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I have made a Ribena wine - starting gravity of 1.095, finishing gravity of 0.994 giving me a 13% wine. The wine has a nice fruity flavour with a dry undertone but is very sweet due to the artificial sweeteners in the Ribena. Has anyone any suggestions for how I might reduce/tone down this...

I've been checking on my 2021 wines (still in demijohns) in preparation for bottling and have discovered 2 specific problems that I'd like some help/advice on. Firstly, my Tea Wine and Rose Petal Wines have not cleared at all and seem to have both stuck at a high SG. The Tea Wine at 1020 and...

I've bought some grape concentrate (Garffen Red & White Grape Juice Concentrate 65 °Brix: Concentration factor 4) mainly to use in my country fruit and flower wines. Last year I bought some 1 gallon wine kits and made those up so that I also had some grape wines alongside the country wines...

I am adding 250 mls Grape Concentrate per gallon to my country wines (dried flower and berries) - do I still need to add the Citric Acid or Acid Blend or does the concentrate contain enough acidity?

I brewed 6.5 litres of a Raspberry Gose on 20.07.21 using a different recipe from normal (see below) - all went well, got the expected 1.043 SG, aerated well and added a pack of Mangrove Jacks's M21 Wit Yeast. Fermentation took off (it was VERY hot in the house - 25-27 degrees). On 23.07.21 I...

Hi, I'm planning to brew an American Amber ale using Amarillo hops (35 EBU) and was planning to use a Voss Kveik yeast. Any suggestions or comments? It's the 1st time I've used a Kveik Yeast. Recipe for 10l / 2 gallons: 1600g Maris Otter 125g Caramalt 375g Crystal malt 200g Torrefied Wheat...

I normally make country wines but am going to have a go at making grape wines from concentrate. I've been looking at kits as a way to get started. I really only want to brew 6 bottles (1 gallon) at a time - I don't need or want 30 bottles of the same wine. What I'd like to do is buy one of the...

I've been making Country wines for years, mainly from dried fruit and flowers. In all the recipes I've seen and used I've never heard of having to degas my wine! Most of my wine is kept in demijohns fitted with airlocks for at least 2 years (racked as and when necessary). So, should I be...

Hi All, I am using Sodium Percarbonate as a no rinse sanitiser, I just wanted some advice about how long to soak items and, how long it remains viable once in solution. Many Thanks.

Hi all, I've been given a couple of 2 gallon barrels, the S30 valve nut of one of the lids has mold on it - any idea how to clean this up? Is it possible to salvage it? How do you sanitise these valves? Many thanks. Lorna

A friend of mine wants to get rid of his litre beer bottles. Based in Chesterfield - you will need to collect.

Hi all, Am about to embark on my first ever Gose/sour beer but, with a twist as I am brewing it completely from Barley! I'd welcome any tips or words of advice on the recipe below: Barley Gose (2019) Experimental (14 litres/3 gallons) 3040g Maris Otter Pale Malt 330g Torrefied Wheat Mash at...

Hi there, I've just brewed a beer and added 7.5g elderflowers (in a 15l brew) 10 minutes before end of boil. What I'm surprised by is how high the SG is - should have been 1051 but actually achieved 1064 at 22c. So what I would like to know is whether the elderflowers push up the SG or...

Has anyone used Oak Cubes in a stout? Any advice for best way to use etc? My recipe suggested soaking the cubes in rum for 24 hours and then adding the rum and cubes at flame out and then leaving for 30 minutes before chilling and decanting into the fermentation vessel. Some questions...

I've brewed a Belgian Black Beer and a Porter using Safbrew S-33. The fermentation started very quickly and very vigorous - within 2 days it appeared all over! On day 5 I've checked the SG both beers have got to 1020 - the Belgian Black should reach 1016 and the Porter 1019 - with little sign of...

Hi, I am about to start a rosehip wine and a rose petal wine and I want to use some grape juice concentrate in both (red in the rose hip and white in the rose petal) - 200mls per gallon. In the past I have not adjusted the amount of sugar that I've added (1 kilo per gallon) and this has led to...

Started a strawberry wine off last year and have been racking regularly but it has refused to clear completely! The top half is nice and clear, the bottom half hazy. Any suggestions for what I can do to get the whole lot cleared so that I can bottle it?

My beer has been fermenting for about a week now and has now formed a thick layer of yeast on top of the beer - not the white frothy stuff, I've had that. This is more like the sediment that normally settles on the bottom! I used a whitelabs Burton Ale yeast for the first time so am not sure if...

Hi, I did my first post a month or so ago where I talked about making a beer flavoured with Elderflower which I have now done, the only problem is that I can't stop it from fermenting and it is still very cloudy. Does anyone have any advice for me? Actually, this is the 2nd beer that I've had...

Hi All, I've just finished doing a mash for an old english strong ale. I was aiming for a starting SG of 1.080 but have only got 1.060. Not sure why, possibly a problem with maintaining correct Mash temperature. Is there a relatively easy way of raising the SG ie adding sugar? If so, any ideas...