Started 2nd September 2013
Will fill this in later
Tuesday, 3 September 2013
Sunday, 1 September 2013
Cider
Started 30th August 2013
Our first windfall apples have dropped. It's been a very good year for apples - our tree is well loaded, hundreds more on the tree. I picked a couple of buckets of apples from a neighbour. A friend has a big bag of apples for us too.
I've decided to make a gallon of cider. It's not my usual drink, but as we have the apples and a fruit press, we've got to try it.
Our fruit press is quite small, so we can only press a small number of apples at a time. Windfall apples get bruised and damaged and won't keep, so I've used these first. The other apples are in temporary storage in apple boxes scrounged from a supermarket - they can stay there until I have time to press them.
We roughly chopped the apples and dropped them into a food processor, blitzing them into almost a puree. We first tried "finely chopped", but found that puree releases more juice. However, the juice from a puree also contains a lot of very small apple particles - the liquid is very dark, like gravy. Half a bucket of (small) apples gave us about 2 pints of liquid.
It takes time to chop, puree and press the apples, so we decided to get the cider going with just that 2 pints and to add more apple juice later. We poured the liquid into a demijohn and added some of my yeast starter liquid, then fitted a bung and airlock. By the following morning there was a thick froth on top of the liquid and the airlock was bubbling away. If we'd filled the demijohn before starting the ferment, it would have bubbled out and made a real mess!
I'll add more info later
Our first windfall apples have dropped. It's been a very good year for apples - our tree is well loaded, hundreds more on the tree. I picked a couple of buckets of apples from a neighbour. A friend has a big bag of apples for us too.
I've decided to make a gallon of cider. It's not my usual drink, but as we have the apples and a fruit press, we've got to try it.
Our fruit press is quite small, so we can only press a small number of apples at a time. Windfall apples get bruised and damaged and won't keep, so I've used these first. The other apples are in temporary storage in apple boxes scrounged from a supermarket - they can stay there until I have time to press them.
We roughly chopped the apples and dropped them into a food processor, blitzing them into almost a puree. We first tried "finely chopped", but found that puree releases more juice. However, the juice from a puree also contains a lot of very small apple particles - the liquid is very dark, like gravy. Half a bucket of (small) apples gave us about 2 pints of liquid.
It takes time to chop, puree and press the apples, so we decided to get the cider going with just that 2 pints and to add more apple juice later. We poured the liquid into a demijohn and added some of my yeast starter liquid, then fitted a bung and airlock. By the following morning there was a thick froth on top of the liquid and the airlock was bubbling away. If we'd filled the demijohn before starting the ferment, it would have bubbled out and made a real mess!
I'll add more info later
Blackberry Wine 5
Started 25th August 2013
With a hot summer, the blackberries are out in force - but not everywhere. Here is suburbia it's often difficult to find them locally as people hack down their "unsightly" brambles. We took a trip to the common over the road, only to find a church group had raided all the blackberries for a jam making session. We have to get up early to get berries before they do!
Luckily the brambles have grown well in our garden and in the mother-in-law's garden. I'm hoping for a haul of about 50lbs this year - if I didn't have so much (proper job) work to do, I reckon I could easily rake in 100lbs.
My plan is to make the blackberry wine in 4 gallon batches, one after the other. All the blackberries will spend "some" time in the freezers, which are rapidly filling up with fruit and veggies.
I don't want to be on the laptop when there are more blackberries to pick, so will finish this later.
With a hot summer, the blackberries are out in force - but not everywhere. Here is suburbia it's often difficult to find them locally as people hack down their "unsightly" brambles. We took a trip to the common over the road, only to find a church group had raided all the blackberries for a jam making session. We have to get up early to get berries before they do!
Luckily the brambles have grown well in our garden and in the mother-in-law's garden. I'm hoping for a haul of about 50lbs this year - if I didn't have so much (proper job) work to do, I reckon I could easily rake in 100lbs.
My plan is to make the blackberry wine in 4 gallon batches, one after the other. All the blackberries will spend "some" time in the freezers, which are rapidly filling up with fruit and veggies.
I don't want to be on the laptop when there are more blackberries to pick, so will finish this later.
Monday, 5 August 2013
Raspberry Wine 3
Started 4th August 2013
Our first ever home brew wine was raspberry wine and it was the best tasting of all the wines we've made so far. Our second raspberry wine was pretty good too, although a bit too sweet, but we've learnt a lot in the last year or so of winemaking.
