Wine making Circles
WINE MAKING as an "organised" hobby is a comparatively new thing, although
wines have been made in these islands for centuries in the cottages of country folk. It was
only in 1953 that the first "Winemakers' Circle" was formed at And over, closely followed
—quite independently and spontaneously—by others at Llewellyn Garden City and
Chapultepec.
In the few years since, however, the idea has spread with astounding speed, and by
1968 there were well over 400 such clubs, scattered the length and breadth of the British
Isles, and even in Canada; most of them following the original idea and calling
themselves "Circles," some of them adopting the style of "Guilds," and yet others calling
themselves "Societies" or "Associations." The publication of the monthly magazine, The
Amateur Winemaker, from 1958 inwards has done much to consolidate the movement
and publicist the aims of the Circles.
All of them have the same fundamental objective—the improvement of the
standard of country wines—and all of them notably have the same characteristic, a
striking friendliness and informality. The Circles are real centers of friendship and good
fellowship, as well as a means of instruction.
By buying apparatus and sometimes ingredients in bulk they are able to obtain
discounts from many firms and thus can offer their members these goods at favorable
rates.
Practical winemaking is learnt pleasantly and in a sociable atmosphere by means
of talks, demonstrations, quizzes, and competitions, and nowadays there are also
inter-club contests. Members learn not only how to make wine, but how to exhibit and
judge it.
On the social side, there are usually Christmas or New Year parties, dinners,
dances, outings to breweries, sugar refineries, glassworks, potteries, wine lodges,
vineyards, and other places of interest to the winemaker.
All in all, members find that joining a Winemakers' Circle is definitely worth
while, and anyone interested in the subject would be well advised to contact the nearest
one, if they are lucky enough to have one in their area.
The list is now too long to be reproduced here, but if you wish to know your
nearest Circle drop a postcard to: The Editor, The Amateur Winemaker, North Croye,
The Avenue, Andover, Hants, who can also advise on how to set about starting a Circle if
none exists in your locality.
The first National Conference and Show—quite a small affair—was held at
Andover in 1959, and others have followed at Bournemouth, Brighton, Harrow,
Cheltenham, Clacton, Harrogate, Bognor and Torquay, and "the National" has now
developed into a mammoth competitive wine show which can attract as many as 3,000
entries. It is allied to a week-end of lectures, discussions and merrymaking which is the
big event of the year for keen winemakers and visitors even come from abroad
—Germany, Denmark and Canada, for instance.
The show has now grown into the National Association of Amateur Winemakers,
which any Circle can join upon payment of a £2/2/- annual subscription. Individuals can
join for an annual subscription of £1/1/-. The general secretary is Wing Cdr. R. W.
Woodley, of Burnside, Chalkpit Lane, Monxton, nr. Andover, Hants, and the membership
secretary Mr. K. Hill, 18 Laxton Road, Hunts Cross, Liverpool 25.
The National Conference and Show led in turn to the formation in 1964 of the
Amateur Winemakers National Guild of Judges which set itself the task of getting down
on paper a system of wine judging, notes for the guidance of show organisers, judges, and
judges' stewards, and specimen schedules which clubs or organisations could adopt for
their wine competitions.
A tremendous amount of ground work was done on this, and embodied in the
handbook which the Guild eventually published, "Judging Home-made Wine" (3/-, from
the "Amateur Winemaker," North Croye, The Avenue, Andover).
Organising a wine competition
IF, as a winemaker, you wish to exhibit your wine competitively, you are not
likely to encounter many difficulties, so long as you adhere rigidly to any conditions
which are laid down in the show's schedule, and if your wine is up to standard, you may
even win a prize! If, however, you are a club secretary or official, or even are known
locally as someone who "knows a bit about wine,'.' you are liable suddenly to find
yourself faced with a request by some flower show or other to lay down rules and
regulations for a wine class which the committee is thinking of including for the first
time.
Your first action should be to study the Judges Guild handbook, "Judging
Home-made Wines," carefully.
Secondly, you have to decide how many, and what, classes you can have (or
afford) on this occasion. You should bear in mind that a single wine class is not much
use, for no judge can really judge a sweet wine side by side with a dry. Once he has tasted
a really sweet wine his palate for drier wines is destroyed for that day! At least two
classes are therefore desirable, and more if possible, and many Circles prefer grouping
wines into Dry, Medium, and Sweet. It is not really possible to define these in terms of
Specific Gravity; the best one can do is to say that a really dry wine is likely to be below
1000.
