May?! What do you mean it's May?
Well I suppose I'd better sort my kit out ready for a new season...
I don't really have much time at the moment to get on make anything, I have
so much to do around the house and garden, especially the garden! Log splitting,
lawn mowing, strim the nettles.....
Nettles. Hmm. Yeah, okay, I'll give that a go, I can strim the garden
later :)
Very easy one this. Get half a bucket load of Nettle tops, preferably young,
put them in saucepan of water along with a bit of lemon rind and bruised ginger
and simmer for 45 mins. Dead easy, even I can't muck this one up! Then pour the
liqour through a strainer over the sugar and stir away, the recipe called for
1.5kg of sugar for a sweet wine so I reduced that down to the usual 1kg as I
don't really want a really sweet one. Left it for a bit and added yeast
nutrient and pitched the yeast.
We'll see how that's getting on in a few days.
(must add a few pics)
Remember my attempt at Quince wine? I left four demi-johns of the stuff on
top of the fridge all winter and it's only now that I've given it a glance.
Funny tasting stuff really, I don't think I'm a fan but the Chief Taster and
her sister seemed to like it so I may as well give it some attention. I'm not
sure it has been consistent across the demi-john as it tastes quite different
from one to the other. I think I'll bottle it and mark each bottle accordingly
so I know its origins.
I'm hoping for a decent season but I can't see it being as good as it was
last year, somehow. If I can get a decent Elderflower wine/champagne, Damson
and a mix of Elderberry with other fruits then I'll be happy. Must give
apple/pear wine a go too as a have an orchard of the stuff.
I predict it will be a funny ol’ year.
W
Tuesday 13 May 2014
Thursday 5 December 2013
Quiet time
I decided to put the Quince wine in demi-johns, and its initial fermentation, so it could carry on its vital job, but I had a little taste before it went in and..... Some you win, some you don't and some you wonder why you bothered...
It has no taste other than the lemons I put in. Lemon wine anyone? No, I didn't think so.
I didn't want to throw it out so I demi-john'd it anyway and at some point I'll add in some raisons and bucket load of ginger. Thought it might go with the lemon. I'll be leaving it all winter to do its thing but if it's still a bit 'odd' by the spring I'll probably distill it and call it quits at that.
And if it's still undrinkable I'll use it to clean the windows.
(A few drinking vessels)
My Apple and Blackberry wine was a little disappointing too, it could have done with a bit more punch from the Blackberries. Never mind, I cut it with some Elderberry wine and now it's awesome! :)
Used about 3/4 of Apple and Blackberry to 1/4 Elderberry.
I'll soon be sorting out the main Elderberry wine too, got about 2 1/2 gallons left to rack and clear. I may bottle it and leave it in some sort of out of the way place as I think it'll only improve with age.
My Mead mix wasn't great either (maybe it's because the kitchen is pretty cold this time of year, the fluctuation in temperature isn't good for this sort of thing), so added another jar of honey, 2 small bags of mulled wine spices, a cinnamon stick, about 10 cloves and a small carton of orange juice. It's now starting to taste a bit more grown up. I'm rushing it a bit with this one as I'd like it sorted for Christmas.
I also popped one of Elderflower fizz bottles the other day to see if it had changed at all since the last time I 'tried' it. I'd say the flavour has improved but there's no more fizz to it than before. Nevermind, next year I'll remember to catch it a bit earlier, that's all.
Oh yes! Damson wine, that didn't come out so bad in the end really, tastes really good but has a slight odd nose to it...
Might add a little Elderberry to some of it.
Well, Christmas isn't too far away now, perhaps it's time to take it easy for a bit, afterall it has been a surprisingly difficult year.
Cheers
W
It has no taste other than the lemons I put in. Lemon wine anyone? No, I didn't think so.
I didn't want to throw it out so I demi-john'd it anyway and at some point I'll add in some raisons and bucket load of ginger. Thought it might go with the lemon. I'll be leaving it all winter to do its thing but if it's still a bit 'odd' by the spring I'll probably distill it and call it quits at that.
And if it's still undrinkable I'll use it to clean the windows.
Used about 3/4 of Apple and Blackberry to 1/4 Elderberry.
I'll soon be sorting out the main Elderberry wine too, got about 2 1/2 gallons left to rack and clear. I may bottle it and leave it in some sort of out of the way place as I think it'll only improve with age.
My Mead mix wasn't great either (maybe it's because the kitchen is pretty cold this time of year, the fluctuation in temperature isn't good for this sort of thing), so added another jar of honey, 2 small bags of mulled wine spices, a cinnamon stick, about 10 cloves and a small carton of orange juice. It's now starting to taste a bit more grown up. I'm rushing it a bit with this one as I'd like it sorted for Christmas.
