Explain yourself man. Or do I have my Miss Gullible 2004 sash on?
jema Downsizer Moderator
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 28239 Location: escaped from Swindon
Posted: Wed Dec 15, 04 2:22 pm Post subject:
Sarah D wrote:
Cab wrote:
Log?
I sometimes write on the side of the bottle with marker pen. Or I give it a smell. Usually I just taste it.
For the second time in two days I find myself agreeing with cab....................
I would love to be organised enough to keep a log, especially with the costs of the various things made. I may try it next year, and incorporate it inot a larger household log. Or I may not....
I usually just taste as well.
I'd find it really hard to keep track without a log.
and I do like to make the odd note that may help in the future.
I'd find it really hard to keep track without a log.
and I do like to make the odd note that may help in the future.
I find that my memory suffices fairly well. Most wine recipes are variations on three or so themes, and all you need to remember is what you varied and what theme. The scrawls on the side of the demijon does for working out what's been going on in the batch (if any notes are needed).
Explain yourself man. Or do I have my Miss Gullible 2004 sash on?
Japanese knotweed is evil and must be eradicated from our fair isle. So I've taken it upon myself to eat it.
It's perfectly edible, but you're in risk of breaking the law in transporting it. So I cut it to length in the field (where it's growing), and process the crap out of it at home.
It makes a pleasant wine; it's a lot like rhubarb. I use 4lb of knotweed stems (youngish), 3lb of sugar, half a teaspoon of citric acid and a spoonfull of yeast nutrient, and a cup of strong black tea. Boil the fluid up and pour onto the 'fruit', and treat as for pretty much any other wine. A bit of pectinase helps it go.
It's also good in desserts, a lot like rhubarb.
Jonnyboy
Joined: 29 Oct 2004 Posts: 23956 Location: under some rain.
Posted: Wed Dec 15, 04 3:18 pm Post subject:
Having owned a property infested with japanese knotweed my hatred of it is extreme.
I saw it grow though a tarmac drive within a few weeks of it being laid (although that may say more about the quality of the contractors than anything else)
How long do you leave it before it's drinkable?
bagpuss
Joined: 09 Dec 2004 Posts: 10507 Location: cambridge
Posted: Wed Dec 15, 04 3:21 pm Post subject:
if I recall I thought i was quite pleasant new but cab reckon it was very good after a year, but If I remember it is somewhat of a select taste, not everyone liked it
It was drinkable as soon as it was bottled. It was pleasant about six months later. It was nice (i.e., that my better half would drink it without complaining, and so that on occasion people actually requested it) after about a year.
It would never have been to your taste Bagpus as it was far too dry; you always seem to be much happier with the sweet wines. I'd have made more this year but someone dug up my local patch of knotweed. Next year I plan (if I've time) a batch of dry and another of sweet.
bagpuss
Joined: 09 Dec 2004 Posts: 10507 Location: cambridge
Posted: Wed Dec 15, 04 4:41 pm Post subject:
thats odd given I distinctly remember drinking it and liking it
I do like dry wines on ocassion and I don't like sweet wines on occassions it depends on how I am feeling but I more often I prefer medium wines over either
I knew about the pernicious weed bit but it would never in a million years occur to me to think of it as being edible Somehow I'd assumed it'd be horribly poisonous as well as invasive.
Well, I'll have something to post on the "What have you learned" threads now!
Thanks Cab and Bagpuss for the info. I'm still not going to go home and have knotweed and custard (haven't seen any very near us anyway, thankfully) but I shall think about it and investigate.
Lindsay
Joined: 03 Nov 2004 Posts: 61 Location: Stuck in the suburbs
Posted: Wed Dec 15, 04 5:19 pm Post subject:
Sounds interesting - there's likely to be some the other side of my back fence as it was there this year - Somerfield and the local council couldn't give a toss, obviously
thats odd given I distinctly remember drinking it and liking it
I do like dry wines on ocassion and I don't like sweet wines on occassions it depends on how I am feeling but I more often I prefer medium wines over either
Oh, you liked it? I thought you were being polite
Maybe I'm confusing it with another dry one then. I wonder which?
Do a web search for recipes. Wild Man has some good stuff on this.
Remember that transporting it is illegal, and that any trimmings yoou drop at any time can sprout another colony. Don't dispose of any till it's good and dead, and don't even -think- about composting it.
Treacodactyl Downsizer Moderator
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 25795 Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism
Posted: Wed Dec 15, 04 8:35 pm Post subject:
Cab wrote:
Do a web search for recipes. Wild Man has some good stuff on this.
Remember that transporting it is illegal, and that any trimmings yoou drop at any time can sprout another colony. Don't dispose of any till it's good and dead, and don't even -think- about composting it.
Interesting to know it's edible. Also make sure it's not just been sprayed.
Here is an equation that is useful to work-out how good a deal an alchohol purchase is :
alco_factor = (Vol in mL * Vol of alcohol in %) / price in pence
This can be used for pubs / shops and home made booze.
I would say is you are getting an alco_factor of 20+ you have a good deal
jema Downsizer Moderator
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 28239 Location: escaped from Swindon
Posted: Wed Dec 15, 04 9:50 pm Post subject:
andrewheywood wrote:
39 bottles - thats good going!!
Not that much for me this year.
Here is an equation that is useful to work-out how good a deal an alchohol purchase is :
alco_factor = (Vol in mL * Vol of alcohol in %) / price in pence
This can be used for pubs / shops and home made booze.
I would say is you are getting an alco_factor of 20+ you have a good deal
lol,
39 is only the first of three batches of the Elderberry
Taste does come into the equation though! I did a few gallons of "Alcotec" as I needed that sort of yeast to get an Elderberry back on the go. The Alcotec stuff has gone mostly straight down the sink!
as it was there this year - Somerfield and the local council couldn't give a toss, obviously 
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