Time flies, like a banana, so a funny someone said.
I'm looking forward to this year's brews. Partly because i failed in my mission to make 50 gallons last year, but i succeeded in making a number of new wines. Well, they were new for me anyway.
The two most recent recipes were done in December, it's just taken me a while to write them up. Life is getting busier and busier! I had planned on getting about 6 gallons of blackberry wine on the go too, but it just didn't happen. So sometime soon I'll be starting those brews. Nice way to start the year with a pulp wine or two. And we'll get half our freezer space back again, which will please Mrs Critter Wines no end!
We're also in parsnip season, and i just bottled the last gallon of the tanglefoot i made back in 2010. It is utterly delicious now, very grown up taste tho. Herby, grassy and a little earthy. arrggh that means a long wait for the next batch. I must keep my eye on the ball so i don't leave it so long next time.
Feel free to let me know how your brews go, if you followed the recipes strictly (recommended for quickie wines, tho you can use your choice of the 2nd juice, keep the grape juice tho). And likewise if you tweak the recipes for other wines, which i also recommend. It's good to experiment (and keep notes!), personalise your wines, our tastes will be different after-all.
Finally, clicking the donate button (on the right) will make me happy. But only if you can afford it and my blog has been useful. Think of it like this, if i chatted my blog to you in a pub would you buy me an appreciative pint? A virtual pint is almost as good.
All the best in the year ahead for making delicious country wine.
Thursday, 23 January 2014
Recipe: Lemon Balm Wine, quickie
I've haven't tried making this wine before, but have masses of lemon balm in the garden. It's easy to grow and winter doesn't bother it, it just slows right down. I think it's a member of the mint family ... so be warned, it could take over if you decide to plant it in your garden! As well as being an ingredient in a country wine it also makes a good insect repellent, just rip off some leaves and rub on your exposed skin.
Winter probably isn't the best time to give it a go, the herbs smell much more potent in summer. But i reckon i'll get a subtle wine doing it now. I've stuck to two principles, the quickie wine method. It's such a good base that it's pretty much a no brainer to use it when it comes to trying something new that is effectively an infusion. Using lemon balm leaves need be little different to the method I use for elderflowers.
On that note the other principle is late addition, i.e. adding the leaves late. It's not only economical as you need less leaves (the flavour extraction is improved) but also less of the flavour is blown out of the must during vigorous primary fermentation. So you maintain a full range of flavours, the more volatile molecules staying dissolved.
So the recipe!
Recipe: 3 Gallons
3 Litres White Grape Juice (Rio D'Oro)
3 Litres Apple Juice (Fruit Hit, fairtrade)
2 Kg Sugar
3 Teaspoons Citric Acid
3 Teaspoons Pectolase
1 Teaspoon Yeast Nutrient (Tronozymol)
Yeast (GV11, Lees from Sorrel wine)
70g Lemon Balm Leaves
OG 1074
Piccie time, it takes a lot of leaves to tip the scales. This was about all the vibrant leaves from our lemon balm patch in december. The rest looked a bit tried and didn't have much smell. So the haul was smaller than i would have liked, we'll see how it works out in a few more weeks.
Method:
It's the same as any generic quickie wine. Keep the gravity low (1070-1080 is fine), lower probably better. We're aiming to keep the alcohol content, acidity, body etc in balance. Which means rapid conditioning so you can drink your table wine quality homebrew in 8 weeks from start-up. If you up the alcohol content then you need to up everything else, and then you need to wait months or years before it's worth drinking.
So dissolve your sugar in a pan of water on the stove. While that's happening pour the fruit juices into your fermenting bin, add the acid, pectolase and yeast nutrient. Allow the sugar solution to cool then add to the fermenting bin. If you don't let it cool then you will probably kill the yeast in the fermenting bin. That's assuming you're doing a fermentation on the lees of the previous brew. If you're not then make sure the must is cool enough before adding the yeast. Make up to 3 gallons with cold water.
Give it all a good sloshy stir, record the specific gravity, cover. You probably won't need to stir it daily because the yeast in the lees will be a big healthy colony. So after a few days (5-7 ish) transfer your must to a secondary fermenter fitted with an airlock.
Then add the lemon balm leaves in a muslin bag. I put the bagged leaves into a pan containing a little water and brought it to the boil. Then added a little sugar to make a solution roughly equal in gravity to the original must. Then added the bagged leaves and sugar solution. It was probably only a litre of liquid with about 230g of added sugar.
Now follow the normal procedure, remove leaves and rack to demi-johns after a week or so, ideally. I got forgetful and took them out 2 weeks after adding them! I think i got away with it cos all smelled fine in the secondary fermenter and there was no visual signs of anything being wrong. Stabilise etc when the time is right.
Verdict:
It's now December 2015, 2 years since making this wine and we've just popped the cork on the last full bottle. WOW!
