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Rehydrate before or after chopping? And is chopping necessary?

Great idea! I'll do that next time.

I chopped some about 6 weeks ago and added to a secondary red then racked and tasted after a month and I was satisfied. I removed the raisins while racking. It really added a lot of body.

My children we're given a 5 gal glass pickle jar that is probably 50 years old from my wife's grandmother. It was used for collecting change and now I want to recycle it into a carboy. 2 questions- 1) if I clean this jar well with detergent and hot water will it leave anything from the money...

I've wondered for the last few weeks if the hydrometer was off. I drink commercially made wine and it's supposed to be the same % as my homemade but the homemade definitely is higher. Any way to adjust or is there a rule of thumb when measuring with a home brew kit?

Starting gravity was 1.070. What's causing all the bubbling?

I've got a strawberry banana wine almost 2 months in. The hydrometer is showing .998 and it tastes pretty well dried out. However, the airlock is releasing about every 5 seconds. Logic in my head says dry, no more bubbles. Is that too simplistic?

Do you mind sharing your recipe? I'll have a 1 gal carboy open in a week or so and would like to try it.

So I'm looking in my pantry today and see a can of store bought peaches. The first thing i think of is making a batch of wine with it. It has no preservatives. Just peaches, concentrated peach and pear juice, citric acid, and absorbic acid. Seems to me this could make a decent batch of home...

I've had this in a primary 1 gal carboy for about 6 weeks. It has a bit of an ammonia smell and tastes a little off but not terrible. It's dried out completely, right at 12%. Is the off smell and taste just because it's young? Or is there something else wrong? It's drinkable, especially if it's...

Yea I just did a quick search. Guess I'll just get it from the faucet from now on.

So I checked the bottom of my jug. It says for water storage only and has the number 7 with the triangle around it. I don't plan on aging for more than 3-6 months so if short term is ok I may try it.

Thanks for the info. I'll have to check and see if it's type 1 or 2.

I am able to get my hands on some 5 gallon office water jugs for free and for a couple bucks get the stopper for an airlock. Has anyone ever used these and if so are there any negatives? I'm assuming that they are food grade so I think they'll work great.

Isn't wild yeast the way the purest do it?

Lots of great info guys, I really appreciate it. I'm working through the handbook and it's a great resource. Learning something new every day! Cheers!🍷

What about brands? Are any superior to others or do they just yield a different final product?

So when I started making very simple wine from welch's concentrate about a year ago I started with bakers yeast and quickly moved to ec1118 for the simple fact that it was the first that popped up on my Amazon search. I've stuck with it because it's been reliable and made some pretty tasty wines...

Patience is tough. I've started several batches; some to age and some to drink young. I may try some new yeasts now that I've got some info on which are best with which wines. The manufacturer makes such broad use of what their yeast will cover.

I've already done a few small batches from welches concentrate that turned out nice, nothing fancy but had a good taste. I did a strawberry/banana/grape a few weeks ago and it's coming along. When using fruit instead of a kit, is it best to pull the left over fruit after a week or so and leave...