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You can now buy plastic screw tops for wine bottles. These can allegedly be reused up to ten times. Love to Brew in Bristol are among the companies that stock them.

I wash my apples. cut them up, yeah, it's boring, and put them through my garden shredder (which was bought for this job). I put the pulp into bins and try to keep air out. I then press the pulp and put the juice into bins / plastic barrels under an airlock after adding either wine or cider...

Taste it and if it's got loads of tannin in it (taste of strong cold tea) rack it and put it somewhere for a year or so. The tannin should "drop out". If you used a boil up recipe tannin should not be a massive problem.

Just a couple of quickies:- If you want some for Crimbo rack one or two gallons off into demijohns and protect with air locks. Do this in the next week or so. Taste it about a week before the event and add sugar to sweeten it if needed. This won't be fizzy.................in my opinion it really...

Chill out and be patient. With that much juice it could easily start coming up through the airlock when it does get going. Pete.

I check it by taste, I have a hydrometer but I find that taste is best. I do not add extra sugar because I want extra strength, that's an added bonus. If you want to make a weak cider check the OG before you add yeast, decide what strength of cider you want to make, add any sugar that you feel...

I've got about 30 gallons in the garden shed. I've checked them all today and they all needed more sugar. I did do a wild yeast cider many years ago and it worked well but I'm not prepared to risk it again. I'll check all the bins & barrels (plastic) before Christmas to see if they need more...

I use any apples that I can get my hands on and I've never needed to add any tannin. Pete

How did it taste?

This is all breaking my heart. Country wines need time. The following is a recipe collected by "The Farmers Weekly". I've had the book for over 40 years and I use this recipe regularly. The book was first published in 1955. 1 Pint of flowerlets (pressed down) 2 lemons 1/4 pint of cold tea 2...

I have in the very distant past just used the wild yeast but as my knowledge increased I now that I was lucky. Last year I used only cider yeast and I'm not that happy. Cider yeast has a lower resistance to alcohol than wine yeast and as in the past I've used wine yeast (Gervins from Wilko) I...

If you want to try something different you could try Belvino 7-day classic red. More like a country wine than red grape wine but for about £20 + four bags of sugar it's worth thinking about, especially if you're skint. Pete.

Slow down! I've never used dry elderflowers but for years now I've made elderflower from freshly picked flowers. This sounds a bit like witchcraft but I start the wine and rack it in about January. I then bottle, in champagne bottles, with the plastic "corks" tied down, it when Elder bushes are...

I recently added some orange essence from the home baking department of my local Sainsburys to a spirit concoction. It left an oily film on the top of the "brew", it tasted OK but................., I have some wine filter papers (just for the port at Christmas) so I first ran a litre of water...

Assuming that the stabiliser might sink to the bottom of the fermenting vessel I would leave it for a week then rack the must into another FV and add more yeast and nutrient. This is off the top of my head but in desperate times this is what I would try. Pete.

I've just taken delivery of one of these kits. All dried berries. Has anybody out there tried one? I won't be starting it straight away due to lack of space but I'd like to know what it's like. Pete.

I'm not gonna go there, too political! We should have sorted it all out in 1938...... Just don't squeeze the grain when you strain it. I've done that and the stuff wouldn't clear. I could have thrown more chemicals into it but I decided to borrow next doors still.............. Pete.

I don't buy Spanish for two reasons:- Political Animal welfare issues CQR, I only boil the carrots and then strain the liquid into the bin with the grain, raisins and orange zest. Pete.

Thanks for all the advice. I've seen a few recipes with hops in but I don't have any handy, and as I think that my "local" home brew shop might have given up the ghost, I wasn't prepared to go hunting for them. I did try parsnip years ago and it was brilliant. I would check out turnips though...

I bought a bag of horse carrots the other day and I've started to do some wine with them. I've scoured a few recipes and this is what I've come up with :- 16 1/2 lb of carrots 7 Oranges 1 1/2 lb of raisins 3 lb of barley To make 3 gallons. Well, the second lot of carrots are simmering now so...