We're now using bigger buckets to make bigger batches of wine - it's a lot easier in the long run. As some of the wines contain a lot of fruit and pulp and others froth up a lot, we're brewing 2 gallon batches in 3 gallon buckets and 4 gallon batches in 5 gallon batches. This allows us a full amount of liquid without spillage.
This year we've been picking our home grown raspberries every couple of days and saving them in the freezer for another batch of raspberry wine. As the freezer was filling up rapidly, we chose to make a 2 gallon batch now and follow it with another 2 gallon batch in a few week's time. For this one, we've chosen to use one 220ml bottle of concentrate and one 500g bag of currants.
Note that this recipe and quantities are for a 2 gallon batch of raspberry wine.
Raspberry Wine Recipe 3
Step 1:
Add 6lbs raspberries into a 3 gallon bucket
Add 5lbs sugar
Add 2 teaspoons pectolase to break down the fruit and extract flavour
Mash well, cover and leave for 24 hours
Step 2:
Simmer 500g currants in a large pan of water for 30 minutes, allow to cool, add to bucket
Add 220ml bottle of red grape juice concentrate to bucket
Mash well again, cover and leave for 24 hours
Step 3:
Top up bucket to about 2.25 gallons (just over 10 litres) with cold water
Test SG and add sugar to bring up to 1090
Add 2 teaspoons yeast nutrient
Add 1 teaspoon yeast
Stir well, cover and leave in a warm place for 10-14 days to ferment
Step 4:
Strain off the liquid into 2 clean, sterilised demijohns
If necessary, top up with cold water to the shoulder of the demijohns
Fit bungs and airlocks and leave to ferment for a few weeks (maybe 6)
Step 5:
Test the SG and if fermented out to about 0.995, then:
Rack off into clean, sterilised demijohns
Add 1 crushed campden tablet to each demijohn and shake well
Add 1tsp potassium sorbate to each demijohn to stop the ferment and shake well
Fit bungs and airlocks and leave for 2 or 3 weeks to degas, giving it a gentle shake every couple of days.
Step 6:
Bottle!
Our first ever home brew wine was raspberry wine and it was the best tasting of all the wines we've made so far. Our second raspberry wine was pretty good too, although a bit too sweet, but we've learnt a lot in the last year or so of winemaking.
We're now using bigger buckets to make bigger batches of wine - it's a lot easier in the long run. As some of the wines contain a lot of fruit and pulp and others froth up a lot, we're brewing 2 gallon batches in 3 gallon buckets and 4 gallon batches in 5 gallon batches. This allows us a full amount of liquid without spillage.
This year we've been picking our home grown raspberries every couple of days and saving them in the freezer for another batch of raspberry wine. As the freezer was filling up rapidly, we chose to make a 2 gallon batch now and follow it with another 2 gallon batch in a few week's time. For this one, we've chosen to use one 220ml bottle of concentrate and one 500g bag of currants.
Note that this recipe and quantities are for a 2 gallon batch of raspberry wine.
Raspberry Wine Recipe 3
Step 1:
Add 6lbs raspberries into a 3 gallon bucket
Add 5lbs sugar
Add 2 teaspoons pectolase to break down the fruit and extract flavour
Mash well, cover and leave for 24 hours
Step 2:
Simmer 500g currants in a large pan of water for 30 minutes, allow to cool, add to bucket
Add 220ml bottle of red grape juice concentrate to bucket
Mash well again, cover and leave for 24 hours
Step 3:
Top up bucket to about 2.25 gallons (just over 10 litres) with cold water
Test SG and add sugar to bring up to 1090
Add 2 teaspoons yeast nutrient
Add 1 teaspoon yeast
Stir well, cover and leave in a warm place for 10-14 days to ferment
Step 4:
Strain off the liquid into 2 clean, sterilised demijohns
If necessary, top up with cold water to the shoulder of the demijohns
Fit bungs and airlocks and leave to ferment for a few weeks (maybe 6)
Step 5:
Test the SG and if fermented out to about 0.995, then:
Rack off into clean, sterilised demijohns
Add 1 crushed campden tablet to each demijohn and shake well
Add 1tsp potassium sorbate to each demijohn to stop the ferment and shake well
Fit bungs and airlocks and leave for 2 or 3 weeks to degas, giving it a gentle shake every couple of days.
