ok, i got a copy of Berry's "First Steps in Winemaking" and read it all
in one sitting, so i probably missed a few things so i want to ask a
few questions before i start diggin into getting stuff for my plum
wine(search for tater in the other threads)

what is must? is it the crushed fruit or is it the strained juices from
the fruit.

how do i know the 5 gallon bucket i have would be foodsafe for primary
fermenting? I havent hunted for this yet and think i can get a fruit
filling bucket which should work, but if not will a pickle work or
affect flavor? what about buckets that i dont have history of? joint
compound? hydraulic fluid?

campden tablets stop fermenting, right? so i could be really sadistic
and stop, start, stop, start, stop, start, stop, start, stop, start the
frementation process as much as i wanted(in theory).

one could make wine without fruit completely, right? well can one make
wine without added sugar? I am not interested in alcohol content, so if
the added sugar is only to make the alcohol, i could cut it down (i
prefer sweet wines) and the yeast ammount.

the author talks about second and thrid racking, how does a newbie
determine if these are needed?

the longer you let the wine sit, the better your chances of sucess,
right?

how much loss is there in doing a batch of wine. I am assuming every
time you rack you leave an ammount with lees, and then you are supposed
to make sure the racked containers are as full as possible, with some
here reffering to adding "topping up" wine(or just juice?). what
happens when you end up with half a bottle or less when racking your
last batch?

the book doesnt exactly say, but i am assuming that you can rack off
into multiple bottles.

is there specific timing for racking. are there any indicators to help
the newbie?