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I just put the sterilized hydrometer straight into the bucket... Any bad points in doing this..?

Fruit flies carry acetic acid bacteria. This bacteria can cause wine to turn into vinegar. I don't know if one fruit fly will be enough; I suspect that it wouldn't be. If the wine is done fermenting, it might be worth it to give it a dose of potassium metabisulfite? Maybe someone can chime in...

If you can get your hand on an old fridge/freezer, the compressor works like a charm. I got mine for free off a fridge I found abandoned in a lot. One end (the suction) hooks up to your bung via some clear tubing, and the other end (the out) just into an open jar (only because I've had some oil...

I used this recipe last year a few weeks after halloween: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques53.asp It's still a little hazy, so I have it bulk aging, but from the little samples I've stolen over the months, it seems like it is going to be a really good wine. Not too much in terms of...

I would think that's enough air. I've been brewing lots of batches and never had any real problems with covering my fermentation bucket with a clean dish cloth, and laying the bucket lid (with no airlock hole) over top loosely. Sometimes I aerate the wine once a day for the first few days...

Ok, it just checked it and the gravity is at 1.026... so this makes for about a 12% wine. I wish it had ended a little lower... I took a sample, and overall its not bad for taste, better than I thought it would come, but I'm not sure if I would make it again. Let us know how yours turns out!

I still have it in the carboy. I've completely forgotten about it as it's now in the corner of the room, behind other carboys that are still work in progress... I'll climb over them and give you a specific gravity reading tomorrow... I know that it never did get rolling much, and I never had...

I've searched the forum, and found little bits of info on this but have found no definitive answer. In general terms, is it possible to clear a wine without degassing? Specifically, I like my Skeeter Pee fizzy. I keg it and hook it up to some CO2. My batches have proven hard to clear, even...

They're very nice. It just feels as though the handles were sanded down a bit - a little rough, but very in tact. Doesn't seem to need new gaskets, holds pressure just fine. All the connections are nice as well. The vessel is a little dented near the bottom, but at $14 a piece I can't imagine a...

I could use one of these!

I'm getting the same thing. It was fine yesterday... I'm sure it'll clear up soon, I hope!

I'm notoriously cheap, and after much searching, I think I found a pretty good deal. I placed my order for 2 the other day, but haven't received them yet. A pin-lock corny keg for $14. A little bit of damage on the rubber but I'm sure that won't matter for most of you...

I'm no pro, but I've made apple wine before and had the same question. From what I could tell, it's just a matter of ABV- Wine is higher ABV (10%+), Cider is lower (~5%).. I don't think carbonation makes any difference, because they have still cider, and sparkling wine at the store.

He doesn't know what size they are. Judging from the dimensions I'd figure they're about 5 gallons. I told him I'd buy them anyway, there must be a way to get some standardized connections on these things. For the price, it'll be worth doing some digging, hopefully the LHBS will be nice...

I'm just getting started into kegging, and I found these kegs on a local online classifieds. It's for the long and narrow ones.. Are these just a variant on the regular corny kegs? Does anyone know what they're called so I can research them before buying? I've attached some pictures to help...

I just found a case of dark Coopers beer... most likely Coopers stout, that I had made in January 2006. That means it's been aged approx 5 years! They were bottled in regular twist off bottles, and completely forgotten about in the garage until today. They taste fine, pretty good actually...

I have pumpkin wine in the secondary. Tasted a little bit after I racked from the primary, and it was delicious. I strongly recommend it! I'm thinking it can only get better from there.

Hey guys, I recently started up two batches of apple wine about 3 weeks ago, loosely following jack kellers recipe. 64 pounds of minced apples, 4 gallons water, champagne yeast, some pectic enzyme, etc... I now have two 5 gallon carboys full of this stuff. They were racked off the lees...

I've been waiting for pumpkins to come on sale (after Halloween) so I could try out this recipe. It looks like it could be delicious: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques53.asp Also, I found this recipe a while back. It goes against some of the principles that I've learned here on the...

I've corked a screw top bottle before. I have a floor corker, and it seems to go without any problems. I don't have extensive experience with wine making or bottling, but so far, I'd say I've corked maybe 15 screw tops and haven't had any breakages or issues whatsoever. I usually screw the cap...