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Bebo

Joined: 21 May 2007
Posts: 12590
Location: East Sussex

Posted: Wed Jun 10, 09 7:02 pm Post subject: Winemaking Questions
Can you use currants instead of raisins in a winemaking recipe (to save me going down the shop for more raisins)? And am I right in thinking tannin can be introduced by using cold tea?

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Wed Jun 10, 09 7:19 pm Post subject:
Currants - I do, and it seems to work. Tea - yes. Half a cup per gallon.

Bebo

Joined: 21 May 2007
Posts: 12590
Location: East Sussex

Posted: Wed Jun 10, 09 7:23 pm Post subject:
Thank you, you are a star!

gil
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18415

Posted: Wed Jun 10, 09 7:28 pm Post subject:
What Chez said - sultanas also fine, and I tend to use them as they have a blander taste than raisins. How much tea depends on what kind of wine, and how tannic the fruit already is. Half a cup is a good average. What kind of wine, Bebo ?

Bebo

Joined: 21 May 2007
Posts: 12590
Location: East Sussex

Posted: Wed Jun 10, 09 7:32 pm Post subject:
My first ever attempt at elderflower, if it's dry tomorrow I'm going to have a go then if not it'll be at the weekend.

gil
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18415

Posted: Wed Jun 10, 09 7:33 pm Post subject:
Half a cup per gallon is fine. You wouldn't happen to have a litre carton of white grape juice instead of currants ? Blander, and keeps the wine paler. No matter if not.

Bebo

Joined: 21 May 2007
Posts: 12590
Location: East Sussex

Posted: Wed Jun 10, 09 7:42 pm Post subject:
Is that a litre per gallon? If I leave it until the weekend I can pick some up then.

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Wed Jun 10, 09 7:53 pm Post subject:
Yes, as a rule of thumb. I tend to use a litre of apple juice and a pound of sultanas/currants per gallon. You can also use those cans of concentrate that you get in winemaking shops.

towerhill

Joined: 06 Apr 2009
Posts: 332
Location: Pembrokeshire

Posted: Wed Jun 10, 09 8:01 pm Post subject:
I managed to get a load of wine making kit from freecycle a couple of months ago - including the hydrometer and the 1st steps book. Elderflower cordial seems a success (the OH likes it) so am going to try the elderflower wine tomorrow after work.

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Wed Jun 10, 09 8:02 pm Post subject:
I quite like those tiny little tins of concentrated grape juice. Seem to have little impact on the flavour, but adds the body that you get from raisins/sultanas.

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Wed Jun 10, 09 8:24 pm Post subject:
I don't use a hydrometer these days - too lazy. If it explodes, it explodes

BahamaMama

Joined: 21 Sep 2006
Posts: 2315
Location: Away with the fairies

Posted: Wed Jun 10, 09 9:07 pm Post subject:
and what do we think of elderflower and strawberry? Could it be a goer? It went into the dj today a very pale rose.

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Thu Jun 11, 09 7:31 am Post subject:
We think, testing party at Bahamama's house in about six months?

James

Joined: 11 Jan 2006
Posts: 2866
Location: York

Posted: Thu Jun 11, 09 8:43 am Post subject: Strawberry and Elderflower Wine

Bahama Mama: Strawberry & elderflower would make a lovely wine.
To make a strawberry & elderflower wine, I�d add 3 lb of mashed up strawberries at the start of the primary fermentation to the recipe below, and possibly reduce the elderflower slightly (to 3/4 pint maybe)

Adding elderflower half way through a primary fermentation ensures a much cleaner, more refreshing flavour from the elderflower than if you add it at the beginning. So on a 7 day pulp fermentation, add on day 3. If you add it at the beginning, the very gassy initial fermentation can strip some of the more delicate flavour.

My elderflower wine recipe:

1 pint fresh elderflowers
1 litre white grape juice
1 litre apple juice
700g granulated sugar
1-1/2 tsp acid blend (or citric acid)
yeast & nutrient

In a fermentation bucket, dissolve sugar in a small amount of boiling water and let cool. Add fruit juices & acid blend, make up to 7 pints & pitch activated yeast.
After 3 days, separate flowers from stalks and add the flowers in a weighted down straining bag . Ferment for a further 4 days. Strain through a sieve into demijohn, top up to 1 gallon & ferment out as usual.
Once it�s clear, de-gass it and bottle, mature for a few months. Its best drunk young.

Last edited by James on Thu Jun 11, 09 8:54 am; edited 1 time in total

James

Joined: 11 Jan 2006
Posts: 2866
Location: York

Posted: Thu Jun 11, 09 8:53 am Post subject:

....And my 5 gallon recipe:

For 5 gallons:

5 pints elderflowers
A one gallon white wine kit
1 sachet of yeast
2 litres of apple juice
5 tsp acid blend
4 kg sugar
5 tsp nutrient

Day 1: make up the wine kit and start it fermenting in a demijohn
In a 5 gallon fermentation bucket, dissolve the sugar in 2 gallons of boiling water

Day 2: To the sugar syrup, add acid blend, apple juice, nutrient and the one gallon of white wine.
Day 4: Add elderflowers
Day 8: sieve and put into demijohns/ secondary fermenters

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