Kit but no cash...

[shakespeare]

If you can find an elder flower tree that you can blag some flowers off you could make elderflower wine. It is apparently very simple and you only need to have 12 heads for a gallon of wine. It contains its own yeast so the only other things you need are 2 table spoons of white wine / cider vinegar, 1 1/2 lb sugar and the juice and rind of a lemon. Oh and a gallon of cold but boiled water. Add all of the ingredients and stir then leave for 3 to 14 days. strain and you should have elderflower champagne.

[hooraynana]

Firstly, Shirl the girl ta for the advice will get myself down Wilkinsons at the weekend - eee how exciting and thank you to Shakepeare - just need to find an elderflower tree ( missed out on one on freecycle earlier this year boo )
also Polly you just made me laugh my head off ;-)
x cheers will keep you posted when i've made my first batch

[KellsSimon]

Polly, i'd love a fruit juice recipie,
quite like the idea of apple cidre/wine, or wine strenght cider if i'm honest... made it once before from windfalls, lethal. but if i could make it from cartons...
Shirl, i think if the pay cheque clears then it's off to wilkinsons tomorrow for some red. As wine by next week, while not as good as wine now... is pretty bloody good!

Does anyone have any experience of beetroot brewing? as it germinated and grew so easily, i planted more... and more... so i could have a surplus sometime soon.
Would it work to make a funny coloured root beer?

There are two elderberry trees near me just about in flower/bud so thats an option too...
from not knowing what to do i appear to be spoilt for choice... oh decisions decisions.
mmmm... my own wine by next weekend... yep sounds good.
will let you all know how it goes.

[KellsSimon]

Yust found an intriguing recipie,
sounds like scumble from pratchets disk-world to me... so might have to give it a go, but can i wait three months...
what is the point of racking? i understand that wine needs to be taken off the lees, so you don't get a bad yeasty taste... but why again and again as in some recipies?


Recipe -- Apple Cider / Apple Jack

Also found all these recipies... still no beetroot though.

Roxanne's Fruit Wine Recipes

[Hilary B]

If you can find an elder flower tree that you can blag some flowers off you could make elderflower wine. It is apparently very simple and you only need to have 12 heads for a gallon of wine. It contains its own yeast so the only other things you need are 2 table spoons of white wine / cider vinegar, 1 1/2 lb sugar and the juice and rind of a lemon. Oh and a gallon of cold but boiled water. Add all of the ingredients and stir then leave for 3 to 14 days. strain and you should have elderflower champagne.

Recipes depending on 'natural' yeast are risky. Often they work well, but when they go wrong the results can be horrible. Safer to spend a modest sum on proper wine yeast, and follow a more controlled recipe.

[Hilary B]

Yust found an intriguing recipie,
sounds like scumble from pratchets disk-world to me... so might have to give it a go, but can i wait three months...
what is the point of racking? i understand that wine needs to be taken off the lees, so you don't get a bad yeasty taste... but why again and again as in some recipies?


Recipe -- Apple Cider / Apple Jack

Also found all these recipies... still no beetroot though.

Roxanne's Fruit Wine Recipes

The yeast doesn't all settle out at once, so you might need to rack 2 or 3 times to get rid of all of it.
It is actually illegal to 'distill' alcohol by freezing as well as the more obvious way (but less likely to be discovered).
I wouldn't recommend beetroot for winemaking. Some plants of that family contain toxins, and I can never remember which ones need clever processing to make them safe.....
(I also don't get on with beetroot anyway, it makes my stomach protest powerfully)

[KellsSimon]

When you say it doesn't settle, does that mean , it's finished its fermenting job, but is just held in suspension. Sort of waiting to settle? and the racking it encourages it?
(Think i'm buying fruit juice tomorrow.)

[Starchild]

Banana wine, get hold of brewing god CJJBerry's books and make banana wine. not overly strong, rather sweet, drinkable. The neighbours liked it.

[shirlthegirl43]

Recipes depending on 'natural' yeast are risky. Often they work well, but when they go wrong the results can be horrible. Safer to spend a modest sum on proper wine yeast, and follow a more controlled recipe.

Elderflower 'champagne' is made with just the wild yeast so as not to be very alcoholic. It tastes like slightly fizzy elderflower cordial and is very pleasant on a sunny summer evening (if you can find one! Otherwise I agree with using 'proper' yeast but if you do that with the elderflower you will get a wine you can't share with the kids. Do some of each?

The yeast doesn't all settle out at once, so you might need to rack 2 or 3 times to get rid of all of it.
It is actually illegal to 'distill' alcohol by freezing as well as the more obvious way (but less likely to be discovered).
I wouldn't recommend beetroot for winemaking. Some plants of that family contain toxins, and I can never remember which ones need clever processing to make them safe.....
(I also don't get on with beetroot anyway, it makes my stomach protest powerfully)

I was given a half full bottle of beetroot wine - made in 1982, it is gorgeous and rather like a port - you can't drink a whole glass of it for sure!

Banana wine, get hold of brewing god CJJBerry's books and make banana wine. not overly strong, rather sweet, drinkable. The neighbours liked it.

My banana wine is like some form of whisky liqueur - not sure what happened to it but it has a strong spirit taste (no distilling, just made as a wine and left to age for 2 years now)

[shirlthegirl43]

Firstly, Shirl the girl ta for the advice will get myself down Wilkinsons at the weekend - eee how exciting and thank you to Shakepeare - just need to find an elderflower tree ( missed out on one on freecycle earlier this year boo )
also Polly you just made me laugh my head off ;-)
x cheers will keep you posted when i've made my first batch

Check out the hedgerows for elderflowers, pick them on a sunny day when the flowers are fully open for the best flavour. Good luck with the kit - not much that can go wrong to be honest though.

