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Thanks for the info. I didn't notice the 65 brix on the carton. I planned to add 250ml to a gallon of Ginger wine before fermentation. The other reason I wanted it is because I just made 2 x 1 gallon batches of Ginger wine using liquidised sultanas. The wine came out lovely but is a pain to...

I found this on eBay. It works out at half the price of other GJC. It's a bargain I think. http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-53481-19255-0/1?icep_ff3=2&toolid=10001&campid=5338413729&icep_item=283315446899060353.m1438.l2649

On my first non-kit elderflower I used 50g per gallon, and it was overpowering. I added the dried elderflowers at the start of the fermentation. I think 25g is enough for me personally. There was plenty of flavour and aroma. Hopefully, I'll try fresh elderflowers this year.

I use sodium metabisulphite, the same stuff in Campden tablets, at least the ones I use are. 2 ltrs with 3 teaspoons of smb last me a month, and I only replace it because it gets hair and fluff in it...I have hairy hands!

I've made quite a few meads (and lots of mistakes) and my early meads tasted medicinal (I quite liked it, but I've been told I'm weird), but recently, with a lot of tweaking, they are turning out ok. I've just made mead and using a heat belt, so the fermentation temperature is quite high, so...

That's why I've always bought Harris no rinse sanitiser. But it does make you think if they can sell the stain remover so cheaply, are we being ripped off by the likes of Harris?

I found it on the Wilco website. It's basically the same thing, sodium percarbonate. It's going to be a while until I need it as I just bought 1 kg a few weeks ago for £15 aheadbutt

I only use it for cleaning and I use sodium metabisulphate for sterilisation. I'm a bit old fashioned I suppose. £2 for a kg of oxybleach? I'll have to have a look in my local Wilko, but I've never seen it before.

Believe it or not, I just use eBay. It does take a bit of digging, but you can normally find bulk amounts for most things. They have raised the price, but you get 400g for £11.95 when 64g would cost you the same in the smaller amounts. This is actually one of my favourite sellers, good...

I have found it cheaper to buy in bulk. You can get 32 grams for £5.65, but I recently bought 400 grams for £8.60. The math is obvious. This goes for most consumable homebrew wise. I just bought 1 kg of oxybleach for £15.39. 200 grams is normally £4.85. I do the same with all things...

I use sulphite solution to sterilise my equipment before using...religiously. I haven't had an infection yet, luckily. I only use campden tabs in the actual wine because I wouldn't know where to start with powder.

I'm trying to keep my last sweet mead to see how much it improves with age...it's harder than it sounds! I use traditional cork bottles which were £24 for 24 on eBay. I have 48, simply because I give my wine to family and don't always get them back. I also have swing top bottles which I use...

If I use 4lb of honey for a sweet mead it is normally SG 1.125. I know Young's Dessert / High alcohol yeast has a tolerance of about 14% ABV, which normally leaves it sweet. My advice is to find a yeast you like, find it's tolerance and plan your mead from there. My logic is that there is...

Stabilisers are usually sodium metabisulphate (the same stuff as campden tablets) or potassium sorbate. I add 2 crushed campden tablets to my wine when I rack for clearing.

My latest mead was a dry one, I only used 3lb of ASDAs honey (£3.94), 1 1/2 tsp youngs nutrient and young's dessert/ high alcohol yeast (my favourite). Took 10 days to ferment from SG 1.092 (lower than my target) and fermented to SG 0.995 giving an ABV 13%. I prefer sweet mead, but it wasn't bad...

Acid does give it zing, and tannin gives it bite. Acid also helps as a preservative. From previous experience, I would say don't add acid as too much will make it taste terrible.

With an SG 1.127 you'll either have a sweet wine or a 17% ABV wine.

Can you give us your recipe? Also, how many campden tablets did you use? Was the start gravity SG 1.046? Sorry for all the questions : P

The average SG of juice is 1.035, and I add 200g of sugar to bring it up to SG 1.050 so the ABV is 6% approx. I use Young's super wine yeast compound from the 60-gram tub for Turbo Cider and WOWs. It's good stuff!

I use Harris No Rinse Sanitiser and it's good. Don't worry about residue, it doesn't impart any taste. I do give my bottle and demijohns a quick rinse inside, but only because there is a tiny bit 0f water in them from where I've cleaned them before storage. You do still need to sterilise your...