I think i've said many times that a quickie wine won't improve with any aging over 1 year, but this one has. Perhaps it's the post-fermentation infusion that makes it the exception to the rule. So let me tell you about it.
First impression is a little complex, but if you drink it in company then discussion will soon simplify it. What me and the Mrs quickly agreed on was a grown-up wine. It has fruitiness (i think tinned peaches and/or lychees, the former is something you'll smell). It's also medium sweet, very unexpected, with a herby base, and has a lovely roundedness, a slight syrup feel.
So, i gotta make more next year (2016) and then wait 2 years for it. I think the quality of the apple juice may be a crucial factor, also the yeast. So repeating those ingredients is a must. That could be tricky if the juice is a blend of apples ... but perhaps the good folks at "fruit hit" employ a jedi master blender.
Make this wine if you like your whites grown up and complex. And by the way growing lemon balm is a breeze seeing as it's mint family. 2 years on and it's well established in one part of our garden, needs no caring for but lots of cutting back cos it's so vigourous.
Winter probably isn't the best time to give it a go, the herbs smell much more potent in summer. But i reckon i'll get a subtle wine doing it now. I've stuck to two principles, the quickie wine method. It's such a good base that it's pretty much a no brainer to use it when it comes to trying something new that is effectively an infusion. Using lemon balm leaves need be little different to the method I use for elderflowers.
On that note the other principle is late addition, i.e. adding the leaves late. It's not only economical as you need less leaves (the flavour extraction is improved) but also less of the flavour is blown out of the must during vigorous primary fermentation. So you maintain a full range of flavours, the more volatile molecules staying dissolved.
So the recipe!
Recipe: 3 Gallons
3 Litres White Grape Juice (Rio D'Oro)
3 Litres Apple Juice (Fruit Hit, fairtrade)
2 Kg Sugar
3 Teaspoons Citric Acid
3 Teaspoons Pectolase
1 Teaspoon Yeast Nutrient (Tronozymol)
Yeast (GV11, Lees from Sorrel wine)
70g Lemon Balm Leaves
OG 1074
Piccie time, it takes a lot of leaves to tip the scales. This was about all the vibrant leaves from our lemon balm patch in december. The rest looked a bit tried and didn't have much smell. So the haul was smaller than i would have liked, we'll see how it works out in a few more weeks.
Method:
It's the same as any generic quickie wine. Keep the gravity low (1070-1080 is fine), lower probably better. We're aiming to keep the alcohol content, acidity, body etc in balance. Which means rapid conditioning so you can drink your table wine quality homebrew in 8 weeks from start-up. If you up the alcohol content then you need to up everything else, and then you need to wait months or years before it's worth drinking.
So dissolve your sugar in a pan of water on the stove. While that's happening pour the fruit juices into your fermenting bin, add the acid, pectolase and yeast nutrient. Allow the sugar solution to cool then add to the fermenting bin. If you don't let it cool then you will probably kill the yeast in the fermenting bin. That's assuming you're doing a fermentation on the lees of the previous brew. If you're not then make sure the must is cool enough before adding the yeast. Make up to 3 gallons with cold water.
Give it all a good sloshy stir, record the specific gravity, cover. You probably won't need to stir it daily because the yeast in the lees will be a big healthy colony. So after a few days (5-7 ish) transfer your must to a secondary fermenter fitted with an airlock.
Then add the lemon balm leaves in a muslin bag. I put the bagged leaves into a pan containing a little water and brought it to the boil. Then added a little sugar to make a solution roughly equal in gravity to the original must. Then added the bagged leaves and sugar solution. It was probably only a litre of liquid with about 230g of added sugar.
Now follow the normal procedure, remove leaves and rack to demi-johns after a week or so, ideally. I got forgetful and took them out 2 weeks after adding them! I think i got away with it cos all smelled fine in the secondary fermenter and there was no visual signs of anything being wrong. Stabilise etc when the time is right.
Verdict:
It's now December 2015, 2 years since making this wine and we've just popped the cork on the last full bottle. WOW!
I think i've said many times that a quickie wine won't improve with any aging over 1 year, but this one has. Perhaps it's the post-fermentation infusion that makes it the exception to the rule. So let me tell you about it.
First impression is a little complex, but if you drink it in company then discussion will soon simplify it. What me and the Mrs quickly agreed on was a grown-up wine. It has fruitiness (i think tinned peaches and/or lychees, the former is something you'll smell). It's also medium sweet, very unexpected, with a herby base, and has a lovely roundedness, a slight syrup feel.
So, i gotta make more next year (2016) and then wait 2 years for it. I think the quality of the apple juice may be a crucial factor, also the yeast. So repeating those ingredients is a must. That could be tricky if the juice is a blend of apples ... but perhaps the good folks at "fruit hit" employ a jedi master blender.
