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you could try racking it and then adding a coupple of campden tablets, then leaving for 24 hours and introducing a yeast starter. If you have more than a few spots of mould though it if probably not worth the risk, + it is fairly likely to taste 'mouldy' sorry.

Try it and see - there is a brilliant 'Black Books' eppisode that entails using oak leaves to flavour wine 'oaky'. . .
Try it on a bottle, not your whole brew

My father has been growing them fro 18?19? years. we have had about 6 fruit total in that time!

Oh hell, sorry STOP. You want white oak - red oak contains too much tannin - it will make you wine or spirit bitter and astringent. Next you only want heartwood, not the sap wood on the outside of the trunk and that makes up the majority of the smaller branches. once you have some heart wood, it nee...

dave45 wrote:Excellent - thanks - just need to find some unpasteurised unfiltered vinegar now :-

generally any cider vinegar with some geddies (floaty bits) in the bottom will work.

Our farther,
who art in garden,
harrowed be thy name,
your wheelbarrow come,
your weeds be done,
our earth it is heaven.
Give us this hay to mulch our bed,
and forgive us our threats,
of using pesticide on our lettuce.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from all gastropod mollusks.

dry means it has used all the sugar available. If you leave it the yeast should fall out of suspension and leave a layer on the bottom that you can rack the clear wine away from, this will deal with the yeast taste. IF not to taste the easiest way is to sweeten using sugar SYRUP (1:1 sugar water dis...

It could be iron tannate - dark black green colour - elder stems would certainly contain tannin - perhaps your water supply has high levels of iron?

Once it starts plop-plopping you can cold crash it - put it in a fridge for 24-48 hours. afterwards take it out carefully and you will see a layer of dead/inacitve yeast and other sludge on the bottom. Use a hose (clear food grade) to siphon the wine into a second demi-john avoiding splashing it and...

wulf wrote:Leather instead of rubber?
Wulf

. . . soaked in hot beeswax - would sanitise (for a given value of sanity - i know dunc!) it and add to the seal; wouldnt be as rigid as if soaked in paraffin wax

Once it finishes its vigorous ferment, if there is a drop out of sediment - say in 4-6 weeks, you may want to rack it into a second demi-john and leave it another month or two before bottling.

That ignores the laws of photo-tropic response! waaaack

At worst the sweeteners aren't ferment-able and you end up with a sweet/semisweet wine - if it has no sugar in the nutritional info add 1.2 kg of white sugar and some yeast and put it under air lock. no worries!

I have an austrian pattern one - i'm learning to use it - think i need to peen it a bit to get the blade sharper than it is to get really efficient with it yet though

book called "fix your own back" gives a great set of exercises to help and strengthen