I also popped one of Elderflower fizz bottles the other day to see if it had changed at all since the last time I 'tried' it. I'd say the flavour has improved but there's no more fizz to it than before. Nevermind, next year I'll remember to catch it a bit earlier, that's all.
Oh yes! Damson wine, that didn't come out so bad in the end really, tastes really good but has a slight odd nose to it...
Might add a little Elderberry to some of it.
Well, Christmas isn't too far away now, perhaps it's time to take it easy for a bit, afterall it has been a surprisingly difficult year.
Cheers
W
Thursday 14 November 2013
It's Cold Outside....
Yep, definitely getting a bit colder now.
And things are starting to slow down a bit brewing wise. Much has been left in demi-johns to carry on the good work. So what have we got on the go?
1) 1 gallon of Blackberry, Elderberry and Rose
2) 3 gallons of Elderberry
3) 2 gallons of Damson (still not sure this will turn out okay but I'll go with for now)
4) 2 gallons of Apple & Blackberry.
So it looks like all I have to do is rack it off every now and again and get it to clear and then fun with the bottling.
And then I got given a huge box of quinces (Cheers Zoe)! Quinces. Funny little badgers they are. I'd been told that the best way to get the flesh is to grate the quince but not get any of hard heart in the mix. Fortunately Chief Taster came up with idea of cutting off the main flesh then putting it through the food processor which I duly did. Have you ever put quinces through a food processor?
Wood. It's wood, with no juice what-so-ever.
Next the recipe called for me to boil the quince gunk in water for 15 minutes, the only problem was that it was 11 at night and I had enough gunk to occupy me for the next 2 hours. So no, I was going to take a different route and hope for the best. So I boiled enough water to bring the gunk up to 4 gallons (which took awhile) and basically left it to stand for 30 minutes.
I then had fun getting the wood out of the gunk leaving behind the quincey-juicy stuff. Added 8 lemons and the usual nutrients, yeast and sugar. And there you go.
It was a bit reluctant to start fermenting as the kitchen is a bit cool this time of year so I used a Brewing Belt to get it going, which seemed to do the trick. Really don't know if this wine will be up for it but we'll see.
I finally managed to get a Mead going (hopefully in time for Christmas). For a gallon of Mead I used 4 jars of standard honey from a standard supermarket. As I'm making a spiced Mead (Metheglin) I didn't use a wildflower or any other fancy type of honey. One day I'd like to try making a Mead using a flavoured honey, but I wouldn't use any other flavours as this would lose the subtle flavours of the more expensive honey, might be quite nice. Anyway back to Metheglin.
So what did I flavour it with?
I've got some Mace, cloves, ginger, nutmeg and zest/juice of 1 lemon & orange. So that's now in a tub doing it's start off.
And no, the bread didn't go in, that was for our tea.
Hmm, mist rising off the river Wye. Hope no monsters are in there....
Still much to do, there's 2 gallons of Rose petal wine to start at some point.
W
And things are starting to slow down a bit brewing wise. Much has been left in demi-johns to carry on the good work. So what have we got on the go?
1) 1 gallon of Blackberry, Elderberry and Rose
2) 3 gallons of Elderberry
3) 2 gallons of Damson (still not sure this will turn out okay but I'll go with for now)
4) 2 gallons of Apple & Blackberry.
So it looks like all I have to do is rack it off every now and again and get it to clear and then fun with the bottling.
And then I got given a huge box of quinces (Cheers Zoe)! Quinces. Funny little badgers they are. I'd been told that the best way to get the flesh is to grate the quince but not get any of hard heart in the mix. Fortunately Chief Taster came up with idea of cutting off the main flesh then putting it through the food processor which I duly did. Have you ever put quinces through a food processor?
Wood. It's wood, with no juice what-so-ever.
Next the recipe called for me to boil the quince gunk in water for 15 minutes, the only problem was that it was 11 at night and I had enough gunk to occupy me for the next 2 hours. So no, I was going to take a different route and hope for the best. So I boiled enough water to bring the gunk up to 4 gallons (which took awhile) and basically left it to stand for 30 minutes.
It was a bit reluctant to start fermenting as the kitchen is a bit cool this time of year so I used a Brewing Belt to get it going, which seemed to do the trick. Really don't know if this wine will be up for it but we'll see.
I finally managed to get a Mead going (hopefully in time for Christmas). For a gallon of Mead I used 4 jars of standard honey from a standard supermarket. As I'm making a spiced Mead (Metheglin) I didn't use a wildflower or any other fancy type of honey. One day I'd like to try making a Mead using a flavoured honey, but I wouldn't use any other flavours as this would lose the subtle flavours of the more expensive honey, might be quite nice. Anyway back to Metheglin.
