December Brewing

[Brewer-again]

rosehip syrup wine

Hi, This recipe is with thanks to B. Turner. 12oz syrup, 1/2 pint white grape juice concentrate ( or 1lb chopped raisins) 2 1/4 lb sugar, 1/2 teaspoon tannin ( or half a cup of strong tea) Wine Yeast. Citric acid (or a small squeeze of orange or lemon juice ) I nutient tablet ( most wine yeast comes with nutrients, so may not be required) Make up to one gallon with cold water. Add yeast when all at room temperature. Leave to ferment, rack every three months. Bottle and drink!!

The above is a 70's recipe with my comments in brackets. The grape juice or raisins are to add body but there are other ways such as mixing the finished wine with apple, pear, pea pod or other subtle tasting wines. You could also double the syrup and make a nice rose.

[angie loves veg]

thanks - I will try this.....two questions..

'rack every three months'..........I assume i should know what this means, but I dont

when do I stop racking...... bottle and drink

thanksxx

[Brewer-again]

rosehips

Hi! sorry about the jargon but racking is drawing off the wine from one vessel to another without taking the lees (more jargon) dead yeast cells and sediment along with the wine. If the wine is left on the sediment than it can get a mousey flavour, not that I have ever sucked a mouse, sort of an off/musty smell and taste. You can drink it when it has stopped bubbling ( it does need an airlock to stop it absorbing airbourne bad bacteria) and is nice and clear. It will benefit from being left longer however. Any more questions just post

[angie loves veg]

that sounds possible!!

I shall give it a go and report back with (probably too many) questions!

[Brewer-again]

racking and clenliness

The main things that put people off home brewing are putting in effort and money/produce and being rewarded with a wine that is either off/musty or sour. Keep everything clean and rack often and you can make some extra-special wines, beers and ciders. The whole brewing thing is no different to growing really. It is made up of shared knowledge, discussion and particularly important, trying them out. Enjoy

[kirsty b]

I've been watching out for Seville oranges, aren't they supposed to be in season soon?

A mag I have says they come into season in January. Also has a nice simple to follow recipe for marmalade in it. Just as well really, I tried to make it last year and it was horrible

Kirsty

[Brewer-again]

marmalade ??

Do you mean the marmalade was horrible. If so you could make a wine with it, dissolve in hot water add yeast when cool. Ferment ,rack, bottle and drink.

[Birdie Wife]

Can you do this with any jams Brewer? How much do you need for a gallon of wine?

[kirsty b]

Sorry, I did mean that the marmalade I attempted to make was horrible. Didn't occur to me to try to make anything alcoholic at the time, still relatively new to all this. Will know better next time now though. Do you use wine yeast and are chemists still a good place to get some, or would I be better finding and ordering some online?

Thanks
Kirsty

[Brewer-again]

Marmalade, here, with brewer??

You can use jams or marmalade but it helps if you know what went in them in the first place. You need about 2 1/4 lb of sugar ( 1 kg ) and around half that of fruit to make a gallon of wine. This is probably around three lb jars of preserve, made up to a gallon.

A wine yeast will have nutrients already in it and is best bought from a brew shop. It is so light it should be cheap postage, but beware I have seen minimum charges of £5 for p&p which would be daft just for yeast.

Yeast grows as it works so you could buy some with friends or even borrow a small amount. You only need a 1/4 tsp yeast mixed with 1/4 pt warm water and two teaspoons of sugar cover loosely and place somewhere warm. in 24hrs it should be working, then double the sugar and leave for further 24hrs. It should be frothy now and ready to add to the jammy liquid. Demijohn,rack,clear, bottle and drink

[kirsty b]

Cheers Brewer-again

I know what to do now if my marmalade goes tits up again!
Many thanks

Kirsty

[Mrs Dobby]

Careful Kirsty, using the words Marmalade and tits in the same sentence is bound to get NTG all excited! lol!

[madderbat]

Hello, I've just joined on purpose to tell you about my parsnip wine which I made last month using CJJ Berry's advice - very tasty and well worth doing.
We were given a whole row from our neighbour's allotment, about 15 lbs, so I just had to brew some.
Have had a good crop of parsley this year as well (him outside planted the whole packet!) so may have a go at parsley wine next.
Having made my first brew in August I'm getting more adventurous now.

Just have a small niggle about drinking it all too quickly though - so far everything has finished fomenting very quickly and been fine to drink within a month so there's not a lot left for Christmas - am I doing something wrong (apart from not making enough)?

Regards

[Brewer-again]

time line for wine

If your wine has the correct tannin and nutrients for the yeast to grow and 'as that dog pointed out' you keep the temperature warm but level you should be able to acheive a quick wine. I tend to put my brews where I can which does not allow for a good temperature control but then I am not in a hurry!! You can use finnings or a filter to clear your wine then you can drink it. However it does improve with age, like me.

[madderbat]

Thanks for putting my fears at rest. I'm brewing in the kitchen so the temperature is c 20C +/- about 5 deg. My first brew, blackberries in August went at about 95 mph and was decanted twice and cleared within three weeks. Unfortunately we've drunk it all.
At the moment I've got a bit of parsnip left (brewed early Nov) and gave my sister in law a bottle at the weekend: 'Shattered Smith', lovely.
I found that Berry's recipes leave me with +/- 3 litres extra, which I've got in plastic bottles by the sink. When I did the parsnip I made up an second demijohn with some apple and it cleared really well. We drank some last week and it was slightly sparkling which was lovely (I know it can burst bottles,but didn't intend keeping it that long!)
The main apple seems to be taking a bit longer, decanted it twice, but it's still plopping gently (sorry not the correct term, but you know what I mean), whilst the November blackerry is nearly ready for decanting and I hope will be ready for Christmas.
The Plum i started last week is still travelling at about 45 mph but the bit in the bottle by the sink is clearing well.
It is all really good fun, especially the drinking bit.