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Europe has Sambucus nigra (I believe), and North America has Sambucus canadiensis. Though our variety has toxin, it is mainly in the seed, and racking it out after 4 days or so takes care of it.

Recently tried a friend's brew- he copied an old WWII recipe wrote down by a veteran stationed in the Pacific Theater simply called, "jungle juice". Not bad, but it had quite a potent kick, like drinking dregs. I think all it was was ripe fruit in an enamel pot with water covered with a towel...

Peel off the bottom layer of the SCOBY and use it in your next batch, then either give the rest away, freeze it with some reserve for emergencies, feed it to the chickens, or throw it in the compost pile. SCOBYs get too big and need to be split once in a while. Actually, you can use the...

Friends finally tried the stuff- All of them liked it and said it reminds them of port (though it is dark brown)

Another way to make elderberry taste better on it's own is to spice it a little with nutmeg, cinnamon, and allspice (kind of like pumpkin pie.) As for pectic enzyme, I tend to just let it settle on its own, racking a few times, until it clarifies. As a last resort I've used bentonite or EZ...

I recently read about pectic enzyme and its purpose. I think I might get some when for a batch of pear wine I'm planning to brew after this stuff goes into the carboy this Friday. I never needed acid blend as the lemon-oj combo seems to accomplish this.

I'm not sure exactly how you're making the soda, but one flavor I'm totally hooked on is made with lemongrass simple syrup. I take a few stalks of lemongrass, cut them up into two inch chunks, then blend them in my Vitamix with a cup of water. Afterwards I add a cup of sugar and simmer the...

Last week I picked 15+ pounds of Sambucus from a nearby tree. This is the one I always go to, since it yields above and beyond the other local wild elderberry bushes. I made elderberry mead in previous years and it tasted excellent, but this year I wanted to try wine instead. I put the...

Apparently your mead wants to finish out in spite of the added sulfites. If it were me, I'd walk away and let it finish. If it never does, call Guinness!

Okay, there's a little concern here about "bad alcohols" in freeze-concentrating. Here's my 2 cents' worth: 1. First of all, freeze-concentrating will get you a mead (or wine, beer) with an alcohol content similar to fortified wine, like port or sherry. It removes a lot of the water and...

Well, I tried it. I took 5 gallons of mead and concentrated it down to 1. This batch had a pretty high alcohol content before I started (used the old fashioned method to test ABV), now it's considerably higher. Kind of rich and sweet now; reminds me of a port. Much darker too. I took the...

Okay Guys, I'm a bit of an experimenter when it comes to mead. I've made good batches and BAD batches, but this is a little new for me: I started a batch of mead in December flavored with Korean barley tea, hops, lemon, molasses, and a few other things. The idea was to make a strong honey...

Hi Guys, I posted a response a while ago on another thread, but I thought I'd respond to this one as well. I've been brewing kombucha for over a year, I've made some observations and a few adjustments I'd like to share with you. I love to bend the rules to find out WHY others tell me "don't...

Hi Guys, I posted my response a while ago and I'm sorry for not clarifying the recipe. Actually, now that I've been brewing kombucha for over a year, I've made some observations and some adjustments: First, though kombucha is traditionally brewed with black tea, you can use most any kind...

I started a recipe a month ago that looks amazing and is doing quite well, which I think I got from someone posting on Homebrewtalk, called Christmas Cyser. Anyway, I'm copy-pasting it from my own notes. By the way, readers, if you are the original author, I'm sorry for not giving you credit...

I just racked the stuff I started in August. I did rack out the sludge from the seeds about 3 days after starting, but I racked again earlier this week. Anyway, I usually drink some of the dregs to get an idea about how the brew was doing, and these dregs tasted pretty darn good. Kind of...

I just Vitamix'd 2 cups of elderberries, funneled it into a Carlo Rossi jug, added a quart of honey and water to top it off, added a bunch of spices (apple pie type) threw in a crushed campden tablet, and corked it. Tomorrow I'll pitch yeast, and in a few days or so I'll rack it through a...

Just buy a bottle of unpasteurized kombucha and put it in a gallon mixture of 1 and a half cup sugar that has boiled 10 minutes, steeped with 6 tea bags for 20 minutes, cooled overnight to room temperature. Don't put the kombucha in until it is room temperature. Cover it with a towel held down...

Whole Foods pulled unpasteurized kombucha off their shelves on their own. The feds didn't say anything; kombucha is still off their radar, it was WF's lawyers. The problem is not the 1/2% alcohol (fresh-squeezed orange juice has about the same amount) the problem is, unless you pasteurize it...

Oh! I didn't notice that you used 3 cups of sugar because I use 3 cups as well, but I make a 2 gallon batch! That's the problem, you're overfeeding the sugar. A cup and a half per gallon is plenty. You might want to find a bigger container and thin the batch down. Walmart has these great 2...