Thursday 30 December 2010
Did Some Bottling too
I should mention that I also bottled the last gallon of the Green Tea & Ginger Wine too.
Woohoo Country Wines Again
Seems like an eternity since I last started a "proper" country wine. That is to say one made with ingredients that I have to process. I do like it and today I went at it with an old-time brew, Tanglefoot - Parsnip wine.
I followed pretty much the recipe that I used when I made this brew last year. But here is a full recipe and method cos I have some new piccies.
3.7 Kg Parsnips
3 Kg (approx) Sugar (OG 1080 -1090)
2 Lemons, juice and zest
1.25 Oz Root Ginger (bit less than last year so ...
0.75 Oz Crystallised Ginger (to make up the shortage in root ginger)
3 Teaspoons Citric Acid
1 Teaspoon Tartaric Acid
3 Teaspoons Pectolase
3 Campden Tablets
Yeast Nutrient
Sauternes Yeast
Water to 3 Gallons
Method
Wash and thoroughly scrub the parsnips but don't peel them, you'll be thankful of the save effort cos there's plenty of them ...
Top and tail them then slice 1 inch thick. Bring 1.5 gallons of water to the boil then add parsnip slices and simmer until they are tender but not mushy. The skins keep the slices together well, and also have heaps more flavour and nutrients than the insides.
This picture is only half of them and that's a gallon pan. If you put to many in one pan they're much more prone to mush up. About half way through cooking very gently stir them, just enough to flip some of the top ones or bring some from lower down up to the surface.
Simmering took 30 mins but check them frequently, they are done just before they start to split in the middle, so if they split quickly proceed to the next step. You should have a clear, almost colourless, liquid and intact parsnip slices so pour the juice through a colander into your fermenting bin.
You now have lots of un-needed cooked parsnips that you can mash or roast. Boil up 2 Kg of sugar in plenty of water and add that the fermenting bin too.
Bruise and coarsely chop the ginger, zest the lemons (no pith), put in a muslin bag and tie it up. Add to the fermenting bin and allow to cool (covered) for a few hours then add citric acid, tartaric acid and enzyme and crushed campden tablets.
Here's the lot. Just to the left of the lemons is a little pile of pith. This was on the inside of the skin when I zested with a potato peeler. You really don't want pith in your wine, it'll make the wine too bitter. A sharp knife deals with it easily, a blunt knife will likely make it a painful chore. Cover and leave overnight then add yeast, nutrient and top up to 3 gallons with sugar solution to get your desired gravity. Stir daily for 7-10 days, remove the zest and ginger, then transfer to DJ's and thereafter rack, top-up, degas, stabilise etc when appropriate.
This should clear with no problems in a couple of months or less, but if not then chitin based finings work well. Gelatin finings don't seem to do it. I've never needed to use a starch enzyme, but if you want to then I'm sure it won't do any harm ... I don't know whether pectolase is needed but I keep using it anyway!
Some Thoughts
My last batch of this had an OG of 1086, and ended up being about 12.5% ABV. It's dry, a little zesty and gingery, the parsnip seems to lend a very slight earthy, grassy and maybe even radish notes! Make it well and this will be ready to drink after only 4-5 months, but will seriously improve if you give it 8-12.
Many wine-makers are seriously scornful of parsnip wine, and wine made from other root vegetables. But if you are interested in keeping old traditions going, even with a modern twist, then pay no attention. Go for it. Their suggestions to leave out the parsnips and use grape juice/concentrate instead may make a wine they prefer, but they are not you, and they don't know why you make it. They may say that using parsnips came from a time when good quality sugar was scarce or too expensive, and that now there is no point in making it. But then again brewing is simply an old way of preserving juices and having a safe drink when water quality is suspect. Now we have ways to preserve juice and plentiful safe water .... but we still brew.
Then, just as it is now, people cared about the quality of their brews. It was much harder to get good quality back then so paying attention to detail was important. The combination and concentration of flavours isn't a coincidence, neither is stuff like leaving the skins on. These old time brews are great if made wellI make it cos I like this tradition, and because it makes a cracking wine if done well. Of course my recipe is a little tweaked thanks to many of the advances that passed decades have brought. It's also a great seasonal (winter) wine. You will be able to knock people down with a feather when you tell them what it's made from - even the ponces who are scornful!
I followed pretty much the recipe that I used when I made this brew last year. But here is a full recipe and method cos I have some new piccies.
