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Hi All, Everything I've seen around calculating the alcohol content that you end up with at the end of a ferment revolves around the Original and Final specific gravities that you measure. However, it seems odd to me that this is all that would be involved in that. For example, I imagine that a...

Hi All, I'm bottling a new batch today. I have 1L bottles that I'll be bottling everything into, and am planning on priming each of them with 1 tsp of cane sugar. My question is: if I just get a teaspoon of cane sugar into each of them without any attempts to dissolve them.... will they...

Hi Everybody, I understand that adding Potassium Metabisulfite at bottling will help with anti-oxidation and preserving your wine longer. I have some questions related to this: 1) It seems counter-intuitive to add K-Meta to my carboy then bottle immediately. Wouldn't that cause a build-up of...

I've read on multiple occasions that it's bad for the mead. What is it that actually happens? Some people have mentioned that your mead can oxidize - what does this mean? I only know of the term "oxidize" from rusting w/ iron - is there a comparable process taking place here? I ask, in part...

I'm thinking about giving it a try. Replacing the honey with raw cane sugar. I really like the taste of that stuff when dissolved in water, and I bet it'd make a really yummy fermented drink!! Is there any reason that I'm oblivious to that I shouldn't even bother trying this? I added a raw...

Hi All - looks like I've made a serious mistake by not stirring the blackberries after I closed the lid on the primary fermentor (I had a towel for the first 5-6 days and was stirring the blackberries 1-2 times a day in that period). It's been 2 days since I last stirred, and I just opened the...

To give you some context: I've just made my first ever batch of cider. I made a little over 3 gallons (that's how much juice the 80 apples I bought produced). It went through the primary fermentation, and all that super sweet apple juice has turned into very dry cider. I used champagne yeast...

Hi Everybody, I'm about to get started on my very first batch of Blackberry Melomel. I had a question related to ensuring that the blackberries I add to the mead won't ruin the batch. I picked these berries myself over the summer. I collected several KG of them... ate a bunch in the summer...

I'm making my first batch of cider now, and I left a whole bunch of apple peels in my primary as I've heard that this really helps give the cider a great flavor. One thing that just crossed my mind: do I need to worry about said fruit bits at all, or is it safe to assume it'll last as long as...

Other than bubbles in the air lock & changes in the SG - are there any signs for fermentation? Specifically - I had a thick layer of foam (maybe 1-2 inches) at the top of my cider when I opened my bucket to take a look today. Could that be linked to fermentation? I've effectively restarted my...

Hi All - I read an article recently where the author said that he likes to cover his cider bucket with a towel for the first couple days of fermentation, as letting air get in helps the yeast strengthen in the beginning of the process. After this, he switches to the standard airlock system as...

Hi All, I'm working on my first cider batch right now. It's been close to 48 hours and there's still no bubbling in my airlock. I'm sure it's temperature related, and have some questions about that. Here's what I've done: I pressed my own apples (have about 2.5 gallons of juice that I...

I used to brew beer 7-8 years ago in university. :) Now I'm back into making my own alcohol, but this time in the form of cider!! I just started my first batch of cider ever last night, and am going to explore all kinds of fruit ciders/wines in the coming while. :D I also do believe I screwed...

Hi Everybody! I'm fermenting my first batch of cider right now, and ****ed up my sanitization in a number of ways. The primary way in which I screwed up was that I felt weird about pouring my fresh apple juice (that I juiced myself!) into containers full of sanitary foam, and accordingly...