Tuesday, 13 May 2014

A New Year (well...)

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

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