Ingredients for 3 gallons
3.7 Kg Parsnips
3 Kg (approx) Sugar (OG 1080 -1090)
2 Lemons, juice and zest
1.25 Oz Root Ginger (bit less than last year so ...
0.75 Oz Crystallised Ginger (to make up the shortage in root ginger)
3 Teaspoons Citric Acid
1 Teaspoon Tartaric Acid
3 Teaspoons Pectolase
3 Campden Tablets
Yeast Nutrient
Sauternes Yeast
Water to 3 Gallons
Method
Wash and thoroughly scrub the parsnips but don't peel them, you'll be thankful of the save effort cos there's plenty of them ...
This picture is only half of them and that's a gallon pan. If you put to many in one pan they're much more prone to mush up. About half way through cooking very gently stir them, just enough to flip some of the top ones or bring some from lower down up to the surface.
Simmering took 30 mins but check them frequently, they are done just before they start to split in the middle, so if they split quickly proceed to the next step. You should have a clear, almost colourless, liquid and intact parsnip slices so pour the juice through a colander into your fermenting bin.
You now have lots of un-needed cooked parsnips that you can mash or roast. Boil up 2 Kg of sugar in plenty of water and add that the fermenting bin too.
Bruise and coarsely chop the ginger, zest the lemons (no pith), put in a muslin bag and tie it up. Add to the fermenting bin and allow to cool (covered) for a few hours then add citric acid, tartaric acid and enzyme and crushed campden tablets.
Here's the lot. Just to the left of the lemons is a little pile of pith. This was on the inside of the skin when I zested with a potato peeler. You really don't want pith in your wine, it'll make the wine too bitter. A sharp knife deals with it easily, a blunt knife will likely make it a painful chore. Cover and leave overnight then add yeast, nutrient and top up to 3 gallons with sugar solution to get your desired gravity. Stir daily for 7-10 days, remove the zest and ginger, then transfer to DJ's and thereafter rack, top-up, degas, stabilise etc when appropriate.
This should clear with no problems in a couple of months or less, but if not then chitin based finings work well. Gelatin finings don't seem to do it. I've never needed to use a starch enzyme, but if you want to then I'm sure it won't do any harm ... I don't know whether pectolase is needed but I keep using it anyway!
Some Thoughts
My last batch of this had an OG of 1086, and ended up being about 12.5% ABV. It's dry, a little zesty and gingery, the parsnip seems to lend a very slight earthy, grassy and maybe even radish notes! Make it well and this will be ready to drink after only 4-5 months, but will seriously improve if you give it 8-12.
Many wine-makers are seriously scornful of parsnip wine, and wine made from other root vegetables. But if you are interested in keeping old traditions going, even with a modern twist, then pay no attention. Go for it. Their suggestions to leave out the parsnips and use grape juice/concentrate instead may make a wine they prefer, but they are not you, and they don't know why you make it. They may say that using parsnips came from a time when good quality sugar was scarce or too expensive, and that now there is no point in making it. But then again brewing is simply an old way of preserving juices and having a safe drink when water quality is suspect. Now we have ways to preserve juice and plentiful safe water .... but we still brew.
Then, just as it is now, people cared about the quality of their brews. It was much harder to get good quality back then so paying attention to detail was important. The combination and concentration of flavours isn't a coincidence, neither is stuff like leaving the skins on. These old time brews are great if made wellI make it cos I like this tradition, and because it makes a cracking wine if done well. Of course my recipe is a little tweaked thanks to many of the advances that passed decades have brought. It's also a great seasonal (winter) wine. You will be able to knock people down with a feather when you tell them what it's made from - even the ponces who are scornful!
Wednesday 29 December 2010
Bottle Shortage
So I wanted to bottle a couple of gallons of wine tonight, but when I checked I only had 11 empty bottles and I didn't fancy drinking a bottle with the tail end of a cold. So I just bottled one gallon of Blueberry & Cranberry Rosé.
Tomorrow I should have another empty so I can bottle a gallon of Green Tea & Ginger. I also hope to start a few gallons of Tanglefoot.
Tomorrow I should have another empty so I can bottle a gallon of Green Tea & Ginger. I also hope to start a few gallons of Tanglefoot.
Wednesday 22 December 2010
Busy Times & a Cold
Grrrrrr, got another cold and having felt it coming on for a few days I've been reluctant to get out into the cold and find some bottles. So now I'm short on bottles and have a long list of folks I want to give bottles of wine to for xmas.
