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We don’t have the news on much in our house so I’ve only just seen this! How gutting! What a player. :( I’m with you Bob, two icons of an era gone. But what a gig they’ll put on in heaven! I’d have Freddie on vocals with them.

Some great questions there Ian. One way to increase the ABV is to add additional sugar for the yeastie beasties to munch their way through. You can use your hydrometer to work our predicted ABV. If you’re going to do a secondary fermentation you can either syphon it or use the tap on your FV...

I froze and thawed pears and blamley apples for my press this year but then forraged some crab apples. I didn’t get chance to freeze them but was impressed by the about the juice I got. I’ve picked up some eaters today to add to the mix and won’t be freezing them it’ll be interesting to see what...

Great info @freester, cheers.

You’re more than welcome. We’ve all had that first brew where we suddenly question everything! This is a really friendly forum where people are happy to answer questions. So read, ask and learn. And also let us know how you get on with your cider. Have you got a hydrometer? If not I’d...

That saves me a job. Thanks Chippy.

I’ve built a really simple apple press that works really well. If you’re hoping to use the tree a few times it’d be worth making one. I’ve been thinking about doing a “how to build” but I didn’t take any pictures as I built it. I should be able to talk it through though.

Hi Joanne and welcome to the forum. Pretty much all fruit has naturally occurring yeast that can be convinced to produce alcohol for us. They’re a great way of doing wild fermentation. I’ve not done it myself before but have seen plenty of people press their apples and put the juice in a DJ...

I’ve just been given several kgs of Bramley apples and forraged some crab apples. Put them through the cider press (very easy to build) and got around 9ltrs. I’ve taken a couple of litres for cyser and just added cider yeast to the rest. It’s bubbking away nicely.

Hmm, that does badly doesn’t it? They are neighbours to my house and gave their rhubarb freely (although I did return a jar to each of them) I doubt retirement will still exist by the time I get there, just something to read about in history books. :(

This is the remanants of Rhubarb chutney. I reckon there’s one cheese butty left. This was from two neighbours allotments and has lasted well.

I did something similar with a mead. I was having “a moment” and degassed it with the sediment in the DJ rather than racking it first... I have a toddler who doesn’t sleep... what can you do? It murked up really badly so I just cold crashed it and it cleared up lovely in a week or two...

@BartonMillBrewer i think @Moonraker was after having a sweeter finish although your. Approach works for carbonation it’s would end up drier than (I’m assuming) he’s after.

Is this why I’m a rubbish photographer?

Very interesting. I’m on apple but haven’t downloaded the newest iOS - not that I’ve got space for it.... I’m very particular about privacy (hence we won’t have anything like Alexa or a dot in the house) so this is interesting but also probably quite concerning. Mrs Hagrid has a hauwei and had...

That’s right. They also tend to use second hand barrels which can impart different flavours like sherry or rum casks adds a slightly sweeter flavour.

I got 6 off eBay about 10 years ago. They were buttons (£45 a piece rings a bell) and she lass who dropped them off said we might get a tiny splash of 30 year old single malt but the first they ever know about it is as it runs out the barrel and down the drain. We gave them a wobble and heard...

Unless you can workout a predicted FG and bottle before you hit it? But that’s beyond my powers of maths. I’d be really interested how you get on with this though.

The stabiliser doesn’t kill yeast it just stops it reproducing so after the natural life span of the existing yeast it will stop. I’ve had a bottle bomb even after using it. However it does make priming a stab in the dark. The other option is to “max out” your yeast. If your yeast has an...

You can also stabilise and add sugar if you prefer. I have a pet hatred of sweeteners so this is my preferred method for back-sweetening wines.