Step 6:
Bottle!
Rhubarb Wine
Started 30th June 2013
This has been a long time coming, mainly because we love rhubarb crumbles and didn't have enough to spare for wine. But the home made wines are so good we decided we really have to do this one. It's been a long time coming!
All the rhubarb is chopped and frozen - it's the easiest way for us to store it for crumbles throughout winter. It's also ideal for winemaking as apparently you can get more juice from frozen rhubarb than fresh rhubarb.
There are loads of different recipes for rhubarb wine (as with any other wines!) and no way we can test them all to find the best. But the good news is that home winemaking doesn't need to be precise - we can experiment!
For this wine, I've chosen to go with the basics that are used in all recipes and not to worry about tannin or other things. Rhubarb is known to carry a pectin haze that can be difficult to clear, so I've used 2 teaspoons of pectolase in the hope of avoiding this.
Rhubarb Wine
Ingredients:
4lbs rhubarb
2.5lbs sugar
2 litres white grape juice
2 teaspoons pectolase
1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
1 teaspoon Youngs wine yeast
water to top up to 1 gallon
Step 1:
Put the chopped, frozen rhubarb into a bucket
Add the sugar
Cover and leave for 48 hours
Step 2:
Strain the liquid into a clean, sterilised demijohn
Add the white grape juice
Add 2 teaspoons pectolase
Add 1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
Add 1 teaspoon yeast
Shake well, add bung and airlock, leave to ferment for a few weeks
After 4 weeks the ferment had slowed down to almost nothing - no bubbles in the airlock and no bubbles around the top of the liquid. I shook the demijohn a bit and the ferment restarted, but slowly. After 5 weeks the ferment had stopped again so I checked the SG - I got a reading of 1020, so not fully fermented yet. This time I added a teaspoon of yeast nutrient and stirred the whole demijohn with the handle of a long plastic spoon. Hopefully this will be enough to give the yeast a boost to finish the ferment.
Step 3:
Crush a campden tablet into a clean, sterilised demijohn
Rack off into this demijohn and shake well
Add 1 teaspoon stabiliser and shake well again
Fit bung and airlock and leave in a cool place for 2 or 3 months to clear
Possible Step 4:
This depends on how the wine looks, especially whether it's cleared or not. If it hasn't cleared, I'll rack off into another demijohn and maybe add bentonite to help it clear. I'll have to wait and see.
This has been a long time coming, mainly because we love rhubarb crumbles and didn't have enough to spare for wine. But the home made wines are so good we decided we really have to do this one. It's been a long time coming!
All the rhubarb is chopped and frozen - it's the easiest way for us to store it for crumbles throughout winter. It's also ideal for winemaking as apparently you can get more juice from frozen rhubarb than fresh rhubarb.
There are loads of different recipes for rhubarb wine (as with any other wines!) and no way we can test them all to find the best. But the good news is that home winemaking doesn't need to be precise - we can experiment!
For this wine, I've chosen to go with the basics that are used in all recipes and not to worry about tannin or other things. Rhubarb is known to carry a pectin haze that can be difficult to clear, so I've used 2 teaspoons of pectolase in the hope of avoiding this.
Rhubarb Wine
Ingredients:
4lbs rhubarb
2.5lbs sugar
2 litres white grape juice
2 teaspoons pectolase
1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
1 teaspoon Youngs wine yeast
water to top up to 1 gallon
Step 1:
Put the chopped, frozen rhubarb into a bucket
Add the sugar
Cover and leave for 48 hours
Step 2:
Strain the liquid into a clean, sterilised demijohn
Add the white grape juice
Add 2 teaspoons pectolase
Add 1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
Add 1 teaspoon yeast
Shake well, add bung and airlock, leave to ferment for a few weeks
After 4 weeks the ferment had slowed down to almost nothing - no bubbles in the airlock and no bubbles around the top of the liquid. I shook the demijohn a bit and the ferment restarted, but slowly. After 5 weeks the ferment had stopped again so I checked the SG - I got a reading of 1020, so not fully fermented yet. This time I added a teaspoon of yeast nutrient and stirred the whole demijohn with the handle of a long plastic spoon. Hopefully this will be enough to give the yeast a boost to finish the ferment.
