to forget to multiply one of the ingredients properly. This is Bray's 3-day mead I'm talking about. When I...

Wow, I am really getting into this! My husband wasn't initially interested in my making cider; now he is. We weren't mead drinkers; now we are. Whenever I work up a sweat, I cool off with kombucha. I have started buying 3 gal carboys; I just bottled 4 gallons of cider. The other day I dropped a...

I was all set to make three gallons of Bray's 3-day mead, having arrived at a good mixture of honeys, but the store was out of Wyeast 1388. I bought their sweet cider and mead yeast, #4766, and am just making one gallon. It seems to be slower than the 1388; one day later the O.G. is unchanged...

OK, the temperature in our basement has stabilized, and we're getting a new fridge soon, so I did my first kit, a 1 gal Winexpert pinot noir. Lessons learned: 1. Bentonite is like concrete. If you do not add it while stirring, it makes a lump on the bottom of the jug and you have to shake it...

I just read this in Tablet magazine. I guess we're making gazoz! I'll keep an eye out for it next time I'm in Tel Aviv!

Hi! I am a newbie; I started with kombucha and am now experimenting with elderberry wine (from concentrate or dried berries; I hope to harvest my own berries next year) as well as mead and graf. Our boiler is in the basement, so the basement is the same temp as the rest of the house. Right now...

For the second time, I have bumbled a Wyeast smash pack. The first time, I didn't read the directions (duh). The second time, I gave it two good smacks, but found on opening it the inside packet had not opened. The next time someone smashes one, could you video it and put it on Youtube or...

I just tasted my latest batch; I had added about 25% of the tea volume in the form of honeybush tea, which I am also using in a mead. I can't taste it at all; I guess I should either add it after primary fermentation or not bother with it. If I make my regular black/green tea mixture from...

OK, I am confused again, despite having acquired some books. I siphoned my elderberry wine from concentrate at an SG of 0.990 the the other day according to the recipe; because I didn't realize that fermentation had stopped naturally, I added a packet of Montrachet, which quickly fell to the...

How long should one be seeing bubbles coming from the airlock? When is fermentation over, and when is it "stuck"? I have five separate gallons of elderberry must, with different yeasts. The four (with and without raisins) I have with Lalvin 1122 or Montrachet are bubbling; the one (just a couple...

I am eagerly awaiting the delivery of my wine kit so that I can practice making elderberry wine with canned and dried berries before my own shrubs mature next year. The kit comes with "wine yeast," with no further description. I have found some recipes from a Texas winemaker that call for...

I have made several batches of kombucha now and feel much more comfortable with the process. One thing I notice is that I can taste the tea more, and I feel the effects of caffeine more, in my shorter brews (4-7 days) than in my longer brews (8-12 days). It's interesting. Has anyone else noticed...

I have been having a blast making my own kombucha. I am a gardener, and after reading several books about permaculture, I ordered some elderberry bushes, spicebushes (Appalachian allspice, Lindera benzoin), and the nitrogen-fixing goumi shrub (Elaeagnus multiflora). They were not expensive, and...

I am inching towards retirement. I have been veggie gardening seriously for a few years; I have been trying a little permaculture, and this book really inspired me to start growing berries. Right now, I have started brewing kombucha. As far as the berries, I have planted two goumi shrubs (They...