Still researching recipes etc , planning on visiting another friend who I have found out is a bit of a local show champion at such things for some info on Saturday then off to homebrew store. Very excited
How long till I can test the goods ?
I want to mostly make what I think are called 'Country Wines' rather than kits, keep ££ down and also additives and nasties down. Having said that I may try one kit if it isnt to expensive/scary. Any recommendations ? Or any other top tips ?
My first recommendation is actually not to buy a kit. A few are good - most are not and, if you look closely at the labels, are made up from such things as elderberry juice rather than grape juice. You can do that for yourself rather than pay the extra for the kit.
At this time of the year, I'd go for a rhubarb wine as a first project. I know everyone waxes lyrical about elderflower champagne, but that isn't the easiest thing to get right. Rhubarb would take only a couple of days longer than a kit to make and, if you make a light one, it can be drunk almost immediately. So, say three to four weeks, start to finish. If you'd like to try that, shout and I'll put a recipe up on here.
I don't think you're going to have too many problems - it's fairly obvious that you're in the winemaking bug incubation stage
Mike
The secret of life is to aim below the head (With thanks to MMM)
Okay - the simplest and quickest rhubarb wine in the world!!
Rule 1 - Don't let hot water anywhere near this stuff, as it extracts oxalic acid. Despite various stories, the amount of this acid will not harm you in the slightest - but it may well bugger up the fermentation.
Rule 2 - Do not (that's DO NOT) attempt to pulverise the rhubarb with a blunt instrument of any kind (unless you like cloudy wine).
Ingredients: 4 lbs rhubarb, 2 lbs sugar, 1 large orange (or lemon, but orange is better). Apart from yeast and water, that's it.
Method. Wash the rhubarb well and cut it with a sharp knife (made of anything you damn well please) into small pieces. You're looking for something like 1 cm cubes - that kind of size. Put them into your bucket/demijohn/whatever and sprinkle the sugar over them fairly evenly - DON'T stir the rhubarb around. Cover the container and leave for 24 hours. After that time, gently pour 6 pints of room-temperature water over the rhubarb and re-cover. Leave for 5 days. After 5 days, gently strain off the solids (which you can, if you want, make a crumble from). Don't press the solids (you're getting used to this gentle treatment by now). To the remaining liquid, now happily sitting in a demijohn, add the juice of a large orange, top up the demijohn to around shoulder height with cold water, add the yeast (general purpose wine yeast is absolutely fine), put the airlock on and go away for a couple of days. After that, top the demijohn up to, say, an inch below the bung of the airlock. Replace the airlock and leave the demijohn in a warmish place to ferment to a finish. As there's only two pounds of sugar in there, this won't take very long.
Inside the demijohn, you will now have a light, dry rhubarb wine at around 10% ABV - which is just about right for a light, dry, white wine (although yours may have a pinkish tinge).
Normal stuff after this - rack, mature (no more than 6 months) and bottle. Or if you're me, rack, forget maturation, pour out glassful, drink. Sod the bottling, too.
You can speed the whole thing up - as though this wasn't quick enough - by making up a yeast starter, by adding yeast nutrient, by adding Vit B1 - any or all of those things.
Oh - and please totally ignore anything you read about using precipitated chalk with rhubarb wine - it's very likely to ruin it.
Enjoy.
Mike
The secret of life is to aim below the head (With thanks to MMM)
Mike, just added the water. I was surprised to find liquid already in the bucket ! From the rhubarb I assume ?
Cant wait to try it, on holiday with my brother and loads of kids at the end of the month, hoping to take it with us for that.
Shopping was good, tried to resist too many toys, got a thermometer and fancy floaty thing, some yeast and sterilisers, as well as air locks. Only thing I forgot was nutrient [what ever that is, not listed in current recipes fortunately] but can mail order it I guess.
Need to get some lemon squash this week.... Want to make this, makes me weep just to see the pictures !
I've just made a demijohn (just under) of gorseflower wine, which tastes delicious and apparently ends up a bit like pina colada. I don't know if there is any gorse where you are, but I'd definitely recommend it. I used around 2.5 litres of gorse flowers in just under a gallon of water, boiled them for around 15-20 minutes, added 800g sugar and then brewing yeast when it was blood temperature. It goes a lovely bright yellow colour in the demijohn!
Green Aura wrote:Don't worry about yeast nutrient - a smidge (technical term for about 1/4 teasponnful ) of Marmite or Vegemite will do the trick just as well.
You seemed to have mixed up the emoticon(smileys) :) I'll help
Depends where you are. I love Marmite and Vegemite. Except in Australia, where both are insipid. Different recipes for different countries, you see. New Zealand, I believe, has markedly different recipes from Australia. And I suspect the Scottish version may be haggis flavoured (those strange people do like deep-fried Mars bars, so anything's possible). English Marmite is, obviously, the best of the best - but it all depends upon what you were brought up with.
Yeast cells, though, couldn't care less.
Mike
The secret of life is to aim below the head (With thanks to MMM)
When we lived in America we would fly back from a visit to UK with 4-6 large jars in our luggage. 12 years and never ran out of it !!
I now have lemonade hooch in one demijohn, kids and I are watching the bubbles fixatedly, Elderflower is in a plastic bottle and rhubarb will go into another demijohn on Friday.
Now what to put into the last one ? and I have been offered some more already.....
, planning on visiting another friend who I have found out is a bit of a local show champion at such things 
for some info on Saturday then off to homebrew store. Very excited 
) of Marmite 
or Vegemite 
