How Impressed Am I Ever Going To Be?

[Two_Sheds]

get a Beaverdale or California Connoisseur kit. For between 20 and 45 quid you will get 30 bottles of nice wine. ...all you need is a 5 gallon brewing bucket and the bottles.

I've just finished a four week kit: 30-bottle CC Rioja (£38). It's certainly drinkable. I didn't have a big enough bucket though, so it was a pain - I had to split it between five 1 gallon DJs.

[Rhona]

Thanks Shirley. We only ditched the really offensive batch - the other one isn't terrible, might even be drinkable (see Accidental Port thread) I confess I threw a couple of glasses of it into a ragu and it didn't appear to kill anyone.

Anyhoo... my only reason for having a bash at my own wine was having a huge glut of damsons last year and pears this year!

I'll have a think about the perry idea - thanks - or just press the lot and get some nice simple fruit juice!

[organic]

Nowt wrong with a load of fruit juice.
Just remember that "apple juice going off is cider" - I'd imagine the same works for pear and perry... not that that would be a bad thing, of course.

[HeyWayne]

I do like a nice juicy pear.

[organic]

My favourite line about pears came from (or was at least quoted by) a fruit physiologist from an American University.

"After years of study, scientists have found that a really juicy pear is best eaten while naked, in the bathtub, so that you needn't be concerned about the abundant juice streaming down your chin."

[Nicos]

My favourite line about pears came from (or was at least quoted by) a fruit physiologist from an American University.

"After years of study, scientists have found that a really juicy pear is best eaten while naked, in the bathtub, so that you needn't be concerned about the abundant juice streaming down your chin."

I love that!!!..I can just see Wayne doing the very.......

[Hilary B]

As so many have said, if you drink 'country wines' expecting it to be the SAME as one made from grapes and bought from the shop, you will be disappointed.
Rhubarb crumble doesn't taste like apple pie, but either may be very good with custard, after a Sunday roast dinner.
That said, a couple of years ago my first attempt at elderflower wine turned out strong, sweet and very much like the 'Pale Cream Sherry', but plus the aroma of elderflower....
I do sometimes wonder whether the reason so many people think 'country wines' are oversweet is that sweet ones are less different from a sweet grape wine than with the dryer types? All my most 'wine-like' country wines have been on the sweet side (but by no means always VERY sweet, mostly similar to hock, reisling or such)

[Madmac]

I'm with Shirlthegirl43, I like the cheepo Young's £20 for 30 bottles made from concentrate grape juice, just add water and the rest of the ingredients. They even give you bits of oak for that authentic taste. We had a bottle of Blossom hill and compared the 2. We felt the Young's wine was better. It also very much depends on what you have to eat, drank with pasta or fish it was good, with anything sweet it tasted almost bitter.

I'm going to do another batch of Young's next week, we are down to 4 bottles and the Young's only takes 78 to 8 days. After Christmas we'll try a Beaverdale Chardonnay.

Young's works at around 80p a bottle, Beaverdale at around £1.50. Which ever way you go you can't sniff at the price compare to 30 bottles at lets say an average of £5 for a so say reasonable one. You do the math while I drink it

As a back up I've got blackberry vodka on the go, 12 gallons of cider ready to be racked (should be ready for xmas to drink),and 2 gallons of blackberry wine(ready next xmas).

Oh happy days

[Two_Sheds]

I like the cheepo Young's £20 for 30 bottles made from concentrate grape juice, just add water

To be really parsimonious, you could just buy red or white grape juice (c.89p a litre) and add your sugar and yeast to that.

[Madmac]

That might be worth a try

I'll try a gallon first and see how that goes.

[shirlthegirl43]

To be really parsimonious, you could just buy red or white grape juice (c.89p a litre) and add your sugar and yeast to that.

It can turn out a bit 'thin' and does benefit from a small tin of concentrate per gallon

If you want to make a rather nice fruit juice wine, go to Wines at Home and in their beginner's wine making section try the recipe for wine No 1. It is lovely and is ready in around a month.

[Two_Sheds]

I was afraid of that Shirl. Perhaps a handful or two of raisins would give it more body?

[shirlthegirl43]

I was afraid of that Shirl. Perhaps a handful or two of raisins would give it more body?

Maybe so though I have never had much success with adding raisins for some reason. As I say though, that wine No 1 recipe makes a superb brew for a very low cost - especially if you can find apple and grape juice on a special offer

[Mac]

Hey all, have been enjoying the fruits of our labour with friends this weekend, so can give a qualified response that our raspberry wine was definately quaffable. It was pretty dry so only one bottle at a time was drunk as a "warm up" to the bought red we had with dinner. But our friends say they would drink it regularly as an apperetif(SP?). So a big thanks to all on here who helped us do it!

[Two_Sheds]

I also like the Elderberry wine ...

I've now got 2 brewing years under my belt, and can say that elderberry is a winner. I'm now using it to blend with lesser wines to make them drinkable.

The other wine that has been really good is Shirl's Fruit T Bag wine: so simple, so cheap and better than kit wines