Marrow Wine

[madderbat]

My wines don't last long enough to bond with, I started making wine just before I gave up smoking (see other thread) and all winter the wine went very quickly from demijon to bottle to glass to digestif system!

These were country fruit wines though, and I think they seem to mature quicker than grape as they have added yeast and sugar (do you do that with grapes???)

The Blackberry I started last week is 'plopping' (TM) at 120 mph at the moment, so could be ready within a month (fingers crossed!)

I've done quite well with my wines and have not used sulphites yet, but have had one or two very strong brews because I didn't stop them.

As to the elderflower, it could be something to do with phases of the moon if the fresh flowers smell of catwee. It might be worth checking out this site and picking a 'fruit' day to harvest, preferably at/after a new moon to get the rising sap. Give it a go and see what it's like.

http://translate.google.com/translat...3Doff%26sa%3DG

[Headfry]

Hi ya Madderbat, yes I added yeast to the grape wine.
Think I might just have to taste a little tomorrow, only of course whilst trying to get the syphon to start
I must also rack my marrow wine, tempted to try that too!
It has not been racked since being made back in October? only thrown about 1/4" of sediment....I hope this has not harmed it. It looks lovely and clear, and strangely the same colour as the grape- even though they were a very different in colour when first started! Both seem a dark golden colour in the demijon...is this ok? will they look lighter in bottles?
It's all very new to me as you can tell by all the questions.

[madderbat]

Headfry
It would be quite sinful to rack your wine without tasting it - almost illegal in winemaking circles I believe !! Hope you enjoy it - do let us know.

Different kinds of glass affect light differently, so youmay find that the colours change a bit. The clearest bottles I have found are old (empty) whiskey bottles, which work quite well for viewing wine (especially if you leave a leetle residue of scotch in them!)

The best thing I can suggest is that you label the bottles to distinguish the different brews if the colour is so similar. I'm sure the flavours will be unique though.

I hope to start my marrow wine this weekend, but am busy looking aftrer MiL at the moment which is taking up a lot of time.

[Brewer-again]

cats wee flowers

Hi headfry, I am sure that you did not mean that there are new and old flowers on an elderflower and which ones should you pick so I will continue to look for a bad elder. As a general rule you should only use the freshest flowers or produce to make a wine. You could do worse than sniff what you pick and discard what smells bad. Also rack your wine often to avoid tainting from the dead lees, the dead layer at the bottom.

Not sure about the moon phases when you should pick fruit or flowers, but I am personally very aware of moon phases.

Madderbat, I think you deserve the plopping trade mark. Grapes do have a natural yeast but it is not the best yeast. This is why the natural yeast is killed off with a sulphite tab and then a known yeast is added. Read you are looking after MIL which I beleive is a machine gun, so I hope all is well.

[Hazel at the Hill]

Only browsing the 'brew' threads at the mo, as this is not something that I do right now, but wanted to put a bit of a 'gold star' over to MB (called Mrs Right Attitude in our house!) as when I do have a crack at brewing my own, I know I'll be asking lots of q's too, and she is a mine of info!

Chin, chin, MB - hope to raise a glass of my own to you very soon!

[madderbat]

Thank you so much for the compliments HATH, but I really don't deserve the 'mine of information' label I'm sure.

Most of it feels either like common sense, or I got it from a book, google or part remembered lessons at school. Some of what I say is emotional reaction that I go with the feeling, and I'm sure I'm wrong about a lot of it and still have a lot to learn! However, I do love sharing my thoughts here, and I'm really glad that they strike a chord and are sometimes useful.

Brewer-again, MiL =Mother in Law. Not quite staccato, but comes close! We are actually getting on quite well at the moment.

Will raise a glass to you all tonight.

Cheers.

[Headfry]

Hi folks....it's in bottles,
my grape wine that is. I had a taste, rude not to ....it is good! great in fact.
I now need to make some labels!
Tried the marrow, and although they were the same colour, Madderbat you are right...they taste so different. Marrow more like a 'country wine' sweeter and a lot more fruty, even a little flowery, but its young yet.... wether it ever gets to be 'mature' or we drink it first remains to be seen!
Think I will do rhubarb next- any tips please!
Keep warm fellow grapes
Headfry
Ps It's snowing here in North Oxford!

[madderbat]

Congratulations Headfry, now don't leave it in the bottles too long....

I haven't done rhubarb myself yet, but I believe the young shoots are the best, so perhaps pick them and freeze until you have enough, rather than wait for the big thick tough ones?

As for labelling your wine, Wilko sell packs of bottle labels, but I also use a roll of old sticky labels for keeping notes on until I want to give it away for posh.
At Christmas I did give a few bottles to friends and came up the the name of 'Shattered Smith' - well, it certainly wasn't a Chateau vintage! I'm sure your ingenuity will prevail. Do let us know.

Still haven't started my Marrow yet. Next brew, shortly.

[Hazel at the Hill]

With regard to labels, there are some real cuties here for print off for free.

http://www.alenkasprintables.com/free_labels.shtml

[madderbat]

Thanks HATH, that looks really useful, but I dont seem to need an awful lot

[Brewer-again]

elder flowers

Trust me!
I have looked far and wide for bad elder flower species and I have not found any. However I did find out that elder leaves are known to smell off, and have been used for hundreds of years as an antiseptic and general cleanser. This could explain the reluctance of pickers as the younger shoots near to the flowers smell the worst.
So the flowers are good for wine but if left they will prodice berries which are even better, but sometimes the birds get there before you do. So it is a bit of a gamble, should you pick the flowers or wait for the berries????

[madderbat]

marrow wine(again)

I made some marrow wine two weeks ago from frozen marrow chunks and it is no 'plopping' (tm) much at all. It seems to be fizzing a bit, but doing nothing compared with the blackberry wine which started at 120 mph and is now down to 50mph.

I don't know what I've done wrong, apart from only using one orange (it was all I had). Does marrow go slowly normally or what? I've put the demi-john in the airing cupboard constant temp c. 68F, but it still doesn' seem to be moving much.

[MrsC]

just read previous posts, would love to have a go myself, not sure which is the easiest to make? hope i don't poison myself with the end result! do you have to wait a year b4 tasting? any tips greatly appreciated! also don't have an airing cupboard so where would could i store?

[madderbat]

Hi Mrsc2b,

I don't think any of it is particularly difficult, I just follow the instructions in RJJ Berry's book:First Steps in Winemaking. All of his recipes work and I suggest you have a go at rhubarb as this is plentiful at the moment. I made some about 4 weeks ago and it's just coming to the end of fermentation; I keep it behind my kitchen, but any nook or crannie will do.

With a few bits of kit (try freecycle) and some fruit or veg it's quite possible to turn out someting drinkable after a couple of months in a warm house. These wines will keep and change flavour over time as they mature.

enjoy!

[Headfry]

MB have you started yuor marrow wine yet? not sure if ours is doing as it should!....very sweet to taste but SG says its still at the beer stage!
not sure what to do.