Recent content by D the Catastrophist

I love pear wine and have made both Bartlett and D'Anjou pear wine. 6 lbs of pears makes with one gallon of water yields 4 750 ml bottles, so you lose about a 5th to sediment. Even using a very fine mesh straining bag to hold the fruit in primary. I add pectic to primary and wait at least 24 hrs...

Change it. Even if fermentation is no longer ongoing, the limited amount of oxygen exposure will have no impact at all on your mead.

What likely happened was a portion of the yeast had clumped and settled, and when you poured into new containers it all went into one, which is the one that is still actively fermenting. When I make wines, I stir twice a day for the first week to ten days, then drop to once a day until it stops...

Yes. Padded seat and padded shorts are a requirement for long rides on a road bike. For a guy, the split seats help as well.

I used to have a steel framed Bianchi Volpe. Was a road bike so had the skinny tires, but I loved that bike. It was a 'touring' bike so the geometry of the frame was different that a typical road bike that is designed solely for speed. The benefit of that was you weren't s hunched over so it was...

Wasn't sure where the best place for this was as technically these are not fermented, but can be used as an addition to cocktail, cocktails, seltzers and the like. Shrubs. Standard ratio you see is 1:1:1 by weight of fruit to sugar to vinegar. Take the fruit, mix with sugar in a mason jar, let...

Here is more info on the study: https://newsroom.clevelandclinic.org/2024/06/06/cleveland-clinic-led-study-links-sugar-substitute-to-increased-risk-of-heart-attack-and-stroke

Just saw an article on this, and I know a bunch of people use Xylitol as a non-fermentable sweetener in their wines before bottling: https://www.wfmj.com/story/50872939/cleveland-clinicled-study-links-sugar-substitute-to-increased-risk-of-heart-attack-and-stroke?clienttype=mobile&config=H264...

If you have a chance- City of Rocks State Park in New Mexico does 'Star Parties'. They have a permanently mounted telescope with a retractable roof that they let people look through, and a local group will bring additional telescopes. I got to see the Orion Nebula through 3 different size scopes...

Had this happen with my ac unit. The new gfci tripped and failed within a day of install. Course my ac unit is cursed- had 2 pumps die a year apart. First was only 2 years old.

I have a similar concern that I keep in the back of my mind-all of my 5 uncles were/are alcoholics, over half of my male cousins are or have struggled with addiction. So, I do a few things: 1. I limit myself both on intake amount and frequency. 2. My wife is well aware of the family issue and I...

Yup. Fairly normal. 71b tolerates temps from 59-86 F for fermentation, generally the warmer the quicker so you got the benefit of the 'moderately fast' fermentation speed, which is how lallemand describes the yeast. Just an fyi- I try to have my wines ferment at the bottom of the temperature...

Most fruit don't require mashing. I dice the bigger ones like pears, apples, strawberries. Berries like raspberries and blackberries get tossed in whole. Blueberries I'd give a light mash to break the skin, but otherwise after a few days in primary(I stir morning and night for the first week)...

Without a hydrometer it's guesswork, but with that much honey, your looking at close to 20% abv if fermented to dry. So, I would do a couple things: 1. Taste a small amount using sanitized ladle. I suspect it will be sickly sweet, but 71b is jokingly called 71Beast for a reason. people have hit...

I use pectic enzyme, 1 tsp per gallon(and I have used up to 6 lbs of fruit in a 1 gallon recipe). I don't refrigerate it, but it is kept in a cool, dark area. I make sure to add at least 24 hrs before I add the yeast as I have read that it works best without Alcohol present. Never used bentonite...