Making wine

[morph]

Hi there
Having a look through the site, and couldn't find anything on wine making!

Does anyone have any good recipes? - especially using natures free produce!!

I've only ever made wine from a kit (years ago), and would love to try it properly again!

[Citrine]

...dont know any recipes, but I'll volunteer to be a guinea pig taster for you!! (...not that you eat guinea pigs or anything.... )

[seahorse]

I did some elderberry wine a few years ago from an ancient recipe. The measurements were a bit obscure and I guessed some of it. Turned out ok and it all got drank, dead smooth too . The berries grow everywhere and once picked , can be frozen until you have time to get the wine going . Same with elderflower champagne, the heads of the flowers can be frozen for a while though they are better fresh. Try google for the recipes.

[manda]

Couple of recipes for Parsnip wine.... makes a sweet white wine. My Dad used to make Parsnip wine all the time when I was youger and reckoned it was the most reliable of wines to make. Don't know about that but it's nice

Recipe 1
4lb. parsnips.
3lb. granulated sugar.
1. gallon of cold water.
1. lemon.
prepared juice of half lb. raisins.
campden tablets.
pectic enzyme (use according to their instructions)
Wine yeast. & yeast nutrient (use according to their instructions).

Instructions: Good to make in February or march with parsnips that have been in the ground all the winter.
Prepare your raisins ahead - wash in near boiling water to remove the waxy coat that they often have on them. Allow the raisins to cool enough to handle and then cut them up. Now simmer the raisins in just enough water to cover them. After simmering for about 5 minutes extract the juice from the raisins in a muslin cloth. The raisin juice is needed latter on.
Scrub the parsnips well, but do not peel them: slice them thinly and put them in a large saucepan or preserving pan. pour in 1 gallon of could water. Cook the parsnips until they are tender, but not mashy. when they are cooked, strain the liquid off.
After straining, return the liquid to the pan (You could make Parnsip puree form the Parsnips or something just so they arent wasted or pop them in the freezer and raost them if they aren't too soft).
Add the 3lb. of sugar, the raisin juice, and the lemon juice and rind (no pith). simmer for three quarters of an hour, stirring occasionally.
Strain again into a plastic bucket, and then when lukewarm add the pectic enzyme and a crushed campden tablet. leave for 24 hours, placing the bucket in warm room: then stir in the yeast and yeast nutrient. cover the bucket and leave in the warm for four days. then stir it well .

Strain into a fermentation demi-john. fit an airlock and ferment until dry, then rack and clear the wine before bottling. A little feeding with a tablespoonful or two of sugar may be helpful if fermentation seems slow. the wine will be drinkable in six months.


Parsnip wine
Ingredients :-

4 lb parsnips scrubbed and sliced
1 orange
0.5 oz root ginger (Optional)
2 lemons
1 gallon water
3 lb sugar
sherry or burgundy yeast
Instructions :-
Boil the parsnip, sliced ginger (if used) and the thinly peel rinds of the lemons and orange in the water until the parsnips are just tender. Do not over boil. strain the liquid on to the sugar and stir well. When lukewarm add the previously activated yeast and the fruit juices. Leave for 24 hours, well covered in a warm place.

Pour into the fermentation jar, insert an airlock. leave to ferment to a finish in a warm place.
Remove jar to cooler place for a week or so before siphoning off into a clean storage jar. fill to just below cork. leave for 6 months, the syphon off into bottles.[/list]

[morph]

OOOOOOO thank you!!!!

[manda]

You're welcome ..Got me thinking so I had a look on the net and found this website which has got recipes for all sorts of wines. Haven't tried them yet but I think I'm going to have to work my way down the list!!
The thing I like about this was she is very into using free ingredients...works for me. Hope it's useful.

http://scorpius.spaceports.com/~goodwine/index.htm

Manda

[saint-spoon]

My dad gave me a load of demijohns a few years back when he packed in making his own wine, I think I might just give them a wash and give homebrew a go. I made some beer years back but like Morph it was from a kit… did the job though. An old chum of mine used to knock all sorts into wine (teabags, carrot tops etc) most of which were drinkable and some of which was delightful (tea bags). Not sure where he is now but I’ll try and get in contact to see what he says.

[Woody]

Hi
I was into wine making in a very big way, at one time I had over 300 gallons of wine in the shed, with many dozens of different wines. We had loads of parties then!