Polly, i'd love a fruit juice recipie,
quite like the idea of apple cidre/wine, or wine strenght cider if i'm honest... made it once before from windfalls, lethal. but if i could make it from cartons...
Shirl, i think if the pay cheque clears then it's off to wilkinsons tomorrow for some red. As wine by next week, while not as good as wine now... is pretty bloody good!

Does anyone have any experience of beetroot brewing? as it germinated and grew so easily, i planted more... and more... so i could have a surplus sometime soon.
Would it work to make a funny coloured root beer?

There are two elderberry trees near me just about in flower/bud so thats an option too...
from not knowing what to do i appear to be spoilt for choice... oh decisions decisions.
mmmm... my own wine by next weekend... yep sounds good.
will let you all know how it goes.

You can make a quick cider by using pure apple juice (Tesco value stuff is fine) and adding a teaspoon of yeast. Put 3 litres of apple juice in a gallon dj, add the yeast, ferment under airlock and wait a few days for the initial ferment to die down, top up to shoulder of dj with more apple juice, leave to ferment till done, rack off the lees (if you want) or allow to clear in a cool place. Enjoy. Think it comes out about 4-5% but don't take my word for it. If you like your cider sparkling, prime bottles (pop bottles are okay but stoppered glass is better - such as grolsch) with sugar (I think 1/2 tsp per pint) and store in the fridge for a week or so.

Have fun with the wine kit. Good everyday wine.

[Hilary B]

Elderflower 'champagne' is made with just the wild yeast so as not to be very alcoholic. It tastes like slightly fizzy elderflower cordial and is very pleasant on a sunny summer evening (if you can find one! Otherwise I agree with using 'proper' yeast but if you do that with the elderflower you will get a wine you can't share with the kids. Do some of each?

Surely it is the amount of sugar present which decides the alcohol content????



I was given a half full bottle of beetroot wine - made in 1982, it is gorgeous and rather like a port - you can't drink a whole glass of it for sure!

I have eaten beetroot twice in my life, both times with spectacular (and not nice) consequences. You will perhaps appreciate that this has given me a rather 'different' opinion of it<g>

My banana wine is like some form of whisky liqueur - not sure what happened to it but it has a strong spirit taste (no distilling, just made as a wine and left to age for 2 years now)

Any tips on how to get it to clear, or does it just take ages, but get there in the end?

[Hilary B]

Check out the hedgerows for elderflowers, pick them on a sunny day when the flowers are fully open for the best flavour. Good luck with the kit - not much that can go wrong to be honest though.



You can make a quick cider by using pure apple juice (Tesco value stuff is fine) and adding a teaspoon of yeast. Put 3 litres of apple juice in a gallon dj, add the yeast, ferment under airlock and wait a few days for the initial ferment to die down, top up to shoulder of dj with more apple juice, leave to ferment till done, rack off the lees (if you want) or allow to clear in a cool place. Enjoy. Think it comes out about 4-5% but don't take my word for it. If you like your cider sparkling, prime bottles (pop bottles are okay but stoppered glass is better - such as grolsch) with sugar (I think 1/2 tsp per pint) and store in the fridge for a week or so.

Have fun with the wine kit. Good everyday wine.

Cider made from apple juice as sold for drinking is OK for some of us, but a 'real cider' fan like my OH would find it a bit bland (I reckon the stuff he likes tastes like vinegar, or maybe paint-stripper, never having tasted paint stripper I am only guessing on that one). I would suggest adding a few mashed crab apples (or whatever you can squeeze out of them) for the proper 'cidery' taste.....

[Hilary B]

When you say it doesn't settle, does that mean , it's finished its fermenting job, but is just held in suspension. Sort of waiting to settle? and the racking it encourages it?
(Think i'm buying fruit juice tomorrow.)

You may find quite a thick layer of yeasty stuff at the bottom of the demijohn even before it has finished fermenting. If so it will often pay to rack at that stage (just not so fussy about leaving all that layer behind). I cheat and top-up with syrup at that stage to get a stronger wine (adding all the sugar at the start risks it refusing to ferment at all, but adding some when half-way there usually works safer).
If the wine looks 'clearish' and there is plenty at the bottom, racking may well encourage it to clear a bit more.

[KellsSimon]

Just got Back from town,
8 liters of Aldi Apple juice and one Young's 'Definitive medium red' tin.
Just pulled the label off and found that it also wants me to have some of their 'super yeast compound. Just didnt read the tin, and thought it'd have more in it than just the juice... may be the juice in a bag and a sachet of yeast... etc ho hum,
Luckly i do have some 'CWE Yeast compound Formula 67 all-puropse true wine yeast'
I immagine it wont be as fast as the super yeast, but will get me there in the end?

Now for the washing of the long ignored demi-johns and a load of steralising.
Wish me luck!

[KellsSimon]

Turns out the yeast was a little out of date and dead as a do-do... (BBF '06)
been and bought some more, now have two demi-johns a red and a yellow/gold one sitting on the table.
Don't really have an airing cupboard... so need to find some where warm now. Wish I had a green house! Then the co2 produced would even go to a good cause.
Now sitting stareing waiting for the first bubbles to appear in the air lock... oh dear,