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Just got one of these which fits the pin type s30 valve. Works really well and should prove much more economical in the long run as the gas is 30% cheaper than using bulbs and you only use what you need

There are many opinions on making rhubarb wine, some of which are misleading. 1. When to pick: Some recipes say that forced rhubarb is unsuitable, others say it's ideal. Since I don't force rhubarb, I cannot comment, but some of my crop is ready for harvesting now, so I have started a batch...

Unlike Champagne, prosecco is not bottle fermented but uses the tank method, like priming beer but under higher pressure (60 psi). This cuts out the tricky business of disgorging yeast from bottles. Instead, the sparkling wine, chilled, is dispensed directly from the tank from a tap into the...

In theory a quick and easy way to carbonate wine but the system is only designed for water. Due to the presence of alcohol (and other stuff) wine cannot absorb as much carbon dioxide as plain water. Normally, on manual models, you inject the gas until you hear a 'burp', which indicates a minimum...

Having had a number of infected batches of wine in recent times, I decided to get serious about sulphur dioxide. My tub of sodium metabisulphite had a bb date of 2012 so I ordered a refill so I can top up my casks with so2. However, I need to know how much to add. After a long search I finally...

It doesn't take long for the very thin tube to become unusable due to a build up of residue. I tried detergent and strong alcohol but to no avail. Eventually blowing hard from the narrow end did the trick. However I discovered there is an alcohol refractometer which has a range of 0-80%, dead...

I've had a lot of problems this year with acetification of wine in casks. I think the problem is to do with the long hot summer. I don't have the luxury of a cellar, where conditions are generally cool, damp and stable. Under such conditions, water slowly evaporates through the pores of the wood...

I made this to the old spec, 21 litres, and added 25 g of tartaric acid to change the pH to 3.3, plus 2 teaspoons of tannin and a good handful of oak chips. It is now ready and does indeed taste more like a commercial version, but without the floral bouquet. Next time I will add elderflowers. I...

Due to the shortage of white grape juice and the low cost of 'value' sultanas, I looked up the recipe for raisin wine in 'First Steps...' This is an absurd recipe. 3.5 kilos of raisins for a gallon of wine? This is the equivalent of 2.5 kilos of sugar! Plus a tablespoon of citric acid. That's...

The first batch from last year tastes like an inedible plant, which is perhaps not altogether surprising!

I didn't consider apple wine to be worth bothering with because it was ****. Today I opened a 2 year old bottle, made without added water, and it was delicious, with a slight sparkle from a malolactic fermentation. So it's a bit of a shame that my apple trees have, so far, produced no blossom.

I just finished spreading 25 kilos of poultry manure pellets on the beds and boy, does it smell! Pleasantly surprised by the large number of ladybirds on the beds. Never seen so many. Always welcome as pest predators, but also suggest that life is returning to the soil, new varieties of weeds...

This is the stuff that makes red wine red. It has antioxidant and neuroprotective properties. Since I have been using quality red wine kits, I have been drinking more red than white. Checking my eye test results over time, I had astigmatism in 2009 and my latest test shows this has completely...

I discovered a new product in the Polish section of Tesco: Lowicz Czarny Bez (elderberry syrup). It's 250 ml bottle containing 19% elderberry juice concentrate, no preservatives or artificial sweeteners, and costs £1.59. I calculate it's the equivalent of 500 g of fresh elderberries. It also...

Reviewing the bottles on the racks, I made some interesting discoveries. There were left over kit wines which had deteriorated over time, pomace experiments which had undergone malolactic fermentation without me noticing, dessert wines with tartrate crystals, a sparkling fruit rum and best of...

There is an Acton & Duncan recipe including 18 pounds of cherries (4.5 gallon recipe). That's about 8 kilos and at £4 per kilo, £32: rather expensive! However, a 440 ml bottle of Polish cherry syrup, at £2.40, is the equivalent of 2 kilos of cherries. 4 bottles, £9.60. Each bottle is the...

As the cost of dried elderberries is so high, I looked for a a cheaper alternative. Currants are dried black grapes (xante variety) and so should be suitable for making red wine. I have not come across a recipe for them, so I referred to raisin wine in 'First Steps..' This calls for 3.5 kg of...

I've used this kit before and wasn't intending to do so again, as the result was pretty poor. However, it was going for £10 (half price) due to the best before date being the end of this month. It consists of 1 litre of combined red grape and elderberry juice concentrate, plus the yeast etc...

I came across a jar of this stuff in Tesco. I think it's Turkish. Molasses is what is left over when raw cane sugar has been refined into white sugar and when fermented, distilled, aged in oak it becomes Jamaican rum. This stuff is different. It has 68 g sugar per 100 g and light brown in...

2 years ago I bought a small oak cask and filled it with home made port. I subsequently bottled the port and filled the barrel with some rather unimpressive red wine, which had failed to improve in bottles over 18 months. After a couple of months, I sampled it and found it had taken on the...