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Hi Folks, Sorry if this has been asked before. I have been a small scale cider maker for several years and have always used a garden shredder to pulp the apples prior to pressing. In fact, making all that fruit coleslaw is the best bit! I have never been able to afford a proper scratter...

Hi Everyone. Can you help? I was getting ready for my scrumpy crew coming over for the sampling of last Autumn's brew, only to find this gunk over at least half of it. Is this still drinkable? Is there anything I can do to save it? Thanks for any advice, you could save our evening!

Hi All, I have just taken order of a bunch of the demijohn size plastic flagons to finally bottle up last season's cider. They're 5l and I was wondering how much sugar to use to prime them?

Hi Folks. I've just bottled up a batch of strawberry mead and it was a bit sharp. (I realise that it will take a long while to clear) is it possible to back sweeten by adding a spot of honey to the bottle? (I have stopped fermentation with stabilising powder so secondary fermentation shouldn't...

Hi All, I noticed this stuff sitting on top of some raspberry and pear I brewed last September. Is it as bad as I'm thinking? Or is there something that I can do about it? Any advice gratefully appreciated! Pardon the photo. There are spots of rusty/pink scaly bits on top. Some splashed up the...

Just wondered if any of you out there have tried/had ago at the Wilko's Spiced Apple Cider yet? My missus is a big fan of the rekorderlig winter cider, which is cinnamon and vanilla. I thought this kit may be a bit similar, or rather, I hoped it might be similar...

Hi All, I forgot to empty couple of demijohns after sterilizing them with wilko's steriliser. (Test book error!) now they have a sort of lime scale at the bottom and haze up the sides. All of this is resisting being scrubbed off. Can anyone recommend a way of cleaning this off? I was tempted...

Can anyone help? I took advantage of the bumper crop of blackberries last year and attempted a couple of demijohns of blackberry wine. All went well and it fermented like a rocket. However, I cracked one open earlier, feeling quite confident, only to find it was sharp! Is there anything that I...

Hi All, I've tried to pressurise a barrel for the first time, only to find that the valve is not injecting the CO2 into the barrel. Its a youngs valve that holds the small charger capsules and hasn't been used for several years (in fact, I suspect it may have been faulty even before it came to...

Evening Everyone, Just wanted to pick your brains. I made a turbo cider out of some the cheap Tesco's apple juice that has been the talk of the boards recently. I added some tea for tannin and all went well, only when I put it to my taster, the first taste made him pucker right up. After that...

Was dutifully shopping with the better half today when we noticed that tesco's extra value apple juice was listed at 16p for a litre carton. So, for the princely sum of £3.52, I will be filling a fermentor to see what this could be like. I realise that their standard juice is on offer for 80+p...

I first encountered Winexpert kits after an attempt to placate my better half, having buried the kitchen in bottles and fermenters. I asked if there was anything she wanted us to make and as a major port fiend, she asked if it was possible to make some. I looked for a recipe, but didn't fancy...

The Winexpert chocolate and raspberry port kit comes as a large, satisfyingly heavy box. It contains everything that you need to brew 15 bottles of port, all you need is a 3 gallon fermenter. The majority of the kit is made up of one large catering bag of dark grape juice. A second, much...

Hi all. I have brewed up over 30 pet 2l plastic bottles of cider. However, I have discovered that when opened, the CO2 drags up all the flag at the bottom, even when opened veery slowly. All is due to be consumed over the bank holiday weekend and I resolved to re-bottle the lot to allow ease of...

Hi All, I have a kit's worth of Cooper's Stout that is now ready to be placed in a barrel. Several people have written about adding CO2 for pressure and to ensure a good head. I've never used CO2 before ang just wondered how many ampules I need to add and how long can expect them to last...

Evening all. I have finally managed to drink my way through enough diet cola to have enough 2l plastic PET bottles to bottle up a couple of kegs of kit cider. My question is: How much priming sugar should I put in the bottles? The kit recipe reccomends half a teaspoon for a 500ml bottle, do I go...

I've made this several times now and it always goes down a storm. It can seem to take a long time to ferment (in comparison with beer kits) and is in no way ready in three weeks as claimed on the label. However the results are surprisingly nice, especially brewed slightly short to 20l. It seems...

Hi Everyone. Just wondered what the general concensus is regarding improving kits. Have been brewing kits for a while and normally added a muntons beer enhancer bag as standard. Would I get a better effect if I just added a bag of spraymalt instead? I am looking at playing with a caxtons Real...

Hi All, I began making mead for my reanacting group in late 2011, experimenting with various 'simple' gallon recipes. While the inital results were drinkable, if uninspired, I attempted a cinnamon flavoured version. I left it in its demijohn and carefully siphoned off all the clag, only to find...

I've just begun my first cider kit. (One of the wilco's apple ones) and some of the guys who will be drinking complained that homebrew cider can be quite dry. Is there anything I can do at the fermenting stage? Or do I have just add sweetener when bottling? :hmm: Thanks.