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I don't know why this struck me as really clever... http://buttersafe.com/2007/12/04/happy-graduation/

I've made many batches of fruit wine, and as a rule, I freeze the fruit before pressing or fermenting to improve yield. Going to try my hand at grapes, for the first time - it is best to freeze the grapes, or should I press right away? I'd like to freeze them first, but I know it may not be...

All, after a bit of frustration, and not so good results, I finally figured out how to reliably, cleanly, easily disgorge your champagne or cider! I tried just doing it when it was cold (upside down in the freezer), but would usually have significant losses of champagne and pressure. I...

Watch out, before you know it, 1/3 of our nation will become giant pumpkins!!

So, I gave some of my "overly sweet" wine (I added too much sugar for my taste), and when he was telling me about it, he mentioned he thought it was a little "too dry". I was floored. It was a sweet mess (to me). So, I know, different strokes, different folks...but, how much sugar do you...

So, I have a prize winning (in my mind) 5 Gallon batch of my Mulberry (red) wine. I fermented as usual, racked, aged on oak chips for 6 weeks, racked, and added SuperKleer. What happened was the usual clouding up of the wine as the SK seemed to work...and then....nothing happened. I've...

Well, made 6 gallons of Blueberry Rhubarb wine, that frankly, doesn't taste good. Doesn't taste of Rhubarb, doesn't taste of blueberry. I have 20 bottles of blueberry that isn't very good already, and don't need more of the same type. (I think I got some bland berries. They weren't even...

OK, I've made about 40 batches of various whatevers now, and just for fun, I wanted to do a sugar stepped addition with Premiere Cuvee Yeast, and see how high of ABV I could get. The packet and all sources say 18% max tolerance, but, according to my calculations, I'm at 20%+. I had a strong...

Well, that was fun! Took my first stab at disgorgement of my pear champagne...I learned a lesson the first bottle. DONT do it inside. Even while doing in the shower/tub, I still blasted yeast all over the ceiling texture, walls, etc. Does anyone have any good tips or stories? I had...

Hello Cider Forum! I have about 20lbs of sour cherries, enough to make a 5 gallon batch of cherry wine (which I've made a few, and have plenty left...so no more wine, please!). I figured I wanted to make a cherry cider. I was planning on using WATER and whatever juice from the cherries, and...

So, I have access to a Blueberry "Orchard". They are hooking me up with 60lbs of berries, to make wine, and split half and half. I was intending to make a medium-heavy blueberry wine with 6lbs of berries per gallon (a 10 gallon batch). However, I've read that this may be too much! Most...

OK, so I'm moving about 800 miles in a few weeks. I have about 160 bottles of homemade wine. What's the best suggestion for moving all this? I presume I don't want to give it to the moving company. Who knows what horrors it would see... How temperature sensitive is my wine for a 2-day span...

So, I'm getting ready to disgorge my champagne; when I add a sweetened dosage back (a mix of the same champagne and sugar to sweeten it a bit), do I need to add Po Sorbate to prevent additional fermentation? I mean, I've gotten MOST of the yeast out, it's 12-13%, and it's sat in the bottle for...

I was looking for a yummy, low alcohol (like 6.0% or less) summertime cooler, that I may or may not carbonate. Any store-bought juice reccomendations? Frozen, condensed or otherwise? I found a flavor I like, but it's 1.055 SG, and that'll put it in the 8.0 range. Not keen on watering it...

So, with all the different batches I have being made, being consumed, and being given away...how do you effectively manage storage? Minimize space taken up, while still being able to find what you want. Plus, keep it organized for the OCD types amoung us?

I had some 13.5 Apple wine; I added 1.6oz gallon of priming sugar, and a raging Premier Cuvee starter. Bottled and capped it up, then left them. I noticed significant sediment formed, like it should, but my PET bottle never got rock-hard (like usual; I've made 4x similar batches before!). So...

OK, making some Apple sparkling wine; primed it at 1.5oz gallon of sugar and dumped an active starter of Premier Cuvee, and bottled it. However, it doesn't appear to be carbing up - my PET test bottles are showing no progress :( Does one usually add nutrient/energizer when dosing the...

OK, I have 60 lbs of pears (that were cleaned, sliced, destemmed and then frozen) that I mashed up for a 5 gallon batch of wine. I poured the juicy mash into straining bags figuring I could just squeeze out the juice, similar to berries and citrus fruits, however, I found out that wasn't going...

So, if I made a batch of wine with Cote des Blancs yeast (13-14% alc tolerance), with an ABV of 13.5 - 14%, and I let it clear completely, would I be safe adding sugar (and a bit a campden) to the cleared wine without it refermenting? I mean, the yeast is pretty much tuckered out at the ABV...

So, when cleaning about 50 lbs of pears, I soaked them in commerical distilled white vinegar and water (as I do for all my produce I eat). Then I just had a thought - using vinegar to clean my winemaking fruit won't risk turning my wine into vinegar, will it?? Why or why not? Cheers!