Fruit wines are a great alternative to traditional grape wines, especially where it is hard to come by enough wine grape to make a batch. I have written a lot about making fruit wines and there are loads of recipes here on home brew answers.  In this article, we will cover making wines from any fruit, or even flowers and vegetables too. Allowing you to combine fruits to make unique fruit wines rather than just a single variety of fruit.  What Is Fruit Wine? Fruit wine is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting the juice, pulp or mash of fruits other than grapes. Fruit wines is a ca ..read more

If you’re a fan of fruit meads and have already tried something like my blackberry melomel, then blueberry mead is worth trying, the recipes are really similar and the flavours are great..  Blueberries, with their rich colour, natural sweetness, and acidity, make for an exceptional blueberry mead that captures the essence of fruit and honey in every sip. Just like its blackberry counterpart, blueberry mead offers complexity by because it is not just the fruit and juice but also the skins which offer complexity and flavour along with the richness of honey.  So, let’s dive into the wo ..read more

All grain brewing means controlling more variables, involving the mash, when you come to making your own beer. The effect of mash temperature on beer is one of these variables that will determine the flavour profile of the finished beer.  Mash temperature is often stated as controlling the body of the beer but there is a bit more to it than that. In this article, we will look at mash temperature, what exactly is going on in the mash and how we can control the mash temperature to have an effect on the finished beer. What Temperature Is A Typical Mash? Most beers have a mash temperature be ..read more

Step mashing or multi-rest mashing is a method of all-grain brewing where the mash is taken up through multiple steps from lower temperatures to higher temperatures. What is the purpose of step mashing and when is it suitable to perform a step mash? In this article, we will cover these points and learn how to use this technique to refine our homebrew beers. What Is Step Mashing? Step mashing or multi-rest mashing is the process of combining the malt we are using for a recipe with water at varying temperature steps. Unlike a basic infusion mash where we combine grain and water at a set temper ..read more

Lemon wine brings to mind a drink that is refreshing and perfect to sip on a warm evening.  The trouble with making such a drink is that lemons are, of course, really acidic and require a lot of dilution to bring about a fermentable and palatable must.  Lemons are 5 times more acidic than oranges and twice as acidic as grapefruit. When it comes to making wine with them this acidity needs to be diluted down so the yeast has a chance to do its thing.  When you ferment this the body of the wine can be a little lacking and we can end up with a dry and insipid wine rather than fruit ..read more

The difference between ale and lager is primarily due to the type of yeast used for fermentation. When first approaching brewing as a complete beginner it is difficult to categorise exactly what we want to make. When we say beer though there are really two types; ale and lager.  The primary difference between ale and lager is the result of the type of yeast and the typical fermentation temperature.  Ale & Lager Yeast Are Different Ale and lager differ due to their fermentation but within each type, there is an infinite range of colour, bitterness, aroma and flavour. When making ..read more

Once you have packaged your beer, whether in bottles or in a keg the wait is nearly over. It is still missing one thing though and that is carbonation.  Just how long does it take to carbonate beer and what is the quickest way for getting the fizz in your brew? Carbonating Your Beer The are a couple of ways of carbonating your home brew and there is also the type of vessel you are carbonating your beer in which could be a bottle, keg, or barrel. These methods will have some influence over how long it will take to get sufficient carbonation in your beer but you also have other factors suc ..read more

It can definitely be frustrating to spend time making wine, waiting months for it to ferment and condition only for it to be hazy or cloudy. A slight haze in wine isn’t a major problem but it can be annoying. Certain wines may be more prone to having a haze or cloudiness so what can we do about it? In this article, we will cover what to make sure our wines ferment with much less chance of forming a haze and also how to clear a cloudy or hazy wine if it just won’t clear. Clear Your Wine Starting With The Basics All of the recipes here on Home Brew Answers suggest the use of pectic enzymes. Par ..read more

If you have ever made a fruit, floral or vegetable wine yourself you will probably be familiar with the term “champagne yeast”. You are probably thinking, why use champagne yeast, what is champagne yeast and why is it any different to other yeast strains.  Champagne yeast has some very useful attributes that make it perfect for home wine making and not just for making champagne. In this article, we will cover just what champagne yeast is and why it is recommended so often for making country wines. What Is Champagne Yeast? Champagne yeast is a strain of wine yeast, saccharomyces cerevisia ..read more

All grain brewing means controlling more variables, involving the mash, when you come to making your own beer. The effect of mash temperature on beer is one of these variables that will determine the flavour profile of the finished beer.  Mash temperature is often stated as controlling the body of the beer but there is a bit more to it than that. In this article, we will look at mash temperature, what exactly is going on in the mash and how we can control the mash temperature to have an effect on the finished beer. What Temperature Is A Typical Mash? Most beers have a mash temperature be ..read more