I stopped making wine about 5 - 6 years years ago and until recently to drink it all!

I have loads of recipes for making just about any wine, one of the best wines in my opinion is Elderflower (which should be out quite soon ) I used to make it 5 gallons a time and store it in 5 gallon distilled water barrels they used in work, I glued a fermentation lock into the cap and you can drink it after about 12 weeks. The amounts are guidelines and the basis for a lot of wines. Thing must be spotlessly clean, household bleach works as good as anything for cleaning (its all I ever used used for years for demijohn and barrels) but then wash it then loads of times with cold water to get rid of the smell.

1kg sugar per gallon,
500 grams sultana or raisins per gallon
(sultanas are a bit cheaper, and just as good)
One or two lemons (for 5 gallons)
Some grated ginger (1oz - 2 oz per 5 gallons) optional
wine yeast

Simple to make

Put the elderflower in a bucket, Pour boiling water on the elderflower and cover with a tea towel or lid and leave for about 3 - 4 days.

Then scope out what you can of the the elderflower or it strain off. try and get the green bits of stork out, but don't worry if a few bits are still left in the water.

Now add 1/2 the total sugar and stir until dissolved (add the other 1/2 in a weeks or two time)

Chop up the sultanas & lemon, add the grated ginger and put the lot in with the elderflower water and sugar.
top the water up to about 5 galls with some boiling water.

leave for about 12 hours and then add the wine yeast

Leave it for about a week and strain off, now add the grape juice and rest of the sugar. Keep it somewhere fairly warm

Pour into clean demijohns with a fermentation lock , to about 1" from the top. If the measure is a bit short just top up with some grape juice or just cold water. ( if you have not got a fermentation lock, plug with cotton wool, it allows it to breath and keeps out the flies)

Leave in the demijohn or about a month or 2 and siphon off into a clean demijohn, you can do this every month if you wish as the wine will get clearer. The longer its left the better, but its ok to drink after about 12 weeks.

Other very good recipes which are exactly the same as above, but they take longer before they are ready to drink ( average 9 - 12 months) instead of using elderflower use:

Nettle (bought dried packets health shops, excellent very strong)
Mint ( not my favorite, but they drunk it all!)
Tea (tea no milk! called farmhouse tea, but add more raisins)
Carrot ( add cracked wheat: called Carrot Whisky, its excellent)
Swede ( take 18 months to 2 years, tastes like Croft pale sherry)

if you want to get a book on winemaking, the best book and regarded as the "bible" of wine making is called
The first steps in wine making by CJJ Berry

Hope this helps

Woody

[Woody]

Hi
I forgot one of my favorites, Rhubarb, it makes an excellent sweet white wine. Firstly forget about any recipes that say only make Rhubarb wine in April / May this method works all year (it called the Tritton method)

Cut up the Rhubarb ( say 2 - 3lb per gallon) cut up the smaller the better, but dont bother to peel it, pour in all the sugar to cover. Important DO NOT ADD ANY WATER

leave for a couple of days, you will now have liquid in the bucket,
pour this into a clean container, now add the sultanas/ lemon (but no ginger in this recipe) and add the yeast

You might not have enough liquid from the rhubarb, so just make some more by pouring boiling water on the rhubarb and leave it soak again overnight and use this to top up the other liquid.

Everything else is like making the previous elderflower wine.
Rhubarb will take at least 18 months, you can drink it sooner, but try and leave it, the longer it is left the better (ideal 2 - 3 years) It will honestly be worth waiting for

Woody

[Mo]

Do the people who say only in April / May say so for the same reasons that people say don't pick your rhubarb too late in the season?
1. To give the crown a chance to recover - we've been picking fairly hard and the stems are now looking a bit spindly so we'll go easier.
2. Because of the oxalic acid, which is poisonous. It is in the leaves all year round, but I read that it moved down into the stem later on.

[Woody]

Hi Mo

No, the reason that some (most) books say only use rhubarb early in the season is, that if you use the rhubarb later it in the year, it takes the wine much longer to clear (possibly taking several years) but that cloudiness only happens when you boil or soak the rhubarb at the start to extract the flavour, by using the tritton method of dry extraction for some reason the wine clears much quicker, but technically I don't know why that happens, having made the wine by several methods, I only know that the dry extraction method works !

Woody