Saturday 30 April 2011

Oz & James Drink To Britain



I recently borrowed this whole series from Lovefilm and enjoyed it.  Except, that is, Oz going on and on about French wine makers coming to the south of England, buying up acres of land to grow grapes, and making the most fabulous champagne style wines etc (or whatever other pretentious descriptions he came out with).  Wasn't that all covered in the very first series, albeit in France?

Anyway, other than that, I am very disappointed that there was absolutely NO mention whatsoever of fruit wines. Fruit (or Country) wines have been made in England for many, many years, as grapes weren't grown.  So, wine was made with whatever ingredients could be found or scrounged.  There are numerous good fruit wine producers in the UK from Cairn 'o' Mohr in Scotland, to the Lurgashall Winery in Sussex. 

Another disappointment was the lack of homebrewers.  They did pop in on a lady that brews beer in her garage, but she produced gallons of the stuff each week and it was sold in pubs local to her.  That's nice to see, but if they'd edited out all the boring French wine nonsense, they could have found room to fit in a homebrewer that makes beer in his or her shed like me, and many others like me, for the fun of it. 

I believe the programme would have been a fairer representation of Britain's ability to produce it's own quality drinks, rather than aspiring to be something it's not (and never will be).

Rack Off!!!

Sounds like an Antipodean insult, but is actually a necessary process in wine making, and to a lesser extent in beer making.  Racking off is basically the process of siphoning off the nice clear liquid from a demijohn, while leaving the sediment behind.

The first racking is normally done once fermentation has ceased (about 3 months) but the wine does not need to be clear.  This will stop the sediment from giving the wine off-flavours, which can ruin a good wine if left for too long.  The next rackings are to make sure the wine is clear for bottling.  Some wines only require a couple of rackings, others need 3 or 4.  There is no limit to the amount you can do, and it won't spoil the wine.

It is also a good time to have a little taste of each wine to see how it is progressing.

Today, I racked off 2 gallons of Rhubarb, 2 gallons of Elderflower and 1 gallon of Gooseberry.  These will all be ready to bottle soon, so I'll leave them to see if any more sediment drops over the next month or so, just to make sure.  I often don't bottle straight away as wine is supposed to mature better in bulk, as there is less temperature fluctuation than in a bottle.  For me personally, I don't have enough empty bottles lying around so tend to only bottle a wine when I have spares (it also takes away the temptation to drink a wine before it's matured, unless of course you drink it straight from the demijohn, in which case you've got a serious problem and probably shouldn't be making wine in the first place).

Friday 29 April 2011

The Story So Far......




Fermenting/Maturing In Demijohns-

(In Gallons)
2 Wheat (lighter than the Wheat I made before, but nice taste)
2  Barley (Similar to Wheat, but heavier & slightly bitter. Early days yet)
1 Apple (Lovely Cider smell & taste)
1 Pear (Lovely smell, flavour will improve with age)
1 Banana (Only just started, looks vile, smells lovely)
6 Elderberry (2 yrs old in November, 1 gallon drank already, well worth the effort)
1 Elderberry & Raspberry (As above with handful of Raspberries)
1 Rose Petal (Tastes like Turkish Delight, early days, should be lovely when ready)
1 Strawberry (Always a good one, although I used more fruit this time, it has a harsh edge, may mature out)
1 Apricot Sherry (Sherry yeast, fruity but not very Sherry!)
1 Peach Sherry (Lovely Peach flavour, again, not Sherry)
2 Elderflower (Lovely, one of my faves, although this one is quite sweet)
9 Rhubarb (varying ages, fantastic and easy to make)
1 Carrot (Very big flavour, very strong, worth the effort of boiling)
1 Blackcurrant Ribena (Not sure about this, bit sweet, think I topped up with too much juice)
1 Barley Tea (From tea bags, nearly 4 years old, odd one)
1 Plum (won't clear despite being over a year old)
1 Spiced Plum (as above)
1 Plum & Wheat (and again)
1 Mandarin (Another that won't clear, but nice flavour)
1 Citrus (Recipe says sweet, but couldn't be drier, nice though)
1 Spiced Beetroot (Strange one, lost it's lovely purple colour, now brown)
1 Gooseberry (harsh, needs to mature)
2 Rowanberry (Haven't tried this for ages, very bitter when tasted a year ago, must rack off!)
2 Dandelion (Still in bucket, no yeast added, smells of....well....Dandelions)
1 Gorse (Nightmare to pick flowers, too many thorns, hand stills hurts)

