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Brew your own...
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We were thinking about trying to brew our own wine (or whatever flower/fruit equivalent) anyone got any ideas how to start....I see those starter packs on various sites and was wondering if that was the way to go. I'm searching through amazon at the minute too for books on the subject.
Any brewers out there?
Any brewers out there?
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Me - I make my own wine - I don't use a kit, I use stuff from the garden. Most fruit will ferment without the use of additional yeast.
My favs are reds - blackcurrents, sloes, elderberries, blackberries. We use anything from the garden - apples, pears, rhubarb, cherries, redcurrents. You can also make mead and tea wines which are good.
We have 2 big buckets which we put the fruit in, add water sugar or honey, malt extract, dregs from a few pots of tea, lemon juice. Let that ferment for a couple of weeks - we use lidded buckets so you need to open the lid every morning to release the pressure. When you don't need to do that, say 2-3 weeks we strain and transfer the liqid to a demijohn. Once it's stoped fermenting we rack it and store it in a demijohn to age - it lives in the cupboard under the stairs. When we need a demijohn we bottle the oldest wine and leave in the wine rack in the kitchen.
There is some cherry wine in the fridge - it is a fairly light rose suitable for summer afternoons. Morello cherries make a much darker wine - more for an evening meal.
What do you need equipment wise?
Large plastic bucket with lid.
Demijohns (min2)
6 wine bottles
milton for sterilising
corks - for demijohn and bottles
airlocks with corks
funnels - large for demijohn, small for bottle
syphon hose
coffee filter papers
muslin or cheesecloth or similar
you can use yeast, a hydrometer for checking alcohol content - I don't bother.
you may need finning and a miriad of other things.
Check out your local charity shops for books on home brewing, I have some very old books, I think they came from jumble sales, one has some very odd recipes and advice. Certainly written before the advent of supermarkets.
Been brewing for years.
Make my own Cider,Stout & also Elderflower Champagne.
Took my Cider to the Welsh National Champs in 2006 & won best new producer.
If you fancy having a go @ wine try,the Elderflower Champagne as an easy intro & see how you go.
The basic for this are Elderflower,stalks & all in large brewing bin or plastic refuse bin.
Top up with cold water,juice of 3 or 4 lemons,chuck in a bits of the peel.
1kg of dissolved sugar.
Top of with cold water to 20 Ltrs.
Leave in warm place for 2 or 3 days,strain & bottle.
have look on one of the many brewing websites & get one of the very reasonably priced starter kits.
If you really get into it & king keg is must for keeping the stuff really fresh & on constant tap.
Ginger beer plant is drop dead easy to create and keep going - I can't keep up and drink that much ginger beer.
As BRT says - look for a speciality brewing website for your kit. The plastic has to be quite thick otherwise it breathes and ruins your wine. (or beer)
OH - I use large glass bottles for ginger beer - stuff the top with organic cotton wool and cover with gauze.