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I made strawberry wine in December 2010 and it worked out great - one of my more successful brews. I bought 3lbs of strawberries for just £1.50 (the market stall was closing). I'll definitely be making it again when I can find some cheap fruit.

Well, even if it ends up being undrinkable, the book describes alternatives to throwing the stuff down the sink.

Just to offer a contrary opinion... I think I paid about 2 quid for mine and I have found it useful on many occassions. I don't think it's particularly accurate, but for the price it seems to give an indication of the level of alcohol present, which is useful if (for whatever reason) you...

Yes, it's known as Koumiss in some parts, although the commercial version I've seen looks a bit cloudier. Essentially you're just fermenting the whey, so the by-product in this brew was a large amount of alcoholic cottage cheese. I only used 2 litres of lactose-free milk, total cost £2.52...

Well, it's now time to bottle the stuff and, perhaps, even a little taste... hmm, that is quite offensive. Can't measure the SG 'coz I broke my 35-year old hydrometer by accident the other day, but my vinometer says approx 15%. I'll find a home for this on my wine rack - probably next to the...

My local Waitrose are running a half-price special on some of the Del Monte fruit juices. 1lt orange at 62p and 1lt pineapple at 74p. I'm planning a batch of each. They also had some exotic mixes, like pineapple and papaya, but I haven't ventured that far yet.

Yes, it's possible, but probably not worth the effort. You could probably use it for cooking or for home-made chutneys. If you do want to re-ferment you'll need to remove the alcohol, of course, before you add new yeast, and one way to do this is to open all the windows in your kitchen and...

I think the best place for cheap fruit is to go to a market just before they are closing. I bought 3 punnets of strawberries for 50p each and made a really nice wine. I also bought a box of Sharon fruit for £2 - they're also known as Persimons, and I found a recipe online. Racked that one last...

I tried that kit and hated it, but I don't like to throw things away so I decided to try my hand at making cider vinegar - which is a very useful commodity when you make your own chutney. But the big mistake I think I made was to add the stabiliser, which is doing it's job of slowing down the...

You can't buy it commercially (except from the monks) but there's a flourishing black market trade, at least in Bruges. You won't find it in any shops or bars but I asked for it at a pub out of curiosity and they sold me one for ten euros. My B&B host also had some available for 6 euros each...

There's quite a lot of background information in the book (I can't mention the title as it discusses method which are frowned upon in this forum). Anyway, it tells of an Alaskan priest, Father Emmett Engel, who believed that the devil lived in alcohol in the form of fusel oil (which is the bit...

I had an idea, but I'm still a novice so thought I'd ask for some advice first. I have acquired a bottle of Westvleteren 12 and a Woodforde's Wherry kit. I've brewed Wherry before so I thought it might be time for an experiment. Wherry comes in two cans and I've got two buckets, so the idea is...

Started this rather unusual wine a couple of weeks ago. (The recipe is taken from a book I got for Xmas which discusses various techniques for producing alcohol which are, apparently, commonly used in Alaska.) The trick is to use lactose-free milk. I found this in my local Waitrose (£1.26...

Would that be the little bags, the medium sized bags or the big bags?

Done a bit more research and I think the problem was adding the stabiliser at the end of the fermentation. This interferes with the conversion to acetic acid. Also, vinegar ideally needs very warm conditions - like 29 C. The other thing I'll try is checking the acidity - picked up a home-brew...

Hi, In a moment of madness last year I bought a cider kit. I followed the instructions and made 40 pints of a chemical which had a vague cider taste. Rather than chucking it away I thought I'd have a go at making cider vinegar. The process for turning cider into cider vinegar sounds...

Actually, I think it's legal and possibly permissable on this forum to mention the D word in relation to vinegar, but I'd be quite happy with 6% acetic acid, so no need to use the freeze "D word" (or "applejacking", as they call it over there). I just checked my home-made cider vinegar against...

Hello, I'm new to the forum and, thus, introducing myself. Have made a few batches of beer (from kit) and a fair bit of wine (from hedgerows and various fruits). Last year, in a fit of madness, I bought a cider kit (I think it was called Magnum). I made it as per instructions but didn't like...