Still I managed to get some done last night. The delicious Orange dessert wine was at it's end, only a half sized demi-john, a mere 3 bottles. Blending with Elderflower wine worked well earlier this year, so I repeated that and the result is 6 bottles of very tasty dessert wine @ 12.6% ABV. So two lucky folks are getting a bottle each. That left 3 bottles of Elderflower wine @ 11% ABV. This is the Elderflower version brewed the more traditional way with lots of flowers added at primary stage of fermentation. I think I still prefer the result of this method, rather than a quickie method. 'Tho there really isn't much difference in quality.
If I feel a little better later on I'll bottle some more of the uber Blueberry & Cranberry Rosé for gifts. Then I'll have to find some empties.
Apologies for the gaps in posting this last month, normal activity levels will return next year .... I need to make big batches of Orange wine, Tanglefoot and Green Tea & Ginger ... All of which means lots of good piccies and more as these are very hands on wines to make. Lot's of chopping, squeezing, peeling, zesting, simmering, steeping, muslin bags etc etc.
Still I managed to get some done last night. The delicious Orange dessert wine was at it's end, only a half sized demi-john, a mere 3 bottles. Blending with Elderflower wine worked well earlier this year, so I repeated that and the result is 6 bottles of very tasty dessert wine @ 12.6% ABV. So two lucky folks are getting a bottle each. That left 3 bottles of Elderflower wine @ 11% ABV. This is the Elderflower version brewed the more traditional way with lots of flowers added at primary stage of fermentation. I think I still prefer the result of this method, rather than a quickie method. 'Tho there really isn't much difference in quality.
If I feel a little better later on I'll bottle some more of the uber Blueberry & Cranberry Rosé for gifts. Then I'll have to find some empties.
Apologies for the gaps in posting this last month, normal activity levels will return next year .... I need to make big batches of Orange wine, Tanglefoot and Green Tea & Ginger ... All of which means lots of good piccies and more as these are very hands on wines to make. Lot's of chopping, squeezing, peeling, zesting, simmering, steeping, muslin bags etc etc.
Saturday 11 December 2010
Simply Bottling
Tonight the little flurry of activity continued with bottling a gallon of the mightily impressive Blueberry & Cranberry Quickie Rosé and a gallon of Young's definitive Blackberry Country Wine. The latter is medium and nicely fruity, the former a little drier and crisper. Personally I like the former better but there isn't much in it and probably boils down to a matter of taste. However, consider this .... the kit is 5 months old, the quickie is only 9 weeks old! Pricewise the quickie is way cheaper.
If I compare the kit to the Elderberry and Blackberry wines I made from foraged fruit then this is my conclusion. The foraged ones win out on quality but you have to wait longer for them. The kit will be as good as it gets within 2-3 months. The foraged wines will take longer. The full bodied red will need at least a year, but then you'll get something with a nice pucker, dryness, edge, body and some complexity. The kit in comparison is uncomplicated easy drinking (nothing wrong with that). The foraged wine made from a second run on the fruit is a little lighter all round, will be ready within a year, and if it's not a great big rosé then it'll be a red. Both foraged versions are way more effort, but way more rewarding too.
Got the time, the recipe, the know how and the passion? do it yourself, you won't regret it. Want a quick fix? get the kit, you won't regret that either. You pays your money and makes your choice, you're always a winner with home-brew.
If I compare the kit to the Elderberry and Blackberry wines I made from foraged fruit then this is my conclusion. The foraged ones win out on quality but you have to wait longer for them. The kit will be as good as it gets within 2-3 months. The foraged wines will take longer. The full bodied red will need at least a year, but then you'll get something with a nice pucker, dryness, edge, body and some complexity. The kit in comparison is uncomplicated easy drinking (nothing wrong with that). The foraged wine made from a second run on the fruit is a little lighter all round, will be ready within a year, and if it's not a great big rosé then it'll be a red. Both foraged versions are way more effort, but way more rewarding too.
Got the time, the recipe, the know how and the passion? do it yourself, you won't regret it. Want a quick fix? get the kit, you won't regret that either. You pays your money and makes your choice, you're always a winner with home-brew.
