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is it necessary to refrigerate the bottle? I mean, can I drink it without putting it in refrigerator?

I have a recipe for a pineapple beverage made from the core/skins of a fresh pineapple, and I used that liquid in a EZ caps recipe and WOW is all I can say. I will start with the recipe for the pineapple beverage:
Chicha de piña or spiced pineapple drink by laylita.com

Ingredients:
The skins and core of 1 pineapple, well washed
½ to ¾ lb of panela or brown sugar, whole or in chunks – more or less to taste
Assorted spices: cinnamon sticks, all spice peppers, cloves, anise, etc
10-12 cups of water
Preparation:
Combine all of the ingredients in large saucepan or pot
Bring to a boil and simmer partially covered for at about an hour, stirring occasionally.
Let cool down, unless you are drinking it warm or hot, you can drink it immediately or let it rest refrigerated to allow the spices and pineapple flavor to concentrate.
After reaching the appropriate amount of spice, you can also leave at room temperature, in a glass jar with a paper towel cover, for up to a week & this will ferment and become alcoholic beverage, likely 2-4 ABV!
BUT, to ferment with E-Z caps, to every 20 oz of pineapple goodness I added 1/4 cup of sugar. I halted fermentation at 4 days, simply because that is where I fell in love with it.

**FYI: SARAMC used 3-3" cinnamon sticks, 1 whole star anise and 3 whole cloves & removed the spices and pineapple core/skins after 4 hours in the refrigerator. I then filled a quart glass jar with the strained liquid and added a spear of the core and part of the rind, being sure to cover any added matter with liquid & then covered opening with a coffee filter. It is resting in a warm spot. Stir gently on a daily basis, inspect for any foreign matter growth. After about 7 days I strain and place in a pretty glass bottle for adult consumption. My family LOVES to sip on the non-alcoholic version over ice or even warmed, and the grown ups do enjoy the spiked up version--countertop method and EZ caps version. The bubbles that EZ cap add take it up a notch. Enjoy!!!

I have made several bottles of various flavored wine using E-Z Caps & all were great. Only one problem so far... Two of the bottles using fresh fruit (Watermelon & Banana) rather than fruit juice turned to a thick slime. I had made both types before with perfect results. What went wrong?

I am new at this. Working on my third batch. As far as bottling the wine. Do the bottles have to stay refridgerated after you have bottled the wine, (of course I am talking after you have fermented the wine and put it in the fridge to stop the fermantation),or can you store them at proper wine storing temps? Buy the way, I have gotten awesome reviews from friends who have tried the wines I have made.

Wine Slush Mix- dry package mix

This is based on a 750ml bottle of your favorite wine. Sweet or semi-sweet is favored.
You will need one canister of your favorite lemonade powder drink mix and another container of instant tea drink mix.

Pour 750ml of your preferred wine into a zipstyle bag, add using the empty wine bottle and 1/2 bottle of water.
Per canister directions, add enough lemonade powder to make 2 quarts.
Add enough instant tea mix to make 1 quart.
You can substitute the lemonade with sugar based limeade, or even a sugar based "orange-ade".You can play around with the sugar free varieties....just be sure to use the equivalent of 2 quart citris base and 1 quart tea base.
Seal the zipstyle bag well, and shake bag gently, kneading with your hands to ensure all ingredients have dissolved.

Place in freezer for about 6 hours.
Prior to serving, allow to sit at room temp for 10-15 minutes.
Serve in glass of your choice. Can be topped off with lemon-lime soda for a spritzer, or eat as is for a tasty frozen treat.

Some flavor combos:
sweet red wine, lemonade powder and raspberry flavored tea mix
sweet white wine, limeade powder and lemon flavored tea mix
Dessert raspberry, lemonade powder, and raspberry flavored tea mix
Dessert blueberry, lemonade powder, and lemon flavored tea mix (serve in a hollowed out lemon half, which has been frozen)

I would suspect you could make a cider slush, look for apple flavored drink powder, etc.

Your feedback is greatly appreciated. Enjoy...Sara

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Everything I have read about E-Z caps stresses that the finished product needs to be stored in refrigerator. I will be making mead/wine/cider for now but was wondering for wine, if I were to choose to use campden and potassium sorbate would I be able to traditionally bottle in glass, cork and store at room temperature? For mead and/or cider, would that concept also apply but bottle in PET bottles (which are appropriate for carbonated products and come in a variety of sizes)?? Thanks!

This is a recipe I would love to adapt to E-Z caps, it makes 1 gallon.... does anyone have any insight?? Thanks!



BLUEBERRY-ELDERBERRY PORT-STYLE WINE
The recipe below makes a 16% dry wine which is then fortified to 20%, sweetened with grape concentrate, and aged. The yeast variety listed in this recipe will all reach 16% alcohol and then die off, especially if the food is used up.

6 lb. blueberries
6 oz. dried elderberries
1 cup red grape concentrate
1/2 cup light dry malt
1-3/4 lb. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. pectic enzyme
1-1/2 tsp. acid blend
1/2 tsp. USP glycerin
1/2 tsp. yeast energizer
4 pt. water
63 ml brandy
2 finely crushed and dissolved Campden tablets
Port wine yeast such as Red Star Pasteur Red, Lalvin ICV-D21, Lalvin Syrah

Wash and crush blueberries in nylon straining bag and strain juice into primary fermentation vessel. Add dried elderberries to bag, tie closed and place in primary. Stir in dry malt, sugar, acid blend, yeast energizer, water, and one of the Campden tablets. Stir well to dissolve sugar and other solids. The starting s.g. should be 1.118 to yield 16% abv. Cover the primary, set aside for 12 hours. Add pectic enzyme and cover for another 12 hours. Add yeast, cover again, and daily stir ingredients and press pulp in nylon bag to extract flavor. When specific gravity is 1.030 (about 5-7 days days), strain juice from bag and rack liquor off sediments into glass secondary. Fit fermentation trap and ferment to dryness. Rack in three weeks and again in two months. When wine is clear and stable, add red grape concentrate, brandy, the second Campden tablet, and glycerin. Let wine rest another two months, rack again and bottle. Allow a year to mature.
(Recipe from http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/request147.asp)

This is the first time I have ever tried to ferment white grape juice and it's not working. I'm using Walmart brand 100% white grape juice. I don't see anything in the ingredients that's different from the WM brand 100% red grape juice that I have been using that ferments like crazy.

I added another bit of yeast after 2 days, shook it up good and so far, about 12 hours later not a single bubble and no pressure in the bottle. I see all the yeast just suspended in the liquid. I'm using yeast from the same vial that I've had other batches of various 'stuff' this week that is going like crazy.

I filled the bottle to about 90% of the white grape juice, used 1 cup sugar, and 1/8tsp of yeast.

Could I have a bad bottle of juice?