Is there sediment on the bottom of your jugs? How clear is your wine? The
reason I ask, is that your wine is about 6 months old and it sounds like
you've racked it maybe once or twice. The questions you need to ask
yourself is the wine clear? has fermentation stopped? is the wine still
dropping sediment? If the wine is not clear, I would rack it off the
sediment and wait another couple of months or so before bottling. Has
fermentation stopped (is it still bubbling in your airlock)? You need to
wait until fermentation is over before bottling, so you don't have bottle
bombs.

My suggestion is that you go to http://home.att.net/~lumeisenman/ wine
making site and read up on making wine at home. I would also suggest going
to Jack Keller's home wine site, but for some reason I can't get there this
morning.
Darlene

"Dwayne" > wrote in message
...
> On July 13 I took two gallon jars, and nearly filled them with
> chokecherries, yeast, sugar, and lemon juice. Then I put in the plastic
air
> locks. It fermented strong for a couple of weeks, and on July 30 when
they
> had slowed down some, I poured them out and squeezed the berries to remove
> the skins and seeds. Then I filtered out the remainder a couple of times,
> and poured the remainder back into one of the glass gallon jars. I
> reattached the air lock and noticed it fermenting again for nearly 2
weeks.
> I kept the whole operation in a dark room in my basement that stays
between
> 65 and 70 degrees in the summer, and 60 to 65 in the sinter.
>
> Now I wonder what I am supposed to do. Can I pour it off into quart wine
> bottles and re-seal them, or will that cause the wine to turn into vinegar
> if not used right away? I bought some corks with a plastic plunger in the
> center. I was told to pull the plunger out, insert the cork, and then
push
> the plunger back in. Do you agree with that? I tried one in an empty
> bottle and didn't notice any difference when the plunger was pushed in or
> left out.
>
> If I messed up this batch of choke cherries, would someone tell me the
right
> way to do it next year when they are on the trees again? Did my method
use
> a "primary" and a "secondary", or was it just a big mess. I have a friend
> who makes his that way, but he uses a crock for the primary, and I done
> remember is he put it into a secondary, of drank it after straining the
> skins and seeds out.
>
> I cooked down enough last summer to allow me to can 14 quarts of filtered
> chokecherry juice. Will canned juice work as well as fresh or frozen?
>
> Well I rambled on more than I expected, but would like to have some advice
> from those of you who know better than me. Thanks in advance.
>
> Dwayne
>
>
>
>
>