Drinking Blackberry Wine

Watching a cheesy horror flick (triangle) with a glass of Blackberry Wine from 2009, which makes it 20 months old. Last time I tried this was probably 6 months and my thoughts at the time were recorded with the recipe linked above.

In short, it was then harsh and acidic, but promised much. Now it's stunning, crisp, clean, bright and the fruit is fresh tasting. It's well balanced but not the big wine that you would get if you're used to paying  £5 or less for a bottle of red. That's our usual price range. This is more like what you would get for £8-10. It's no longer harsh and there are no strange flavours that I can't put my finger on. Neither is it too acidic.

I didn't like using GV2 yeast, it foamed a lot (so was messy) and threw a big sediment. But upon drinking this wine I think I may try it again. It's hard to say it's down to the yeast, and I'm not doing that, but it's certainly worth considering trying it again. I think I'll let the haul of blackberries decide me, enough for 4-5 gallons and I'll go with GV2. Less than that and something easier to work with will be my choice (Sauternes or GV1), choosing a Malic acid reducing yeast may speed up the time of getting the acidity down, in which case Gervin D.

Elderfower Forage

Surely one of the best moments of the year for a home-brewer is when the elderflowers come out. I've just got in from picking, had to be a little selective as there were plenty of the "wrong" flowers out - they smell like cat pee. But nevertheless I got a good haul and the better half's face was a delight to behold when I got home with a couple bags of wonderful smelling flowers ... and I found a new spot for uber smelling flowers. As there were still plenty of flowers yet to open I'm very tempted to get another 5 gallons on the go and do another forage in a week or so.

so get yourself a base brew on the go and then get yourselves out there brewers, its far from too late to make yourselves a big batch of this delicious wine. It's as easy as pie and all the instruction you need is right here on my blog.

Pomegranate Quickie Wine Update

So what else is news worthy? Remember the wine that was a bit of a dog's dinner of ingredients? Odd cartons of red and white grape juice, with some pomegranate juice too. Clicky for a reminder of the recipe. Well, it's almost clear, but it's doing so very slowly and unless we start decimating the seriously good stuff prematurely then I need this one to come online pronto. Check out the piccie to see how fussy you become about clear wine

So I chucked in gelatin based finings tonight. I seem to remember that it worked well for pomegranate, but I didn't check my notes so don't take that as being gospel truth! I'll be racking, degassing, stabilising, bottling and then drinking it, in a few days! Table wine is all I was aiming for, and that's what I expect to get.

Recipe: Elderflower Quickie Wine 2011

About a week ago I started the base brew for the Elderflower quickie wine. I was aiming for a repeat of last year's brew, and got very close to that recipe. Tomorrow I go looking for Elderflowers, I've been holding off a day at a time hoping for just a little rain to wash the petals as it's been dry for weeks now. It rained ever so lightly today. Sunshine is forecast for tomorrow, so I anticipate excellent flowers. Anyway, you'll be wanting the recipe and method, so .... onwards.

Recipe:

5 Litres WGJ (Tesco, pure, pressed)
5 Litres Apple Juice (Tesco, value, from concentrate)
3.4 Kg Sugar
5 Teaspoons Pectolase
5 Teaspoons Tartaric Acid
Nutrient (brupak)
4 Campden Tablets
Gervin D yeast.

OG 1078

Method:

You probably know the drill by now. Dissolve the sugar in boiled water. Pour into the fermenting bin, add the cartons of juice, the tartaric acid, the pectolase and the crushed campden tablets. Make the volume up to almost 5 gallons with water and stir well to mix. Cover tightly and leave overnight. Next day measure the gravity and then make up the volume to 5 gallons with water or sugar solution. The 3.4 Kg of sugar had a good gravity for this brew so I just used water to correct the volume. 1078 should give a light wine, ready to drink in weeks. Then I gave a good sloshy stir (actually whisked) to get air dissolved and finally added the nutrient and yeast. Covered it up and left it overnight. Before I went to bed I noticed the lid bulging, the yeast had started doing it's thing in only a few hours. Each day for a week or so I stirred for a few mins (well whisked).

So it's now about 9 days later, the gravity has dropped to 1015, I've transferred the brew to a secondary fermenter with an airlock fitted.

I'll go pick flowers tomorrow, leave them in a tied plastic bag overnight, then shake the bag for about 5 minutes, transfer the flowers (having magically shaken loose of the stalks) to muslin bags and add to the barrel.

Rose Petal Wine

Did I tell you, that brew I started that I called the base brew, that was going to become dandelion or gorse flower wine, well it turned into rose petal wine. I've updated the recipe with everything you need to know. Basically adding rose petals and grape tannin at secondary stage. And there are new piccies too, so go feast your eyes there.

The brew is now sitting in demi-johns, probably finished fermenting, the rose petals removed now. I'll be degassing and stabilising if the fermentation has indeed finished, which I'll know in a day or so.

Looking, well, not very nice eh, especially not with the uber clear wine sitting next to it, but fear not, it'll clear and be delicious, and hopefully we'll be drinking it in the autumn.

Brewing Season is Gathering Pace

Take a look around you when you're walking about or driving around and you'll see flowers in abundance. Certainly in the Northern hemisphere. There's lots of Elderflowers especially and these make a great homebrew. Infact if there were one wine I would recommend for the novice or improver then Elderflower is it. It is very special. So check out the link to the recipe page, then find the elderflower recipes and give one a try. The quickie recipes are especially good ... 'cos they're quick, so you'll be drinking the wine in something like 8-10 weeks, and if you do the late flower addition then your flowers will go much (I mean MUCH) further. Look out too for the tip on processing the flowers, it'll save you hours and there is no effect on the quality of the wine.

Others worth considering are Gorse, Hawthorn and if you're really northern you may still have plenty of dandelions. Smell the flowers first tho, and only use those that smell good. This is especially so for elderflowers, there is no doubting a good smelling elderflower spray, it is wonderful. So if in doubt pass it by and find another tree.

Happy foraging, and stay tuned for news from this brewer, nothing out of the ordinary, just more tales of my brewing.