Yeah, my zucs are going great guns too!! I am making Jean Pares relish right now - really, as I make dinner! Zucchini Relish - this makes 5- 6 half pint jars (Jean says to grind all - I use my Cuisinart Julienne blade) 5 cups ground zucs 2 cups ground onions 2 ½ tbsp coarse/pickling salt Combine in large bowl and leave overnight. In morning drain, rinse in cold water. Turn into large saucepan. Add: Small green pepper, seeded and ground Small red pepper, seeded and ground 1 ¼ cups white vinegar 2 ½ cups white sugar 1 tbsp celery seed 2 tsp cornstarch 1 ½ tsp dry mustard powder 1 ½ tsp turmeric 1 ½ tsp nutmeg ¼ tsp pepper Heat on medium-high, stirring often, until it boils. Continue uncovered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour into hot sterilized half pint jars (I say whatever!!) to within ¼ inch from the top. Add snap lids and screw rings. Jean says you can process in a water bath for 5 minutes. This is the first time I've made this recipe - it is close to my Million Dollar relish, but for the nutmeg. We'll see how it turns out!!! Cheers, Nancy.

Sorry for the late response, I had 600lbs. of wine grapes to deal w/ this past weekend. Fruit wines are pretty easy & fun. the tubing is for racking (transferring by siphoning) and the valves or air locks are to keep out oxygen & nast bugs after the primary fementation. Your local shop should be able to help you w/ any questions, also feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions. rmwine (at) gmail (dot) com

Thanks for finding that address fedup - I was looking but missed it - and for the optimism. I did talk to the guy at the shop we got the kit at - he's in town, 2+ hours away - and he didn't think there would be a problem using less water - said it would make a more full-bodied, though maybe not stronger, wine. I'm more worried now about all that air space in the bucket, but the chemicals that come with the kit help prevent it turning to vinegar, right? What I'll do is wait until the 14 days are over (Jan. 29), take a reading and email that lady. The wine is looking clearer at the top now than it was two days ago.

All sounds yucky to me. I add sugar to up the alcohol. Cheap vodka and brandy would ruin a wine to my taste. I try for about 12%. Higher alcohol could be had from a port yeast. I never add sulfieds. This has caused a bottle to leak from the cork or be a little fizzy from fermentables stirred up during bottling. Not a show stopper in my book. The wines turn out clean and drinkable. The finest wine I've ever drank in my life has come from my own carboys. Not that store bought wine is all bad but homemade is so much cleaner in taste. So all my wine is dry and I sweeten it at drinking time if I so desire with soda pop or fruit juice. Water is also very excellent mixed with wine turning it into an adult koolaid. My wines stay in the glass fermenter for a year and then are bottled and mostly drank within a few months. I've had bottles for 7-8 years that were still drinkable when uncorked. With homemade grape wine as with most wines getting the all the seeds out before fermentation greatly improves the flavor. I even squeeze them by hand so as not to crush the seeds... squeezing the fruit is the hardest work in wine making. So anyways I wouldn't go adding any vodka... ewwww! Sulfieds or whatever if your kit says so. Why spend the money on a kit and not get the product intended? At some point you will probably form an opinion about sulfieds and when to use them. One of the great things about making wine is you get to do it your way.