Step 3:
Crush a campden tablet into a clean, sterilised demijohn
Rack off into this demijohn and shake well
Add 1 teaspoon stabiliser and shake well again
Fit bung and airlock and leave in a cool place for 2 or 3 months to clear
Possible Step 4:
This depends on how the wine looks, especially whether it's cleared or not. If it hasn't cleared, I'll rack off into another demijohn and maybe add bentonite to help it clear. I'll have to wait and see.
Tuesday, 18 June 2013
Sunday, 26 May 2013
Sunday, 28 April 2013
Sunday, 21 April 2013
Starting Again
Winter was a very busy time - the mother in law had a heart bypass which led to a stroke so we had a couple of months with no spare time. We then had to catch up with our own things at home. Now the weather has warmed up a bit so I've spent a fair bit of time in the veggie patch.
We did manage to make a few WoWs over the winter, but didn't have time to blog about them. Also, we've almost emptied our "wine cellar", which was simply a bottle of each of the wines we made last year.
We've definitely noticed that storing the wines for a few months really did reduce the harshness. That "mouthful of petrol" kick that you get from a newly made wine had mellowed or disappeared. Some wines like cranberry WoW seemed to have much more body than when they were first made.
We also tried one of the demijohns of blackberry wine. Pretty good! I'm sure it will improve if we leave it longer to mature.
We're now down to just 1.5 bottles of wine - a Raspberry, Loganberry and Redcurrant wine, and a raspberry wine, one of the first batch we made. I think they're both great, looking forward to finishing them off.
We have a cloudy apple WoW ready to bottle and an orange WoW ready to stabilise, and a 5 gallon Carafe 21 white kit that I stabilised this morning. We should be bottling this next Friday or Saturday.
The Carafe 21 should take 21 days, but only if temperature remains constant at 25C. This one has taken 8 weeks to ferment down to 1.000 - the back room has been quite cold overnight, and despite the bucket being next to the radiator, it takes all day to warm up to 20C. I've dug out the submersible heaters to use on the next Carafe 21 red kit. I tested them yesterday and they work.
We've decided to build up our wine stocks by brewing some WoWs in bulk rather than making single gallons at a time. Last night we went to Aldi and stocked up on red and white grape juice, and this morning we got 5 gallons started. I have more buckets to clean and sort out so will get more on the go soon.
And of course I still have loads of demijohns of various country wines maturing. Some have suffered from a stuck ferment. I'll need to update all my records and get these working again so that we can make some new wines.
And now, I'm heading for the garden while the sun still shines .....
We did manage to make a few WoWs over the winter, but didn't have time to blog about them. Also, we've almost emptied our "wine cellar", which was simply a bottle of each of the wines we made last year.
We've definitely noticed that storing the wines for a few months really did reduce the harshness. That "mouthful of petrol" kick that you get from a newly made wine had mellowed or disappeared. Some wines like cranberry WoW seemed to have much more body than when they were first made.
We also tried one of the demijohns of blackberry wine. Pretty good! I'm sure it will improve if we leave it longer to mature.
We're now down to just 1.5 bottles of wine - a Raspberry, Loganberry and Redcurrant wine, and a raspberry wine, one of the first batch we made. I think they're both great, looking forward to finishing them off.
We have a cloudy apple WoW ready to bottle and an orange WoW ready to stabilise, and a 5 gallon Carafe 21 white kit that I stabilised this morning. We should be bottling this next Friday or Saturday.
The Carafe 21 should take 21 days, but only if temperature remains constant at 25C. This one has taken 8 weeks to ferment down to 1.000 - the back room has been quite cold overnight, and despite the bucket being next to the radiator, it takes all day to warm up to 20C. I've dug out the submersible heaters to use on the next Carafe 21 red kit. I tested them yesterday and they work.
We've decided to build up our wine stocks by brewing some WoWs in bulk rather than making single gallons at a time. Last night we went to Aldi and stocked up on red and white grape juice, and this morning we got 5 gallons started. I have more buckets to clean and sort out so will get more on the go soon.
And of course I still have loads of demijohns of various country wines maturing. Some have suffered from a stuck ferment. I'll need to update all my records and get these working again so that we can make some new wines.
And now, I'm heading for the garden while the sun still shines .....
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