Make this wine if you like your whites grown up and complex. And by the way growing lemon balm is a breeze seeing as it's mint family. 2 years on and it's well established in one part of our garden, needs no caring for but lots of cutting back cos it's so vigourous.
Recipe: Sorrel Wine, quickie
I've never tried making this wine before, but have long fancied giving it a try. As a result you'll have to wait a while for me to report back on how it turns out. I've stuck to two principles tho, first the quickie wine method. It's such a good base that it's pretty much a no brainer to use it when it comes to trying something new that is effectively an infusion. Using sorrel flowers need be little different to the method I use for elderflowers.
On that note the other principle is late addition, i.e. adding the flowers late. It's not only economical as you need less flowers (the flavour extraction is improved) but also less flavour is blown out of the must during the vigorous primary fermentation stage. So you maintain a greater range of flavours, the more volatile molecules staying dissolved.
Onwards then, the recipe!
Recipe: 3 Gallons
3 Litres White Grape Juice (Rio D'Oro)
3 Litres Apple Juice (Rio D'Oro)
2.1 Kg Sugar
3 Teaspoons Citric Acid
3 Teaspoons Pectolase
1 Teaspoon Yeast Nutrient (Tronozymol)
Yeast (GV11, Lees from Green Tea and Ginger)
50g Sorrel Flowers
OG 1075
Method:
It's the same as any generic quickie wine. Keep the gravity low (1070-1080 is fine), lower probably better. We're aiming to keep the alcohol content, acidity, body etc in balance. Which means rapid conditioning so you can drink your table wine quality homebrew in 8 weeks from start-up. If you up the alcohol content then you need to up everything else, and then you need to wait months or years before it's worth drinking.
So dissolve your sugar in a pan of water on the stove. While that's happening pour the fruit juices into your fermenting bin, add the acid, pectolase and yeast nutrient. Allow the sugar solution to cool then add to the fermenting bin. If you don't let it cool then you will probably kill the yeast in the fermenting bin. That's assuming you're doing a fermentation on the lees of the previous brew. If you're not then make sure the must is cool enough before adding the yeast. Make up to 3 gallons with cold water.
Give it all a good sloshy stir, record the specific gravity, cover. You probably won't need to stir it daily because the yeast in the lees will be a big healthy colony. So after a few days (5-7 ish) transfer your must to a secondary fermenter fitted with an airlock. Then add the sorrel flowers in a muslin bag. I put the bagged flowers into a pan containing a little water and brought it to the boil. Then added a little sugar to make a solution roughly equal in gravity to the original must. Then added the bagged flowers and sugar solution to the must. It was roughly a litre of water with 230g of added sugar.
Now follow the normal procedure, remove flowers and rack to demi-johns after a week or so. Stabilise etc when the time is right.
On that note the other principle is late addition, i.e. adding the flowers late. It's not only economical as you need less flowers (the flavour extraction is improved) but also less flavour is blown out of the must during the vigorous primary fermentation stage. So you maintain a greater range of flavours, the more volatile molecules staying dissolved.
Onwards then, the recipe!
Recipe: 3 Gallons
3 Litres White Grape Juice (Rio D'Oro)
3 Litres Apple Juice (Rio D'Oro)
2.1 Kg Sugar
3 Teaspoons Citric Acid
3 Teaspoons Pectolase
1 Teaspoon Yeast Nutrient (Tronozymol)
Yeast (GV11, Lees from Green Tea and Ginger)
50g Sorrel Flowers
OG 1075
Method:
It's the same as any generic quickie wine. Keep the gravity low (1070-1080 is fine), lower probably better. We're aiming to keep the alcohol content, acidity, body etc in balance. Which means rapid conditioning so you can drink your table wine quality homebrew in 8 weeks from start-up. If you up the alcohol content then you need to up everything else, and then you need to wait months or years before it's worth drinking.
So dissolve your sugar in a pan of water on the stove. While that's happening pour the fruit juices into your fermenting bin, add the acid, pectolase and yeast nutrient. Allow the sugar solution to cool then add to the fermenting bin. If you don't let it cool then you will probably kill the yeast in the fermenting bin. That's assuming you're doing a fermentation on the lees of the previous brew. If you're not then make sure the must is cool enough before adding the yeast. Make up to 3 gallons with cold water.
Give it all a good sloshy stir, record the specific gravity, cover. You probably won't need to stir it daily because the yeast in the lees will be a big healthy colony. So after a few days (5-7 ish) transfer your must to a secondary fermenter fitted with an airlock. Then add the sorrel flowers in a muslin bag. I put the bagged flowers into a pan containing a little water and brought it to the boil. Then added a little sugar to make a solution roughly equal in gravity to the original must. Then added the bagged flowers and sugar solution to the must. It was roughly a litre of water with 230g of added sugar.
Now follow the normal procedure, remove flowers and rack to demi-johns after a week or so. Stabilise etc when the time is right.
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