Search results

Yup. The vinegar is awesome. I let it settle until now, RDWHAHB. It cleared up nicely. Seems to have less acid than store bought distilled stuff, but my reading says that is SOP for fruit/wine vinegars. I 'pickled' some eggs by using it full strength instead of diluting with water. It got...

I recall the refraction of alcohol is so close to water as to be inconsequential. I just plug the refractometer readings into a sheet removed from one of many broken hydrometers. Or, merely take the drop in sugar, divide by 2 because yeast makes half the sugar into alcohol, the other half...

Check the Agave syrup bottle for ingredients? Like "to retard spoilage" ? I've brewed several batches of Prickly Pear Wine, from my own fruit. No problem with fermentation.

No digital files, but I took a pic of the bottles:

Darn computer ate my print shop files. No "Peachy Ass" or "Prickly Pair" to be found. Just this less creative Lowquat: http://photos.imageevent.com/bigchriscase/misc/icons/Loquat%20label%202010.psd.jpg

Try a 'starter' on the next package of yeast. Get it going in sugar water first. Also, read the ingredients carefully- is there anything added that might inhibit 'spoilage'. like the way yeast spoils sweet things into alcohol?

Did your dad leave it in secondary for a few weeks? Patience, Grasshopper....

Update: I tossed the batch of plums that had the active fruit fly infestation. But as it hit the bin, I noticed a vinegary smell. I guess the poster who mentioned acetobacter coming in on the flies was correct. Then I remembered the flies in the figs. So I retasted the fig wine, in comparison to...

Andrew, funny you should necromance this thread the same day I too log back in. Oats have a gluten. But many people are not bothered by it. To make a short story long, 'gluten' is two proteins, gliadin and horedin. Gliadin is the culprit, bi only indirectly. Seems that you intestines beak...

I guess I'll toss the plums into the compost. No flavor anyhow. Hmm, unless I squeeze and boil down to a stronger flavor syrup? Boiling the wort kills the acetobactor in beer mash, ought to work for wine. Like making wine from pasteurized concentrated fruit syrups. Wait, pasturzeing is a good...

Last fall's Prickly Pair wine is stil to strog/harsh. Great for cooking and home made salsa though. but 50 bottles? That's going to take a lot of salsa! The spring Low Quats were few and sour. The wine was reminiscent of lemonade. The peach wine in the summer was good, but the plum wine was...

They came out the best yet! I used a digital meat thermometer to check the temps. I got hooked on home made fries lately, once I met my weight loss target and went off the low carb bit. Down 60 pounds, Meat and potatoes now, cholesterol level 160s. Tossed them into 340° oil in a sauce...

Seems all the biggies blanch the sliced up taters in boiling water for a couple minutes. It has to do with starch conversion. I held mine in quite salty water at 145-150 for 15 minutes before frying. 3% salt is recommended. I'll get back to you after dinner with the taste test results...

Some fruit wines do get heated. Maybe by just pouring boiling water over the fruit.

With Lagers, aren't you suppoded to allow them to warm a bit for a few days to drive off the ummm stuff that tastes like ummm,,,,, sometihng or other? Maybe he is brewing too cool? But I'm a room temperature brewer on So. Cal, dunno from lagers.

I don't degas, so I've always figured there is enough CO2 coming out of the wine that worrying about topping up is unnecessary. Otherways, if you are not flushing the carboy with CO2, you are still getting six gallons of air in there. Leaving some head space, and installing an air lock, you...

Jerryrigger, we are talking oh 10% in a 50 pound batch, or about 5# of alcohol. No need to weigh it to .o1grams. Truckjohn, I do have a refractometer. I thought that would have been clear in my earlier mention of brix. Or not. So far as ethylene gas goes, that is proof that not all of the...

Geez Gush, didn't you rad up on brewing? The most important thing to do is RDWHHB. Relax, Don't Worry, Have Home Brew. Well, you did learn- a bunch. Don't worry about a funk, it is only temporary. I think you'll be sorry you gave it all away, once your's ages some more. And the thin mouth...

Just wait. Rack to another container occasionally, to get rid of the dregs, then wait. There just doesn;t seem to be a functional filtration option for home brewers.

Thanks, that is my point- fruit changes in the fermenter. Though the changes may be inconsequential to homebrew bathtub chemistry.