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Barleylass I completely agree with above. Elderflower champagne can be difficult. At 160g/Litre or ~ 1064 SG you are in safe territory. The sugar at 294g/Litre is far too strong (cf 1112 SG) which causes sucrose inhibition i.e. prevents fermentation . There is something called the Dell formula...

Hi Lee, Good to hear from you, and of course I am interested in some apple juice when the time is right. Even better to hear you have Crisp maltings in your portfolio as it’s a good start with regard to your malt supply. Moving away from kits to your own mash set up would be significant step...

Elderflower wine should clear itself. Give it time. Your options are to back sweeten with a non calorific sweetener, I use those those small Splenda (Sucralose tablets) typically 3 pills per bottle so no Sorbate needed. Given the high starting gravity getting a secondary fermentation is...

Hi, 25Litres with 4000g sugar gives a calculated initial gravity around 1061as a rough guide.

Hi, As previously mentioned HGB (High Gravity Brewing) is widely practised in the large breweries with professional levels of equipment. It is unsuitable for the home brewer. Party gyling is the answer to some of the questions raised. i.e. Start at high gravity in the Copper and differentialy...

Don't do it. Professional High Gravity Brewing does just that. It's called cutting liquor in the trade. However this is de-aerated water using specialist equipment (ozonators and the like) For the home brewer it destroys shelf life and taste.

Hi, Depends on the size of the heads . Three large for 1 gallon is OK that's 8 small ones. Don't use boiling water under any circumstances. Have some acid in the sugar solution Citric will do as that aids extraction.

Maris Otter is what the professionals call very forgiving. i.e. slight temperature issues are no problem and it malts well so tends to be a very even malt. The downside is that you pay more for Otter. Providing it has not been a difficult year (barley growing conditions) then using a malt...

Sucralose has a near identical flavour profile to nature's sugar. So addition is up to personal taste. Generally I use 4 pills per Champagne bottle. Technique is not new as cider makers were adding saccharin to their dry brews years ago, but saccharin has some taste/flavour defects.

I use Sucralose tablets (smallest ones called Splenda) as non fermentable sweetener

Gervin No 9 is good for rhubarb

Should not be a problem, though sugar can pick up unwanted taints though don't worry about coffee drops. The alcohol also inhibits bug growth. If added during the main fermentation then the mere act of fermentation helps clean up the product.

Headspace requirements depend on the type of beer and the initial starting gravity. The rule of thumb for ales is a freeboard of 25% and for lagers ( much lower controlled temperature) 10%. There is an exception with some types of rich stout where 40% headspace can be required because of a...

High alcohol beers commercially usually aim at around 9-10% - things like Gold Label and Carlsberg special. There is a lot more science behind this than reflected in the above. You need the right yeast to start with and to be aware of the sucrose density gradient. High initial gravity can...

Sounds like nutrient defiency. Add some nutrient (Tronozymol) and then decant into another container to see if that gets it going. Good luck

Problem is due to an over milled malt or possible a friable malt that has created a lot of fines. The technical term for this is Tieg. - a grey coloured porridge that blocks run off. Further dilution would have helped a little but it is really your raw material that caused the problem.

Fermenting beer under pressure works well and has been in use commercially, reducing CO2 usage. Never tried for wine but 28 C is too high in my opinion, almost certain to cause taste issues.

Sloes in winemaking are very beneficial. You've tried re yeasting and nutrient. Now transfer your stuck wine agressively from the fermenter to get a lot of air in. Make sure temperature is 20-22C and add a working yeast culture GV 2 is good. If this still fails then you can only blend out with...

I believe your heavy wine must will get stuck, and dilution blending is your only hope. The raisins could add around 300g of sugar so at 3300 g in 9.5 litres all in at the starting SG it will not work Neertheless good luck

Best compromise is to start off another fermenter at say < 1060 gravity and once well established fermentation add an equal amout of your heavy wine so it has a better chance to ferment out and remain de-aerated. At about 20% abv in the original it will get stuck