Country wine

The last of the parsnip wine ... 

 The start of the blackberry wine ...

Nettle wine/beer ... sometime later

So, I started off a little nettle beer experiment back in May (here)

As a quick brew beer: RANCID!

So, Plan B: wine trial.

Seven months later and the wine has cleared

and a taste-test suggests it's well worth syphoning ...

Nettle beer update

Nettle beer after only a few days: fermentation done

...apparently 'ready' to DRINK

Just a shame it tastes unequivocably RANCID

Nettle beer: it was only ever a matter of time!

One carrier bag of carefully (!) picked nettle shoots,

plus rhubarb, ginger and lemon

Boiled for about 15 mins (to break down the formic acid);

smelled, BEFORE: great, something akin to elderflower even;

AFTER: yuk!

Added a little ginger powder and cream of tartar, which

resulted in a lot of fizzing and seems to have helped the yeast get going

And the dregs will make a good addition to the compost,

since nettles, like comfrey, make a good plant feed

blackberry wine update

Oh, that is good!

... to see the prep back in July, see here

Parsnip & ginger wine

Apple Beer #2

And, several months later, the finished 'product' (see, here):

Next time, def. less/no cloves
and MORE ground ginger,
perhaps, also, less sugar
or a touch of lemon?

Apple Beer, aka Country Cider

4 lb apples ~ 2 gallons cold water ~ 3 lb white sugar
4 oz ginger root
1 tsp ground ginger/cinnamon ~ 1tsp cloves

Grate/chop &tc. washed scrumpied apples
Add to pan of cold water & stir every day for 7 days
Strain & add sugar, bruised ginger root & spices
Leave for further 7 days & then strain
Bottle & drink
... YUM!

Improves with age (see, here)

Blackberry wine '11

... to see how it turned out in the New Year, see here

Elderflower wine

parsnip and ginger wine

c. 4 lb parsnips ~ 1 orange (zest & juice)
1 " ginger root ~ ground ginger
2 tsp citric acid (or lemon juice)
1.5 kg white sugar

A little cloudy, but a jolly sweet & tasty ersatz Muscat dessert wine!