easy does it?

[raine]

Hi there, after not doing too well on the cider front lastyear- i just wondered a) what everyone else started out with and b) what wines/beers people find the easiest to make successfully? I think maybe i need to take small steps in this brewing malarky!!

[esrikandan]

Try Wurzels Orange wine:

The HomeBrew Forum • View topic - How to make your first Wurzel's Orange Wine

My first batch is ready to be racked now and hopefully bottled in another week or two.

My first attempt at brewing was 2 batches of cider - one being a turbo cider from shop bought apple juice, and the other being a batch made from juicing apples. Both were subsequently bottled into Grolshe bottles (with a small amount of suger to "prime" or add carbonation) about 3 or 4 weeks ago and are now almost ready to drink - we tried one of each last weekend and there is a nice amount of bubbles.

Hygene (I'm told) is the key to getting a good brew. I now have a batch of Strawberry wine, grape juice wine and another batch of turbo cider on the go.

[Hilary B]

The easiest wines are the kits, but excluding that, soft fruit is easier than harder stuff, over-ripe fruit is sweeter, and IMO tastes better.
One of our early successes was a peach wine made from peaches being sold very cheap as over-ripe (to the point of being squashy)
3lb peaches
1tsp yeast nutrient
1 tsp wine yeast
1 bag (kg) sugar
water to make the gallon
Crush the peaches (if they are ripe enough you can do it by hand, you will get juice all over you) add the sugar, let it stand for a while (an hour will do, overnight won't spoil it), then add a kettleful of boiling water, and leave again (similar range of times) add another kettleful of hot water stir really well, then strain into demijohn, rinse the pulp with more warm (preferably boiled) water, until you've got enough to fill the demijohn nearly full (you need air space at first). add yeast nutrient and yeast, fit airlock. After that, it's the same as all the recipes you'll find all over the place.

[Two_Sheds]

I've tried kits, wine made from fruit juice, from teabags, from fruit and from veg.

The easiest, best was definitely Shirl's Fruit Teabag wine... recipe is on here somewhere

[Ananke]

Try Wurzels Orange wine:

The HomeBrew Forum • View topic - How to make your first Wurzel's Orange Wine

I've made this a good few times and its so easy and quick

[raine]

late apologies to people who were kind enough to reply but old computer crashed and I've only just managed to replace! Still keen on giving brewing a go and these ideas were brill. Thanks!

[Alison]

I don't want to use kits as the whole purpose for me is to use something I have an excess of and make it into something nice rather than buying it all in. Currently OH has 3 demijohns of cider bubbling away (and about the same amount of apples waiting to be pressed) and I have some raspberry and pumpkin (two separate brews) on the go. Both have no pretty much stopped fermenting and were racked off last week when I disovered that they are both VERY dry and highly alcoholic. The pumpkin is clear already but a bit young tasting so will leave that for a few months. The raspberry needs a bit more time to clear but has a lovely smell and if sweetened with a bit of glucose (it really is bone dry) will be lovely although I think I might try it as a mix with apples next year to see how that goes. Also have some broad beans wine made last year which is again dry and high alcohol (they seem to have gone further than the book indicated!) but rather too easy to drink.

[brewer]

basics

Alison, really pleased to hear that you do not want to use kits. Always wondered what the point is of swapping kit advice.
Raine, Get some books on brewing, keep every thing clean. Many fruits and especially veg have insufficient sugar so you need to add some. Have had great results with blackberries, elder berries, apples and even sugar beet and gorse flowers in the 70's. Best advice is keep racking as the dead yeast cells cause a musty flavour.

[binley100]

After a long long break from making wine , this year we found out the demigods and have plum wine and apple wine on the go. Both have now cleared a treat and are ready for racking again ....

[Hilary B]

Kits are useful as a 'first stage in learning' (follow the instructions on the packet), just as tracing, and then copying from photos, is a place to start learning to draw and paint, and that is about the only point I can see to them. Once you are confident of the processes that are the same for ALL wine making (racking and after) you want recipes using real ingredients!

[tynenrox]

Hi people I am making my own wine and need some help. I have mixed together 4 liters of grape juice yeast 500grams of sugger and it is now frementing. What do I need to add and what do I do next I know at some stage I have to add some finings which I have but what else do I need once its fermented.

PLEASE HELP LOL