I've got some Mace, cloves, ginger, nutmeg and zest/juice of 1 lemon & orange. So that's now in a tub doing it's start off.
And no, the bread didn't go in, that was for our tea.
Hmm, mist rising off the river Wye. Hope no monsters are in there....
Still much to do, there's 2 gallons of Rose petal wine to start at some point.
W
Friday 1 November 2013
Summer Ends
I'm still behind on posts so imagine it's just starting to get a bit chilly in morning.
Summer draws to an end, it's a bit sad really. Don't get me wrong, weather wise it's been great and produced some fantastic stuff to make wine wit,h but I can't say that I've had much of the time to enjoy the good weather. Ah well, maybe next year.
Still, there's plenty to do. The Elderberry wines are still in their demi-johns and are doing well, best just leave them alone I think. The Elderberry, Blackberry and Rose seems to be incredibly smooth so I'm hoping that it will stay the same. Hoping to start clearing and bottling in mid November.
Riiiiight this is a Damson, or what I mean is that it MIGHT be a Damson... Thing is, you're supposed to get the damson flesh then add barley and water then leave for four to five days. Yeah... I left it for a week and the smell was a bit funky....
Nevermind! Got two gallons of the 'stuff' going in the demi-johns, we'll just have to see how that we goes.....
Now this one is Blackberry and Apple, it's not strong on the Blackberry so it could come out quite subtle. Again, it's now in the demi-johns doing its thing. Total shot in the dark on this one.
On another note I cracked open one of the elderflower champagne bottles to see how it was getting on. Very nice I think, dry with a bit of fizz which hopefully will increase as we get closer to Christmas. It's cleared nicely too, Chief Taster exclaimed "It tastes like real alcohol!" Yeah, cheers.
I recently got given a box of quinces so there's a good chance that'll find itself in a demi-john before to long. That's IF I get the time. Got the kit to make two gallons of Rose petal wine too :)
W
Summer draws to an end, it's a bit sad really. Don't get me wrong, weather wise it's been great and produced some fantastic stuff to make wine wit,h but I can't say that I've had much of the time to enjoy the good weather. Ah well, maybe next year.
Still, there's plenty to do. The Elderberry wines are still in their demi-johns and are doing well, best just leave them alone I think. The Elderberry, Blackberry and Rose seems to be incredibly smooth so I'm hoping that it will stay the same. Hoping to start clearing and bottling in mid November.
Nevermind! Got two gallons of the 'stuff' going in the demi-johns, we'll just have to see how that we goes.....
On another note I cracked open one of the elderflower champagne bottles to see how it was getting on. Very nice I think, dry with a bit of fizz which hopefully will increase as we get closer to Christmas. It's cleared nicely too, Chief Taster exclaimed "It tastes like real alcohol!" Yeah, cheers.
I recently got given a box of quinces so there's a good chance that'll find itself in a demi-john before to long. That's IF I get the time. Got the kit to make two gallons of Rose petal wine too :)
W
Friday 18 October 2013
The Bloody Hand
Live and learn, eh?
Clearly it was going to be a good year for Elderberries after such a bumper crop of the flowers and I nearly missed it! We'd been replacing our boiler and the house plumbing along with reconditioning the radiators and this took far longer than we thought it would. Ah well...
Anyway.... Elderberries!
Managed to pick enough for 4 gallons, which was nice :) I did a little reading on Elderberries before I started and apparently they are as close to grapes for balance as you're going to get. I looked up a recipe that basically said get berries, mash them, add water and leave for a few days then strain off the juice adding yeast. Bugger that, thinks I, I'll add the water then get the mixture going the usual way. Which was fine, except when I came to use a syphon to transfer the mixture to demi-johns after initial fermentation. It did not go well, the seeds and unbroken berries kept blocking the syphon so there was only one thing for it. I had to get a muslen bag and try and get rid of as much solid matter as possible and I really had to get my hands dirty (They were stained red for a week!).
I finally got the mixture into demi-johns and they seem to be happy.
Recipe was, Elderberries, yeast, yeast nutrient, citric acid and 1.5kg of sugar per gallon.
The left most demi-john holds a slightly different wine which I threw together in a mad moment. It's a Blackberry, Elderberry and Rose petal wine. Who knows?
Meanwhile I also had some bottling of the Elderflower to do! That nicely produced 12 bottles. We would have had more but we had a neighbour (he's a farmer whose farm we sort of live on) and his wife over for tea one night and 4 bottles disappeared for some reason. These things happen :)
No hangover in the morning either, thank God.