Friday 10 December 2010
Vieux Chateau Du Roi
Well it's been a long time coming but finally it's happened. Way back in the summer I bought this Beaverdale kit. It's meant to be the nearest thing you can get to a Chateau Neuf Du Pape and many home-brewers rate it highly. I tried my first ever kit wine based on other home-brewers recommendations. That kit was a Beaverdale Shiraz and it did not disappoint. Beaverdale are mid price-range kits, so it's gonna cost you a couple of pounds (sterling) per bottle, but if you follow the instructions then you'll get something worth 3, 4 or more times that price. How long you wait is up to you but from 6 months old they are good!
So here's a piccie of the box it comes in and everything in the kit.
The demi-john and airlock are not included with the kit. And here's a close up of the various sachets.
2 for clearing agents (clear sachets), oak chips, yeast and stabilisers. Those and the grape juice is all you need, no added sugar, just water.
Follow the instructions and you're laughing cos within minutes you'll have something like this
whoaaa, hold on, now that frothy head isn't a super bionic instantly activating yeast getting going. That came about from giving it all a good shake to mix the grape concentrate with the water. If you don't then you'll get poor mixing meaning layers of concentrate and diluted juice in the demi-john. This will make for a problematic ferment. If you look closely at the picture you'll see the oak chips on the head. It all got a good mix again when the yeast went in.
Tuesday 7 December 2010
The Usual Processes
Tonight, more degassing and stabilising. The Muscat Grape Wine was very slowly clearing while I was busy with other things. Tonight I had some time so gave it a glance and decided to rack and degas it. Plenty of gas came out, as you can see from the piccie below. I split the 2 gallons and degassed half a gallon at a time. Just quicker and easier that way.
While I was siphoning I stole a taste, wow, it tastes like the grapes that it was made from and is pretty dry! However it's also very sharp. Perhaps not surprising given that it's very young still and all the grapes were not properly ripe. If you remember the wine was not made with pure juice, rather with diluted juice and just as well! - It's easier to make a light wine than a big wine, and if something is likely to be out of balance then this is a good way to make corrections manageable, but also keep the character of your ingredients. Anyway, after degassing it should be a little less acidic, tho maybe not enough to be noticeable. I am very hopeful for this wine tho, it's still very early days, the taste of the grapes is wonderful, and the only fault is that it's not quite balanced because clarity will come.
The plan then is to stabilise it (additions of metabisulphate and sorbate) then leave it to clear, rack again and then leave it for some time to mellow. If it remains sharp I'll try shoving it outside. Hopefully the cold will cause some tartaric acid to drop out of solution and crystallise, then I'll rack it off the crystals and hey presto acid content is reduced and so is sharpness. If that doesn't work then a little sweetening will bring it all into balance.
While I was siphoning I stole a taste, wow, it tastes like the grapes that it was made from and is pretty dry! However it's also very sharp. Perhaps not surprising given that it's very young still and all the grapes were not properly ripe. If you remember the wine was not made with pure juice, rather with diluted juice and just as well! - It's easier to make a light wine than a big wine, and if something is likely to be out of balance then this is a good way to make corrections manageable, but also keep the character of your ingredients. Anyway, after degassing it should be a little less acidic, tho maybe not enough to be noticeable. I am very hopeful for this wine tho, it's still very early days, the taste of the grapes is wonderful, and the only fault is that it's not quite balanced because clarity will come.
The plan then is to stabilise it (additions of metabisulphate and sorbate) then leave it to clear, rack again and then leave it for some time to mellow. If it remains sharp I'll try shoving it outside. Hopefully the cold will cause some tartaric acid to drop out of solution and crystallise, then I'll rack it off the crystals and hey presto acid content is reduced and so is sharpness. If that doesn't work then a little sweetening will bring it all into balance.
Been a Little Busy
Yikes, it's almost 2 weeks since I posted! But I have been doing bits and pieces, such as bottling more Blueberry & Cranberry Rosé because it's going down so well that we keep creating empties. So here is a gratuitous piccie of bottles of said Rosé.
Lots of screw tops because this wine doesn't get a chance to age in bottles. So no point wasting corks, simply re-use those screw tops time and time again. It's a nice colour eh, and we're now down to our last 8 gallons! Thanks also to the folks who took the time to write and tell me they have taken the plunge and have some 3 gallons of this on the go. You know who you are.
Lots of screw tops because this wine doesn't get a chance to age in bottles. So no point wasting corks, simply re-use those screw tops time and time again. It's a nice colour eh, and we're now down to our last 8 gallons! Thanks also to the folks who took the time to write and tell me they have taken the plunge and have some 3 gallons of this on the go. You know who you are.
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