In Bottles-

25 Rhubarb (From 5 gallon batch, only 8 months old but very nice, will leave some to mature)
4 Chilli  (My recipe, lovely colour, fruity, very very hot)
1 Wheat  (Lovely, last one left so leaving until 2 years old)
1 Rosehip (Again, leaving longer, lovely wine, be a bit sad to finish it)
1 Marrow (Marrow? Yep, bloody lovely, would make again if I could get hold of enough Marrows)
5 Ribena Strawberry (Too sweet, but nice mixed half & half with Rhubarb)
3 Citrus (Nice, but not sweet as the recipe says, far from it)


Beer-

About 10 pints of Harvest Stout left (Not really my drink, but thought I'd try it.  Made with medium spraymalt. Tastes a bit like Coffee. Better tasting slightly less cool)
40 Pints of Coopers 'Real Ale' (My favourite kit so far, must be made with light or medium spraymalt and NOT sugar)

Other-

About 1 gallon of Plum Brandy (Had spare plums.......)
About half a gallon of Rumpot (Heaps of fruit, bung it all in, lovely but probably won't bother again as no one's drinking it!!) 

Thursday 28 April 2011

If You Dare......

At the end of 2009 I had the idea of making Chilli wine but couldn't find a decent recipe anywhere.  So I came up with my own (which basically equates to bunging everything in and seeing how it turns out).


Chilli Wine

Makes 1 Gallon;

250ml Tinned Pineapple (blended with juice)
350g  Raspberries (frozen pack)
1 Tin White Grape Concentrate
6  Cloves
2 Tablespoons dried Chillis
3 oz Root Ginger
1 Teaspoon Citric Acid
1 Cup Strong Tea
1.5 lb Raisins
2.5 lb Sugar
Yeast & Nutrient

Mince or chop the raisins, bruise the Ginger.
Put everything in a fermenting bin and add boiling water (to make up to  just under a gallon).
When cooled, add the yeast & nutrient.
Cover bin with a towel and leave for a week or so, stirring daily.
Strain off into demijohn and place under airlock.

This wine has a lovely fruity taste to start with, but soon becomes very hot!  The heat is in the throat rather than the mouth, so it seems the Ginger is creating more heat than the Chillis.

A fierce wine, best served in shot glasses.

Does not mellow with age.

A Load Of Old Rhubarb

I was reading a forum post a couple of weeks back entitled 'What To Do With Rhubarb'.  There are many suggestions I'm sure, but the amount of ridiculous wine recipes that cropped up  astounded me.  Freeze the Rhubarb to break down the flavours, add this that and the other, boil the Rhubarb etc etc.  I'm sure most of these recipes have their place, but this was not a wine making forum, far from it.  Rhubarb is one of the easiest wines to make, always consistent, and ideal for beginners or non-wine makers (which frequent the forum in question). So, thanks to C.J.J. Berry for this recipe, I'd never do it any other way;

Makes 1 gallon

3lb Rhubarb
3lb Sugar
Wine yeast & nutrient

Wash the Rhubarb under the tap and cut in to smallish pieces.

Put in plastic fermenting bin and cover with all the sugar

Leave for 24 hours or until all the sugar has dissolved.  It may need a quick stir to get more of the Rhubarb covered.

Strain all the juice off into a demijohn.  Fill to shoulder with cold water and add the yeast & nutrient.  After about a week (or once the frothing has subsided), top up with water.

No boiling, no messing around, and makes a great wine.

I recently asked the Scottish fruit wine producer Cairn 'o' Mohr why they stopped making Rhubarb wine and was told that it was too much grief with all the boiling.  I can't understand that as I have made many gallons using this recipe and it is consistently good.


And if you've never heard of C.J.J. Berry, I really do suggest you Google him.

About Me.....

Hello, and thanks for stopping by my blog.

I have been making country wines for a few years, and have been messing around with beer kits for roughly a year. It is suprising the results that can come from a few basic ingredients.  I am lucky to live in a rural part of Scotland, so don't have to go far for most ingredients,  but there are ingredients close to all of us, it's just knowing where to look.  I have just started a 2 gallon batch of Dandelion wine.  I have absolutely no idea how it's going to taste,  it doesn't smell too good at the moment, but all that will hopefully change as the process progresses!!

Anyway, I hope to keep this blog updated with the trials and tribulations of wine and beer making, along with some pics, recipes and (most importantly) shortcuts to make life easier.

And for the record, I don't make grape wine.  I'm not a big lover of most grape wines, and certainly wouldn't bother wasting time and effort making the stuff when there are plenty of drinkable wines in the shops.