Well, it's definitely getting a bit cooler in the mornings and it's no fun going to work in the dark, yep, I'm going to need to start a spiced mead very soon.
W
Clearly it was going to be a good year for Elderberries after such a bumper crop of the flowers and I nearly missed it! We'd been replacing our boiler and the house plumbing along with reconditioning the radiators and this took far longer than we thought it would. Ah well...
Anyway.... Elderberries!
Managed to pick enough for 4 gallons, which was nice :) I did a little reading on Elderberries before I started and apparently they are as close to grapes for balance as you're going to get. I looked up a recipe that basically said get berries, mash them, add water and leave for a few days then strain off the juice adding yeast. Bugger that, thinks I, I'll add the water then get the mixture going the usual way. Which was fine, except when I came to use a syphon to transfer the mixture to demi-johns after initial fermentation. It did not go well, the seeds and unbroken berries kept blocking the syphon so there was only one thing for it. I had to get a muslen bag and try and get rid of as much solid matter as possible and I really had to get my hands dirty (They were stained red for a week!).
Recipe was, Elderberries, yeast, yeast nutrient, citric acid and 1.5kg of sugar per gallon.
The left most demi-john holds a slightly different wine which I threw together in a mad moment. It's a Blackberry, Elderberry and Rose petal wine. Who knows?
No hangover in the morning either, thank God.
Well, it's definitely getting a bit cooler in the mornings and it's no fun going to work in the dark, yep, I'm going to need to start a spiced mead very soon.
W
Tuesday 8 October 2013
More of this Year so far
As I started gathering the Elderflower earlier this year I started looking around for what else I could make wine out of :) I thought about nettle wine and silver birth, but the one recipe didn't inspire me and the other would have been a bugger to get the raw ingredients so no go there.
Luckily one Saturday afternoon I just happened to be looking out the kitchen window and noticed the two rose bushes that grow near where we park, and I thought "I wonder?....". I popped outside to have a look, the one bush was a very deep red with a heavy scent to it whilst the other was yellow and was far more subtle with its fragrance. It had to be worth a go. I looked up a recipe and I had the additional ingredients, it was a go!
I gathered enough petals to make three gallons, two of red and one of the other.
The recipe was for petals, raisins, citric acid, yeast, yeast nutrient and sugar, of course. All thrown in a covered bucket and left for about 5 days.
< This is the red after a couple of days, when you took the lid off you would be engulfed by a mixture of CO2 and rose scent, it was rather heady! I had high hopes for a good wine
After it had calmed down a bit I transferred the mixture into a demi-john to crack on. I have to say this one was a real success and I've even recently bought some dried petals in the hope of recreating this excellent wine. Most of it never reached the bottle! The Chief Tester was a very happy lady.
It came out as a medium dry, well balanced and tasted of Turkish Delight, it was heaven! I've still got a few bottles and I will treasure them. The yellow rose was a different kettle of fish though (perhaps that's where I went wrong. Less cod next time...), I'd made it up along with a lemon (instead of citric acid) and an orange. It was good, but not as good as the red. I don't think the rose had decent depth of flavour/scent.
On a related note, I could never get the bugger to clear, nor my Elderflower either. I didn't really mind but it did bother me so I decided to invest in some Finings. I treated the mixtures (after they had been stopped using a campden tablet) with the Finings and 24 hours later it was clear as a bell (glass bell surely? Usually bells aren't very clear). So I'll be using that stuff in the future for sure.
Another wine I had a bash with was a Mead. Previously I'd had good results with a mixture that included fruit and spices which produced a heavy wine and was great in the winter. This time I wanted to make something a bit lighter so I took advantage of the vast amounts of Elderflower (yes, I know!) and made an Elderflower Mead. It's come out similar to the wine, a bit grassy, which I believe does not suit the honey theme of the Mead. It's nice enough but, meh... I'll have another crack at a winter Mead very soon.
Next up, what I am mostly working on now.
W
Luckily one Saturday afternoon I just happened to be looking out the kitchen window and noticed the two rose bushes that grow near where we park, and I thought "I wonder?....". I popped outside to have a look, the one bush was a very deep red with a heavy scent to it whilst the other was yellow and was far more subtle with its fragrance. It had to be worth a go. I looked up a recipe and I had the additional ingredients, it was a go!
The recipe was for petals, raisins, citric acid, yeast, yeast nutrient and sugar, of course. All thrown in a covered bucket and left for about 5 days.
