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I cut a hole in my lid using a utility knife, then inserted a carboy bung with a carboy airlock into the hole. Simple, cheap.

Ok, I'll take your word. I put your numbers for OG and final G into a calculator, and the strongest case scenario was around 15%, but that's assuming that you start off at your max gravity and it goes all the way to your expected minimum gravity.. 12% is what I'm aiming for, because I've got a...

Another Q. Would it be acceptable to knock down the sugar a little in this to make a wine that's 11-12% instead of 15% which your numbers seem to come out around? What's your opinion on that? :)

So when you say "sugar", do you recommend white sucrose (table sugar) or something like dextrose? I've got my rhubarb in the freezer to start this on the weekend.

Oh, THAT'S what the search button is for! *selffacepalm*

So spring has sprung here in Nova Scotia and with it, the dandelions are back. I was considering making a dandelion wine, and I've found a few recipes on the intertubes. This one in particular struck my fancy because of the addition of the raisins: Dandelion Wine Does anyone think this...

Yeah, I added some yeast nutrient at outset, and again after about 1/3 ferment. I put in some "energizer" last week in an attempt to get it up and running again. I'm not too worried about the ABV, 12 would be fine for me. I'm concerned about getting the yeast working again so I can bottle...

I actually added the honey in two batches. Lemme do some math to find what my current ABV would be. Starting: 1.070 Before 2nd batch: 1.000 9.2% here After adding 2nd batch: 1.033 Now: 1.005 3.6% increase since addition Now, I'm no expert, but that leaves me with 12.8%. I wonder why...

That depends on if you start with straight juice, or if you use sweet cider. Around here (Apple center of Canada) its easy and cheap to get raw pressed cider. Sometimes it has sorbate in it as a preservative, but usually not, especially if you get it at the farm stores. Its really brown and...

18lbs in a 23L batch. 3 gal was cider, but 3 gal was water. Should I have hit 18% on only 3lb/gal + cider sugar?

I was just checking the status on my cyser, and over the last month, I've done 3 checks on it's SG and it's showing 1.005 each time. I'm guessing she's done. Being done above 1, does that mean that it most likely hit the max ABV and then the yeast croaked, leaving some sugar behind? Does this...

Seamus, I used cider from Noggins farm market for this batch. My cyser mead that I made last year I made with fresh cider from Hennigars in Greenwich (my favorite so far). Graves AJ is produced just across the road from my house in Coldbrook, I believe.

That was my assumption as well, more sugar. The sweet cider that I started with seems to foam up quite a lot when shaken. I'm guessing a lot of the protein must break down or settle out with the sediment, during fermentation. Also, I know dextrose is one of the "cleaner" ways of carbing, but...

I'm looking to carb my current cider batch in bottle. I want it to be full on carbed, not just sparkling. I'd like it to have a nice head, like a dark beer. The last cider I carbed in bottle turned out lightly sparkling. It was a 3 gallon batch, and I used 3oz of dextrose. I'm using...

I've got a field berry melomel that is coming up on bottling time later this summer. I was planning on bottling half still in wine bottles, and half carbed in beer bottles. I was thinking that I would rack half off into the bottling bucket, repitch a bit of yeast along with the some raw cane...

I started with wine kits, then graduated to mead (my roommate at the time had a fascination with vikings). By this point, I had two 7 gal carboys and a 7 gal plastic bucket. This past christmas time, I had two batches of mead going, and wanted to try something that might finish a little...

Generally ascorbic acid is added to non-acidic fermentables, such as honey, to give the yeast a more favorable environment. If you're buying juice, as said, you're unlikely to find any without it added (there's quite a bit naturally occurring, too) as ascorbic acid is used to keep your clean...

If you're a handy type: My Home Among The Hills » Homemade Apple Cider Press Describes his process of apple smashing and juice extraction device.

It was a Cooper's Ale Yeast, dry. I picked it up at my local HBS. To start it, I simply dissolved the yeast in a cup or so of the warm cider, and let it sit on counter for an hour or so. By the time I got the rest of the must ready for the yeast, the cup overfloweth with pale tan foam.

#3. What happens if you use an apple juice with preservatives(just curious) This seems to be the only one still up for debate. I was concerned about this one when I made my first cider, also. I bought unpasteurized cider from a local farm market, and was a little nervous about the...