Hmmm... Freezer Space... What shall I brew?

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Hmmm... Freezer Space... What shall I brew?

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cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Tue Nov 02, 04 9:07 am Post subject: Hmmm... Freezer Space... What shall I brew?

Tomorrow we're splitting an eigth of a bullock with some friends. As the bullock was a great big Gloucester (from a heard just up the road from here, they're the soppiest, most spoiled cattle I've ever met), that's a lot of meat. Already well hung (that's a month hanging, as if you didn't know what I meant), so we're looking to freeze most of it.

So I need to empty out freezer space. And I need to do it today.

I have three to four pounds of red and white currants, about a pound of black currants, two pounds of elderberries, a pound or two of blackberries, and maybe two pounds of sloes. All wild picked. And they have to go.

Oh, and there's about a stone of chicken of the woods mushroom in there too, but that's another story.

So, I have a freezer drawer full to the brim with fruit. Here's the currant ('scuse the pun) game plan.

Red and White Currant Wine (sweet-ish)
3lb of white and red currants
1 1/2lb of sugar
1lb honey
1 cup of strong tea
1 teaspoon of yeast nutrient
1/2 tsp citric acid

Make as for any standard fruit wine, adding some pectinase after a day or two (with the fruit still in a straining bag) if itlooks like the fruit isn't really breaking down.

Black Fruit Wine
4lb mixed black fruits (blackberries, black currants, elderberries)
2lb sugar
1 cup tea
1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
1tsp citric acid

Again, fruit in straining bag, make as for a standard fruit wine.

Leaving me with the sloes, which don't make a great wine in my opinion. I already have sloe gin. How is sloe vodka?

jema
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28234
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Tue Nov 02, 04 9:32 am Post subject:
Sounds some good brews and I envy you the beef Long time since I have made Sloe wine, 20 years or so! but I thought it was pretty good. Sloe vodka is IMHO ok, but distinctly less good than Sloe gin, first time round we made both, since then it has been strictly gin only. jema

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Wed Nov 03, 04 10:05 am Post subject:

Slight change to those recipes...

I made a red currant wine, with three pounds of sugar rather than 2 1/2 or so, and a mixed black fruit (elderberry, blackberry, black currant) with, again, 3lb. I think both will need that much sugar. Each had 3 1/2 to 4lb of fruit.

The white currants are half way to becoming jelly now (they're straining), there's a batch of sloe gin on and an experimental batch of sloe brandy. I still have sloes to use.

jema
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28234
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Wed Nov 03, 04 10:18 am Post subject:
Someone on RC did Sloe Whiskey, though they did not as I recall rave about the results. jema

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Wed Nov 03, 04 11:08 am Post subject:

Naah, I don't fancy sloe whisky (although I make a mean blackberry whisky, and my blackberry whisky ice cream is one of the things that dinner guests fight for every last scrap of). I've got an idea that I might cook them down and add the pulp to a rabbit stew; I've done the same with damsons, and I suspect I might get away with it with sloes. Might be better to base something 'sweet and sour' around them.

Or I might buy another great big bottle of gin and give people sloe gin for Christmas, with a label saying don't open till the end of January

jema
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28234
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Wed Nov 03, 04 11:21 am Post subject:
I tend to infuse for tow months, so a little late to start Gin for xmas IMHO. jema

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Wed Nov 03, 04 11:33 am Post subject:

I do mine for three, hence the need to label any Christmas sloe gin with 'not to be opened till February'.

Incidentally, I've noticed a lot of variation in how much sugar people use. I put in half the weight in sugar to that of the sloes, and I fill the bottles half full with sloes. A lot of the recipes I've seen suggest using far less sugar, but I find that I need that much sugar or my sloe gin comes out awfully dry. There's also disagreement on whether or not to add almonds (I do).

What recipe do you favour?

Jonnyboy

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 23956
Location: under some rain.

Posted: Wed Nov 03, 04 11:35 am Post subject:
If you don't fancy making all wine you could try blackcurrant syrup, which is highly versatile. I also made a huge batch of blackberry jelly rather than jam this year and have been using it instead of redcurrant jelly in sauces et.

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Wed Nov 03, 04 11:39 am Post subject:
Jonnyboy, a great suggestion, with only one minor drawback. I've already got the wine going now The whitecurrant jelly (I'll get a couple of jars) I'm really looking forward to, and I -might- end up making a sloe and apple jelly too. Dunno yet.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45669
Location: Essex

Posted: Wed Nov 03, 04 11:48 am Post subject:
How come they don't make whitecurrant jam?

jema
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28234
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Wed Nov 03, 04 11:57 am Post subject:

Cab wrote:

I think I did 2lb sloe I litre gin, 1lb suger.

no almonds.

jema

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Wed Nov 03, 04 12:25 pm Post subject:
Tahir, you can make whitecurrant jam just like you can make redcurrant jam (they're more or less the same fruit), but it doesn't look all that impressive, and the fruit are better employed in a jelly or to stretch your raspberries further in a raspberry and currant jam. Jema, that's not far from my recipe (which was in turn adapted from Food for Free).

alison
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Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 12918
Location: North Devon

Posted: Thu Nov 11, 04 8:13 am Post subject:
Cab Has the meat arrived yet. What weight was it.

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