< This is the red after a couple of days, when you took the lid off you would be engulfed by a mixture of CO2 and rose scent, it was rather heady! I had high hopes for a good wine
After it had calmed down a bit I transferred the mixture into a demi-john to crack on. I have to say this one was a real success and I've even recently bought some dried petals in the hope of recreating this excellent wine. Most of it never reached the bottle! The Chief Tester was a very happy lady.
It came out as a medium dry, well balanced and tasted of Turkish Delight, it was heaven! I've still got a few bottles and I will treasure them. The yellow rose was a different kettle of fish though (perhaps that's where I went wrong. Less cod next time...), I'd made it up along with a lemon (instead of citric acid) and an orange. It was good, but not as good as the red. I don't think the rose had decent depth of flavour/scent.
On a related note, I could never get the bugger to clear, nor my Elderflower either. I didn't really mind but it did bother me so I decided to invest in some Finings. I treated the mixtures (after they had been stopped using a campden tablet) with the Finings and 24 hours later it was clear as a bell (glass bell surely? Usually bells aren't very clear). So I'll be using that stuff in the future for sure.
Another wine I had a bash with was a Mead. Previously I'd had good results with a mixture that included fruit and spices which produced a heavy wine and was great in the winter. This time I wanted to make something a bit lighter so I took advantage of the vast amounts of Elderflower (yes, I know!) and made an Elderflower Mead. It's come out similar to the wine, a bit grassy, which I believe does not suit the honey theme of the Mead. It's nice enough but, meh... I'll have another crack at a winter Mead very soon.
Next up, what I am mostly working on now.
W
Thursday 3 October 2013
This year so far
Right, what have I been making?
There was a couple of different wines to try this year, but as we had moved in February things were pretty busy (Ha! Still is) and I struggled to find time to create any potions.
I realised early on that the four demi-johns that I had, really wasn't going to be enough for my ambitions and certainly after seeing how much Elderflower was appearing around the farm I knew that I had to fork out for at least another four to keep me going. Since then I've added another four and have a few spare in the Shed of Doom.
Note: All my recipes have been shamelessly nicked from "First Steps in Winemaking" by CJJ Berry and various websites that I come across. The book is my bible and it takes you through the process along with the various pitfalls and contains many recipes. If you're thinking having a go at this sort of thing then I can't recommend this book highly enough.
First up was the Elderflower, it's a simple recipe. Elderflowers,
raisins, yeast, yeast nutrient, lemon juice (or citric acid), brewers
sugar, small cup of strong tea and, of course, water. I use a fairly
generic brewing yeast for my wines and have had good results, I would
like to try a few different sorts as it can dramatically alter the
taste. In case you're wondering the tea is to introduce tannin to the
wine.
The wine has come out very good, it's not as flowery as last years, I think this is because I gathered the flowers a bit late and introduced a small amount of the new berries to the mix. This has resulted in a sharper wine which has a grassy tone to it. When chilled it's lovely, and got the thumbs up from the Chief Tester.
I also made up a gallon of Elderflower and Apple wine. It's okay, I'm not totally sure the apple goes with it but it was worth a go. I also put aside some of this mix to convert to champagne along with a fair few bottles of Elderflower. At the end of November I'll crack one of the bottles open and see how it's getting along and with a bit of luck we'll have a bit of fizz for Christmas.
Next post, Rose wine and Mead.
W
There was a couple of different wines to try this year, but as we had moved in February things were pretty busy (Ha! Still is) and I struggled to find time to create any potions.
I realised early on that the four demi-johns that I had, really wasn't going to be enough for my ambitions and certainly after seeing how much Elderflower was appearing around the farm I knew that I had to fork out for at least another four to keep me going. Since then I've added another four and have a few spare in the Shed of Doom.
Note: All my recipes have been shamelessly nicked from "First Steps in Winemaking" by CJJ Berry and various websites that I come across. The book is my bible and it takes you through the process along with the various pitfalls and contains many recipes. If you're thinking having a go at this sort of thing then I can't recommend this book highly enough.
 |
| Elderflower just starting off. |
The wine has come out very good, it's not as flowery as last years, I think this is because I gathered the flowers a bit late and introduced a small amount of the new berries to the mix. This has resulted in a sharper wine which has a grassy tone to it. When chilled it's lovely, and got the thumbs up from the Chief Tester.
I also made up a gallon of Elderflower and Apple wine. It's okay, I'm not totally sure the apple goes with it but it was worth a go. I also put aside some of this mix to convert to champagne along with a fair few bottles of Elderflower. At the end of November I'll crack one of the bottles open and see how it's getting along and with a bit of luck we'll have a bit of fizz for Christmas.
Next post, Rose wine and Mead.
W
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)