We make our wine in a fermenting barrel 4 gallons at a time.
We stick to a tried and tested formula which we have described before. All you need to alter is the fruit, flower or vegetable and any additional ingredients:
Fruit, Flower or Vegetable (see list below for amount, preparation and other ingredients)
Please Note: we now use Ritchies as they do a yeast and nutrient combined with 1 tsp required for any quantity from 1 gallon to 4 gallons. This is by far the cheapest method and doesn't compromise the fermentation process. I use the Home Brew shop in Grimsby as I am able to pop in on my regular visits to Grimsby, but they do mail order.
Parsnip
Ingredients:
16 lb of peeled parsnips, topped, tailed and cut into large chunks (we started with 32 lb of dirty parsnips) 4 whole lemons sliced
Method:
Boil the parsnips in manageable batches. Once water boiled keep in pan for one additional minute. Remove the parsnips (we then freeze them for cooking as they are par boiled). Pour the water into the fermenting barrel.
Tips:
Once peeled and cut into large pieces, place in a bucket of cold water and leave covered for a few days. This allows you to spread the wine making over a few days as the preparation of 32 lb of parsnips can be a little tedious! It also allows more flavour to be extracted from the parsnip. Use this yellowing water to boil the parsnips when you are ready.
Once par boiled you have lost some flavour, but they are still great mashed, as a soup or roasted with a covering of honey to add more sugary flavour!
Beetroot
Ingredients:
12 lb of washed beetroot, topped, tailed and cut into large chunks 4 whole lemons sliced 4oz grated ginger 24 cloves
Method:
Boil the beetroot. We cook in 4 batches of 3 lb in 2.5 litres of water. Small beets can be kept whole, medium sized in half and large in quarters. Once water boiled keep in pan for additional 30 minutes. Remove the cooked beetroot (we then freeze them for eating or cooking). Pour the water into the fermenting barrel.
Tips:
This is the same method of cooking beetroot for eating or pickling, except we keep the left over water for wine. Once cooked you have lost some flavour, but they are still great pickled or frozen to be eaten once defrosted, used as a soup or roasted!
Put the fermenting bin in a bin liner and the demi johns into a cardboard box or similar and store in a dark place. When beetroot wine is exposed to light it starts to lose its colour. We have actually purchased large black cotton bags with a draw string to make storing in this way much easier.
Elderflower
Ingredients:
3 pints of white flowers with stalks removed (lightly press flowers into a pint jug to guage quantity) Juice of 12 lemons 1kg of chopped sultanas 4 tsp of tannin
Method:
Simply add all the ingredients the barrel
Tips:
Elderflowers grow in abundance along hedgerows in England and are free! They usually flower towards the end of June
Elderberry
Ingredients:
12 lb of ripe berries that have stalks removed (14 lb in total weight)
Method:
Liquidise fruit in a food processor or crush manually and add fruit and juice to barrel
Tips:
Elderberries grow in abundance along hedgerows in England and are free! They are usually ready for picking towards the end of September.
Use a fork to remove berries from their stalks
Strawberry, Raspberry, Blackberry, Gooseberry
Ingredients:
16 lb of ripe fruit
We freeze our fruit in the summer and make at our leisure during the winter. Frozen fruit is best as it breaks down very easily when thawed
4 tsp of pectolase
Method:
Liquidise fruit in a food processor or crush manually and add fruit and juice to barrel
Tips:
Rhubarb
Ingredients:
14 lb of rhubab stalks
We freeze our fruit in the summer and make at our leisure during the winter. Frozen fruit is best as it breaks down very easily when thawed
Method:
Place the thawed fruit in to a sterilesed bucket with lid. We use 2. Cover with 5kg of sugar and leave for 48 hours. Poor off the syrup and add to barrel. Cover fruit with cold water and stir fruit. Leave for a few hours and repeat until you have 4 gallons of this extracted juice. In effect you are rinsing the fruit of the sugars and flavour. Boil 3 gallons of the juice and place in a fermenting barrel to cool. Keep the other gallon in the fridge and use as a top up once initial fermenting has stopped (boil, cool and add as you would the sugar). This prevents the wine from getting stuck.
Tips:
As we have 3 plants, we use only the pink part or the green part where you can see pink when cutting the stalk. This gives a more colourful rose finish to the wine.
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