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couple weeks ago I made a post Another way to bottle pasteurize Describing a technique that I came up with based on Pappers pioneering concept. The basic difference was to preheat the bottles so that you can pasteurize at a lower temp. (reducing the chance of bombs) The advantages to this...

I am not looking for a recipe, but rather just feedback. I did a search and didn't see much, so my question is, have any of you made an apple apricot cider, and if so how was it?? I know it would be similar to peach and there tons of references to peach cider so I am sure it will be good, just...

First I want to start by thanking Pappers for the fantastic pasteurizing how-to on the thread" Easy Stove-Top Pasteurizing - With Pics" If it had not been for that thread I would have had no starting point and would still be stuck drinking sweet still beverages or sparkling dry ones, but now...

by non traditional wines I am talking about things that would fall under the categories of winecoolers, hard soda, hard lemonade & ?????? I know what I have listed by strict definition is wine, but most people do not picture any of the things listed win someone says "would you like a glass of...

I know that there is lots of info out there on graff and that Brandon O has a popular recipe and long thread on the subject, which I have read through. After looking at his info I decided to brew a malty cider but I did not want the extra gain flavors he added or the bitterness from the hops so...

I have made a lot of wines, both from whole fruit and from juice. And I am thinking that in a lot of cases fresh homemade juice would be better and easier than putting whole fruit in a primary. Cider illustrates my point well. If you chop up apples, put them in a straining bag, and get it all...

I am not talking about graff. I know the graff recipes call fore DME but they also call for hops and some whole grains. I am wondering what kind of results have been made by just using DME, especially dark DME. So if you have used Just DME, let me know.

... with out oats!!! I bottled my "creamy oat and caramel apple cider" today and it is so smooth and so creamy. I new the oats would add body and give a much better mouth feel but I never expected something this rich, luxurious, and smooth. This cider has as much, if not more body and creamy...

I have told the long version of this story many times here on the forum so now I will give you the short version. About 10 almost 11 years ago I made 11 gallons of apricot wine. My OG was 1.155 and my intent was to ferment it out until the alcohol overwhelmed the Montrachet yeast at about 14%...

If you have done any reading about skeeter pee you will quickly realize the hardest part about making it is getting it to start. If you make a typical starter or simply pitch the dry yeast directly in to the must the acids from the lemon and the preservatives (sodium benzoate, sodium...

First of all I know how a refractometer normally works, take a OG before you pitch the yeast, write it down. Assuming the wine ferments out dry the OG can be used to know the final ABV, but if you take an FG with the refractometer rather than a hydrometer the reading will be off because of the...

So I love maple, and have been thinking of doing a maple wine that is dry and about 12%, BUT as any one who has been fallowing any of my posts knows I also like lower ABV creations that are carbonated and on the sweet side like a "winecooler" AND I LOVE to experiment so I have decided I am...

I keep seeing a lot of the same questions popping up and everyone always has such great answers that I figured a FAQ thread might be a really good idea. We could all chime in with questions we have seen and there answers and make a consolidated place for the new comer to get some really helpful...

So Joe, how slow are you trying to go?? I understand the reasoning that by brewing it slow less apple flavor is stripped away by the CO2, but how long does a batch that is slow enough to maximize taste take??? Just trying to get a time reference.

For those of you who have not been following some of my other threads I have been working with some domesticated wild yeast. After reading a post I made about creating a cider specific yeast Joe_in_CT was nice enough to offer me some "wild" yeast he had washed from a keeved cider he had made...

I have two batches of cider sitting next to one another, both made with the same apple juice concentrate. The only differences between the two is one has "oat milk" but the other doesn't and the yeast I used. Even though they started out the same color the oat milk batch is about half as dark as...

That sucked!!! I was looking at the different wines and ciders I have going and I pulled a gallon of apricot off the shelf to see if it was still bubbling and how well it was clearing. The wine had been going for a couple of months and was almost done fermenting. The SG a few weeks back was...

Just thought I would pass on something that has been touched on but never specifically spelled out, in regard to back sweetening. I like nice dry dinner wine, but I also really like a dessert type wine and to make it dessert, its got to be sweet. As we all know there are lots of sugar based...

I had a half box of oranges my wife and daughter were eating but didn't really like because they were to tart. I was afraid they were going to go bad before they got eaten (starting to get soft) so I cut them in half and hand squeezed out 1 quart of juice. I then dissolved 1 cup of sugar to 1...

That may seem like a strange question so let me explain further. I have two batches of cider going, one is using Montrachet yeast and the other is using "domesticated" wild apple yeast. The Montrachet cider is fully clouded and the fermentation is happening throughout the liquid, but the wild...