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I’ve got a mature Riesling grape vine that produces a lot of grapes. This year, due to a cold wet spring, grapes are way behind and only to about 15 brix. Leaves are starting to turn. Will sugar increase this late in the season? Last year the brix was about 20.

I made a pear brandy last year. Stripped and then a spirit run then diluted with water to 40%. Tastes wonderful. After aging a bit, some solid fuzzy sediment has shown up. It has a slight greenish tint I assume is from the copper still. Why did this happen and can I filter it out? Is passing...

In all grain whisky making, what are the pros and cons of boiling the wort? I’m surprised to hear some don’t.

Anybody use Renaissance Fresco yeast? I’ve got some going on a cider and it is foaming like a banshee.

I’ve been toiling away at making whisky for a while. So far I have about 5.5 L at 62% that I am aging in several one litre glass bottles. Some of the whisky is aged on oak and some is raw (shine?). I want to blend all of these as some of the oaked whisky is over oaked. Can I put 5.5 L of whisky...

I’m using some old crystal malt I’ve had around for years (like 20 years). It’s been stored in a plastic pail with a tight lid, but not an air tight lid. When I tried to mill it, (corona mill), it gummed up the plates, like there was too much moisture. The grain does not feel moist. Could there...

Trying to make whisky. Brewed a nice ale, SG ~ 1.045, finished 1.012, no hops. Ran a stripping run today and it puked at about 60 C. Cleaned and restarted and distillate came out brown with lots of floating ‘trub’. Like a colloidal suspension. Don’t know the ABV of initial distillate, too much...

I’m all grain brewing using an Anvil brewing system. I’m getting poor conversion. I’m following instructions from Anvil, which is add grain to strike water, recirculate during mash, sparge with one gallon, and boil for one hour. My most recent attempt is 4 kg pale malt, 3 kg rye, half kg rice...

Did my first spirit run today. Nine litres plum wine plus 2.8 L of plum wine stripping run. Used a variac to control electrical output and it worked great. Made great splits, I think. Theortical alcohol was about 1.31 litres of alcohol. I collected small quantities in my hydrometer test...

I have a plum wine that is finished fermenting and it has loads of suspended solids on it, slow to settle out. I added some nectarine juice to it, probably why it has all those suspended solids. The suspended solids is so high it is screwing up my gravity and ABV readings. Can I run this with...

I ran 54 litres of 4% plum wine and got about three litres of alcohol from a stripping run. Some of it smells just like Slivović. Not too bad. I’ve got another 12 litres of of plum wine just finishing the ferment. Should I combine the stripping run alcohol with the new plum wine and strip it...

I have a grain father T500 boiler with a copper dome and condenser. I’ve seen a lot of talk about slowing down the boil during a spirit run. There are no controls on the grainfather. Is there a common voltage controller that people use? if I reduce the voltage using a variac or some device...

Lots of cider makers report sulphur odours in their ferment. I don’t get that very often, but this year I have on a Perry I’m making. Crushed and pressed 6 gallons and pitched with Mangrove Jack Yeast with one tablespoon of DAP. On third day or so a sulphur odour appeared and I added another...

Other than a good cleansing, is there anything in particular to break in a new still? I’ve seen mention of running some vinegar solution, but I can’t find that reference now.

I am fermenting two ciders. One with an unknown slightly tart apple with Renaissance Fresco yeast, the other is a transparent apple with Mangrove Jack cider yeast. The Transparent is sort of bland and slightly tart, can’t try the other one yet, still a little too foamy (see other thread). What...

I made a cider with uknown apple type using Renaissance Fresco yeast. It is fermenting well, a bit slow. I pitche on August 17th and it is still very foamy. Is this typical of this yeast? Normally the yeasts gets foamy as it starts and usually subsides in a day. This is really prolonged. Any...

I have 6 kg of mixed frozen fruit; nectarines, plums, white grapes (Riesling and Thompson seedless) and peaches. I was going to thaw and press and then add water and sugar to make five gallons. Maybe leave the plum and grape skins in primary. a bumble berry wine. Any suggestions on how to make...

I bottled a Salal cider today made with a base of Karmijn de Sonneville apples. I should have tasted before bottling because it is very tart. Never used this apple before. Once it is bottle conditioned, will excess acid drop out if it is cold stabilized? I know tartaric Will drop out in wine...

can you top up a finished cider in a demijohn with fresh juice and just let it ferment the new juice?

i see lots of first timers on this forum, me too. I’ve made lots of cider, all from pasteurized store bought juice. This is my first attempt from apple. I crushed and pressed 300 lbs yielding about 55 litres of juice at 1.050 gravity. This went well. Pitched with Red Star champagne yeast...