Bryan's Wine & Beer Musings Blog

Kombucha Batch #26-01 #3 0

Kombucha Batch #26-01 #3

updated 06/14/2026 June 2026 As seems to be my personal habit, my last batch of Kombucha was ignored a long time. But I got around to bottling it. 06/14/2026 I’m using the same ratios...

Final Specific Gravity 0

Final Specific Gravity

updated 06/09/2026 A common topic of discussion is, “how do I know when my wine is ‘done’?”. The commonly accepted answer on WMT is, “When the SG is less than or equal to 0.998...

Elderberries – Planting 0

Elderberries – Planting

updated 04/13/2026 12 April 2026 I hydrated the cuttings for several days. The plan was to plant them Saturday, but other things conspired against me, so planting happened today (Sunday). A trip to Lowes...

Elderberries – Cuttings Arrive 0

Elderberries – Cuttings Arrive

updated 04/08/2026 08 April 2026 I received the elderberry cuttings on 30 March, from North Florida Elderberry, which as folks might guess, is located in northern Florida. The owners are branching from selling elderberry...

Kombucha Batch #26-01 0

Kombucha Batch #26-01

updated 06/14/2026 March 2026 My last batch of Kombucha was ignored too long, and grew black mold. I tossed the batch, including SCOBY. That was a while back, and the “kombucha bug” bit me...

What Is One-Third Sugar Depletion? 0

What Is One-Third Sugar Depletion?

updated 12/12/2025 A common recommendation for the addition of yeast nutrient is to add two-thirds at yeast inoculation time, and to add the remaining one-third at “one-third sugar depletion”. This provides a boost to...

Wine 2026 – Update #01 0

Wine 2026 – Update #01

03 November 2025 Why am I posting a 2026 wine plans post while the 2025’s are still fermenting? Because there’s always a backlog of wines we want to make but lack the capacity to...

Wine 2025 – Update #03 0

Wine 2025 – Update #03

03 November 2025 I decided to post a wrap-up of the 2025 plans to explain our final decisions. For various reasons beyond her control, Beth’s vineyard did not yield sufficient Marechal Foch for our...

2025 Pinot Noir 1

2025 Pinot Noir

updated 11/09/2025 October 2025 Today we crushed 8 lugs (288 lbs, 130.6 kg) Pinotage, and brought home 2 buckets Verdicchio and 2 buckets Pinot Noir. Ingredients Fruit 2x 23 liters Pinot Noir juice pomace...

2025 Verdicchio 0

2025 Verdicchio

updated 11/09/2025 October 2025 Today we crushed 8 lugs (288 lbs, 130.6 kg) Pinotage, and brought home 2 buckets Verdicchio and 2 buckets Pinot Noir. Ingredients Fruit 2x 23 liters Verdicchio juice Maceration Enzyme...