Sloe Wine

Here's a recipe with smaller quantities - might help you. From C J J Berry's First Steps in Winemaking.

1.5 kg / 3lb Sloes
.25 kg / 1/2lb raisins (or 140ml 1/4pint red grape concentrate)
1.5 kg / 3lb sugar
3.5 litre / 6 pints Water
Yeast and nutrient
Pectic enzyme

Place the sloes in a bucket or bowl and pour over them the boiling water. Mash the sloes well, adding the minced raisins or concentrate, and, when cool, the pectic enzyme, followed 24 hours later by the yeast and nutrient, 2lb sugar and, of course, the yeast. Stir well, cover with a cloth and ferment in a warm room for 10 days, stirring each day. Then strain, add remaining sugar, and pour into fermenting jar, topping up to bottom of neck with cold water. Fit an airlock and leave in a warm room for four weeks to ferment, then taste. If too bitter, a little more sugar can be added. Refit an airlock and store in a cool place to clear for a few weeks. When clear, bottle and store for at least a year before use.

(I did notice that it says to add yeast twice - I guess that is a printing error but thought I would reproduce as per my book).

Good luck with it and hope this helps.

hi Rob,
in my recipe ( red berries ) are elderberries and blackberries but also plums, grapes and really any fruit can take it's place even fruit juice from tinned fruit.
the idea of the recipe is to be cheap , so the more berries you get for free the cheaper it gets and the extra red berries give a fruity after taste to the wine as i've tryed it without and yes it still makes wine and strong to, but it's lacking body and is like a alcoholic ribena.
I'm not a wine making professional i just make it tasty and strong and try diffrent things each time , and just remember that water, yeast and suger make alcohol the fruit give it taste and flavour and the more you put in the thicker wine becomes.
p.s just started a banana wine in the barrel and not making this as strong only 15 packets of yeast and 20 pound of bananas ! 3 pounds of cooking apples and only 30 bags this time ( 1kg bags)

Hi Carl
Thanks for that. OK - that helps. I've just used the blackberries. What I might do is to add some grape juice concentrate at some convenient moment. Money I know, but I got the process started as I had all these berries (how on the earth did you pick 60 lbs???) and was concerned that they they should not go to waste by having them kicking around. So the fermentation is under way - relieved look this morning ! I haven't made wine for about 20 years.

That's the answer to question 1. Now what about pectin ? I have a feeling from what your approach that you don't worry about it. And the 'bags of sugar' are 1 kg bags ?

And now there's question number 3 that came to mind during the making last night. You make up the barrel to 2/3rds full, ie 66 l in your 100 l container - I'm working on 10 lbs of sloes so 11 l is my starting level. But what is your finishing level ? On the basis that you get 120 bottles, your barrel must be nearly full ( for 120 bottles that is 84 l) when fermentation is done, and there must be a bit of loss at the bottling stage.

And ooopps! there's a fourth. You use the pulp to make a rose wine. Can you give us general guidelines on the quantities for that please ?

Thanks Carl for posting the recipe and I hope the additional questions aren't onerous !. I made a small amount of sloe wine very many years ago and it was excellent. It has been fortuitous that I should find your recipe the year that the berries are so good.

regards

Rob

ans to 3 ; only fill to to 2/3 at the start as the barrel is 100 ltr and after the mash of fruit is taken out the level of water will dropto about half.
And when the 35 bags of sugar is put in, which is about 35 ltr in volume that makes another 1/3 of the barrel and sugar works better if warmed with alittle water to make a syrup so that adds more water each time.
The sediment left will be very little as the fruit was taken out at the early stage and transfered to another barrel for a rose and add yeast , sugar and water again as before then take the mash out to leave the fluid to ferment. ( it works out roughly 2 bags of sugar to a 7g packet of dried yeast ) so if you want it weak in alcohol then put in less yeast ,but if you would like it strong add the sugar over a long period ( ie; abit a week for 3 months ) as this gives the yeast time to work it's magic.

Pectolase is an enzyme which breaks down pectin - it doesn't add it. This enables more extraction of flavour from the fruit. I always add it. I find the wines clear better too.

Thanks Carl - 20 years ago it was a case of hunting through any book you had to get an answer, and often enough there wasn't an answer in that book so you had to go and buy another ! Now you just asked the great internet and all it's participants. And actually when I think about it, 20 years ago was 1987 and I'm sure that the last time I made wine was in the 70's. Isn't the passing of years unkind ?

Bad writing on my part, Flummery; I've been there and done all the chemistry years ago. However I take your point about pectolase being a good idea - will I get away with adding it now the fermentation has started, do you think ?

Rob

Not sure - I add it 24 hours before the yeast, mainly because the book I first used said to do so and I was brought up to do as I'm told! You could try?