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Does the temperature of the water affect the action of the potassium metabisulphite when you're assembling ingredients in the primary? I start with frozen fruit in a mesh bag, then add boiling water with the sugar dissolved in it, plus everything else except the pectic enzyme and yeast (those...

PS (and I may have been getting into the Ribena and Welches wine this evening) I picture some Dad 150 years ago making his kids cut all those raisins in half...

Also the book advises not to use "any materials of doubtful character" which I think is timeless good advice for wine and life generally.

What a wonderful book! There is another recipe that calls for 40 lb of raisins and you have to cut them all in half.

I think I have the answer - on page 1 of that online book you found, there is a reference to "four hundred weight and a half of good Malaga raisins." The recipe also involves boiling 64 gallons of river water for an hour, and the use of a (presumably enormous) horsehair bag.

Make lots the first couple of years to get ahead of the aging process - enough to drink before it's technically ready (it will probably be good so you'll want to drink it and share it) and to age for the recommended amount of time. Also take lots of notes so if something is really good you can...

Ouch - that's exactly the kind of thing I would do! Today I couldn't find my stapler at the office and seriously thought I might have to have to look in the fridge for it, until a helpful coworker located it behind something else on the desk... Is it nearly weekend yet?

Maybe don't hit it with the hydrometer - those things break really easily :)

I've had EC-1118 keep right on fermenting in my basement at 52 degrees. That was after a week of primary fermentation on the main floor at 60 - 66 degrees, then moved to the basement after transferring it to the secondary.

I agree with both points. Even without blending, you get loads of tannin from blackberry seeds - so much that I started taking the pulp bag out after 3 days instead of 5. And when I've made wine with canned mango pulp, which is very smooth, it's impossible to separate the pulp that sinks from...

Thanks RPh Guy and jonereb - that is most helpful. Your info plus 5 g/tsp K sorbate per the package (rounded no doubt) gives: Taste threshold 130 ppm is a little less than 1 tsp in 5 gallons, corresponding to the package instructions to use up to 1 tsp in 5 gallons. Max concentration 300 ppm...

First time using potassium sorbate to stabilize - I'm bottling a blackberry & blackcurrant wine and sweetening it slightly to improve the flavour since blackcurrant can be a bit harsh. Research tells me that 1/2 to 3/4 tsp per gallon is usual. However, the package that I bought (the contents...

I rack after about a month in the secondary, then about every two months until it's clear enough to bottle. If lees are building up fast I might rack sooner than that, and if it gets to the point where nothing is dropping out then I stop racking and just let it clear. It's usually three...

You're doing it wrong if there are skid marks on your corks.

Wow I'm impressed that you pitted 30 lb of cherries! I gave up on that idea pretty quickly. And picking 100 lb of blackberries - I got about 30 lb and those free berries were a lot of work. Hope you had more help than I did... I do like the wines that I make with around 5 lb fruit per gallon. I...

Just last weekend I bottled my own batch of cherry wine, which sounds very similar to yours and is not at all weak or insipid. We like it enough that it was the third summer I made it. The amount of cherries, acid and tannin was similar to yours, plus 5.2 kg sugar and 18 litres of water, and the...

Make more than one gallon! Because: It takes at least a few months If it's good, you'll be glad you made lots You'll have more for your experimenting with oaking and flavours Most wine improves with time, so you can drink some early and still have some to age

It looks a little like something from a post a couple of months ago with the title "strange gooey foam" - sorry I don't know how to link to other posts, but you'll find it if you search on those words in this forum. Someone had clumpy goo in a raspberry wine, and I'd experienced the same...

I tend to think in terms of how long since I started the wine (i.e. when I pitched the yeast) rather than how long it's aged. The time it spends in the secondary is kind of random, although fermentation is usually finished after about a month. The rest of the time is racking at intervals and...

I second that - start lots in the first couple of years to get ahead of the aging process. Make enough to age properly, plus enough that you'll inevitably drink too soon.