okay whats your easiest homebrew recipe

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okay whats your easiest homebrew recipe
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gil
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18415

Posted: Thu Apr 25, 13 11:36 am Post subject:
It can be good - the secret is to not use too much rhubarb; and to add a one litre carton of white grape juice to give it body and smoothness. Most recipes vastly overdo the rhubarb, and then it is too acidic / astringent. If you like rhubarb to eat, you should like the wine.

foggy

Joined: 21 Feb 2012
Posts: 343
Location: Devon

Posted: Fri Apr 26, 13 2:52 pm Post subject: Potato wine

gardening-girl wrote:

foggy wrote:

Potato wine is surprisingly easy, and totally delicious (& very strong) and drinkable after 9 months!

Recipe?

Ok, here goes!

I adapted this recipe from various different ones I found on t'internet.

Makes approx 1 Gallon/5ish litres.

2kg old potatoes
1.5kg sugar
125-150g raisins
Juice of 2 lemons
White Wine Yeast & Yeast Nutrient

Wash potatoes & cut into cubes, don't peel them.
Boil the potoes in 4.5 litres of water, and simmer until tender.
Strain onto sugar and raisins, and mix well.
When cool, add the lemon juice, yeast & nutrient.
Ferment for 4 days in bucket, then strain into Demi-John.

I racked after 2 months, then again after 4 months and waited for it to clear (approx another 2-3 months) before bottling.

Enjoy!

Lorrainelovesplants

Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Posts: 6521
Location: Dordogne

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 13 7:41 am Post subject:

Ive been up in the night again.....so spent a while searching for recipes and info on homebrew (this spring's project).

Q - what is yeast nutrient and do I really need it?
Q - when recipes ask for grape juice concentrate can I use supermarket grape juice (and just reduce the voume of water in recipe to compensate)?
Q - Do I need a straining bag?
Q - Do I leave the stuff to ferment in fermentation bucket with yeast, and then pour into demijohns?

Lorrainelovesplants

Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Posts: 6521
Location: Dordogne

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 13 2:22 pm Post subject:
have now done the dandelion beer and dandelion wine. Kitchen smells lovely and lemony, but have to say, the beer (with the whole plants) looks nicer than the wine. When they tell you to remove as much green as you can, do they mean just pull the petals off and use these? Still......nothing ventured...

gil
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18415

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 13 3:40 pm Post subject:

Lorrainelovesplants wrote:

Ive been up in the night again.....so spent a while searching for recipes and info on homebrew (this spring's project).

Q - what is yeast nutrient and do I really need it?

Not if you use grape juice, which I would tend to always use in a homebrew wine just to give some extra body - especially with leaf/flower wines

Q - when recipes ask for grape juice concentrate can I use supermarket grape juice (and just reduce the voume of water in recipe to compensate)?

yes. I would use between half and one litre of grape juice per gallon demijohn. If I were only making 1 gallon, I'd probably use the entire carton. If I were making 2 gallons, I'd split the carton between them

Q - Do I need a straining bag?

yes, but an old clean pillowcase will do nicely

Q - Do I leave the stuff to ferment in fermentation bucket with yeast, and then pour into demijohns?

Yes, for about 5-7 days - 4-5 for flowers/leaves as they give up their flavours to the brew faster than fruit

gil
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18415

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 13 3:42 pm Post subject:

Sounds good so far !

Lorrainelovesplants wrote:

have now done the dandelion beer and dandelion wine.
Kitchen smells lovely and lemony, but have to say, the beer (with the whole plants) looks nicer than the wine.

When they tell you to remove as much green as you can, do they mean just pull the petals off and use these?
..

yes. that's why it takes so flippin' long to get enough dandelions to make a gallon

Lorrainelovesplants

Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Posts: 6521
Location: Dordogne

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 13 5:16 pm Post subject:
tomorrow......nettle beer and possible rhubarb wine.

Truffle

Joined: 07 Feb 2006
Posts: 526

Posted: Wed May 01, 13 3:50 pm Post subject:

gil wrote:

Sounds good so far !

Lorrainelovesplants wrote:

have now done the dandelion beer and dandelion wine.
Kitchen smells lovely and lemony, but have to say, the beer (with the whole plants) looks nicer than the wine.

When they tell you to remove as much green as you can, do they mean just pull the petals off and use these?
..

yes. that's why it takes so flippin' long to get enough dandelions to make a gallon

I just snip the calyx off with a pair of scissors, its a much easier way to process

truffle

Lorrainelovesplants

Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Posts: 6521
Location: Dordogne

Posted: Thu May 02, 13 3:27 am Post subject:

I went to my friend's homebrew shop and bought a straining bag (very fine arnt they?), a beer kit (John was with me), a demi-john cleaning brush (mine never got into the corners) and some different yeasts (he suggested a specific one for doing the rhubarb because of the malic acid)...
and forgot the grape juice concentrate

.

So off to Lidl's (at a normal time, not now) to try and get some grape juice without preservatives etc.

Hairyloon

Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.

Posted: Thu May 02, 13 8:37 am Post subject:

gil wrote:

It can be good - the secret is to not use too much rhubarb; and to add a one litre carton of white grape juice to give it body and smoothness.
Most recipes vastly overdo the rhubarb, and then it is too acidic / astringent.

I think all the recipes I've looked at are 1kg rhubarb, 1kg sugar, and variatons on method and extras.
I've tried making it a couple of times, results are not unpleasant, but definitely lacking something... I'll try the grape juice this time.

Lorrainelovesplants

Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Posts: 6521
Location: Dordogne

Posted: Sun May 05, 13 10:50 am Post subject:
Update - the dandelion beer is in bottles now and fizzing gently. the dandelion wine is in a demijohn with airlock - I had to top it up to the shoulder with water and added a teasponn of nutrient. Its now fizzing away like crazy. Both are a nice colour ans smell. I am doing the rhubarb now, ...and have been really bitten by the bug!

gil
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18415

Posted: Mon May 06, 13 2:38 pm Post subject:

Hairyloon wrote:

gil wrote:

I eventually used 1.5lbs of rhubarb per gallon, even less than your 1kg. And the standard 1kg sugar. Though if you are going to add grape juice, you can reduce to 2lb sugar/ gall, or even 1.75lb. There is a surprisingly large amount of sugar in a litre of grape juice, so you can reduce actual granulated accordingly.

I reckon the other secret of making nice rhubarb wine is not to make it too strong. You want to end up with a light, dry white/rose. So easy on the sugar too. None of this 2.5-3lb/gallon.

Lorrainelovesplants

Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Posts: 6521
Location: Dordogne

Posted: Sat May 18, 13 9:49 am Post subject:

How do you know when its finished fermnenting?

The rhubarb and dandelion wine have been in demi-johns and are doing nowt.

After sitting them in the fermentation buckets in the conservatory (warm) when the rhubarb did its thing quite quietly, and the dandelion wine was going like a train, Ive put them into demijohns. the dandelion continued to fizz a bit until a week ago. now both have stopped - no bubbles, some sediment in bottom of jar.

Should I be racking now?

sean
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42219
Location: North Devon

Posted: Sat May 18, 13 11:15 am Post subject:
Have you got a hydrometer? It sounds as if they have though.

Lorrainelovesplants

Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Posts: 6521
Location: Dordogne

Posted: Sat May 18, 13 11:53 am Post subject:
Yes, have a hydrometer...

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