Given these three main classifications it is an age-old argument as to how wines
should be further broken down into the small numbers desirable for a class. Should they
be described by ingredient, e.g. "Parsnip, sweet," "Redcurrant, dry," or by purpose, e.g.
"Red table wine, dry," "Dessert wine, white"? There are two schools of thought, and the
handbook caters for both by giving specimen schedules of all sizes in both systems. It is
for you to decide which you prefer.
Having decided upon his classes, the organiser can proceed to draw up some rules,
and here are some of the points which obviously he must cover; others may well occur in
individual cases.
RULES
Standard 26-oz. wine bottles and no half-bottles should be used, and they should
be of clear glass. (Even red wines should be shown in clear bottles, so that the colour can
be judged.)
The airspace should be between ¼ in. and ¾ in.
No separate small tasting bottle (to avoid the necessity of opening the bottle
exhibited) should be allowed, and exhibitors should be told that the actual bottle will be
opened and tasted.
Bottles should be securely corked, preferably with a stopper cork, which may be
wired for travelling.
Labels should preferably be supplied by the organisers, and be about 2 ins. by ¾
in., so affixed that the bottom edge of the label is an inch above the bottom of the bottle.
On the label should appear only the description of the wine, by use or by ingredient
according to the type of schedule adopted.
Golden and tawny wines go in the white wine classes, rosè wines go with the reds
if there are no separate classes.
Model rules are set out in the handbook.
Judging
HAVING covered all these points, turn your thoughts to the judges. What will
they want? A good judge will bring his own kit—corkscrew, glasses, tea towel, marking
sheet, etc., but it is of the greatest assistance if you can ensure that he is provided with
glasses for tasting, a spittoon, water for washing up, and a vessel in which to do it, and a
palate refresher—cheese, biscuit, bread or something of that sort.
But how, I can hear you asking, does one actually judge wine? And here I run into
difficulty, because it is just not possible to describe a taste with pen and paper. And that,
of course, is the factor with which one is principally concerned. Taste, and knowledge of
wine, is largely a matter of accumulated comparative experience, and it is up to every
winemaker, whether he aspires to judge or not, steadily to increase his knowledge and
experience of wine by comparing his own products with those of his fellow members and,
indeed, with all types of commercial wine. Only in that way can he acquire the requisite
experience, and it is one of the pleasantest aspects of our hobby, as you, well know!
A National judge will assess the wine under these four main headings, for which
he will award points as follows:—
Presentation ............................... 2
Clarity and Colour ..................... 4
Bouquet ..................................... 4
Flavour, Balance and Quality ... 20
----
Total, out of ............................. 30
The first two factors he will assess before opening the bottle.
He will look at its general appearance (cleanliness, neatness and legibility of label,
newness of cork, size of airspace, etc.). The bottle should be well polished and, needless
to say, scrupulously clean.
The judge will look through the neck of the bottle to judge the clarity of the wine,
and at the conical "punt" at the bottom to judge its brilliance. Here there should not be the
slightest trace of any yeast or other deposit. A starbright wine will score points over a
bright, or a merely clear, wine. A wise exhibitor bottles his wine for show several days
ahead after having made sure that it has been adequately racked, and he thus minimises
the risk of having any yeast deposit.
The bouquet must be enticing, making you want to taste the wine; it must be
vinous, pleasing, and well-developed but not overpoweringly so.
But, when all is said and done, it is the taste of the wine which naturally carries
the most marks. The flavour of a wine must be agreeable, reasonably redolent of the fruit
or source of origin (though not so much as some expect), vinous and invigorating, with
sufficient "bite," enough acid, adequate strength for its purpose (i.e. aperitif, table or
dessert) and the correct degree of dryness or sweetness. It should, above all, be well
balanced as between sweetness, acidity and astringency, and be free of bacterial or other
faults.
Between tastes the judge will clear his palate with biscuit, bread, or something of
that sort.
Judging procedure is set out in detail in "Judging Homemade Wine" and wine
clubs will find it fascinating to study these clear directions and arrange competitions to
give their members judging practice. This can be done by having, say, up to ten bottles of
wine available and giving each member a judging sheet on which are set out the possible
points to be scored under each heading.
To assist in a complete split-down of the marking, it helps if all the markings
normally used by Guild judges are doubled (this, of course, does not affect the end result)
and printed marking sheets so devised for practice judging are available from the
"Amateur Winemaker."
As long as members are using the same sheets, it is astonishing how similar are
the verdicts obtained.
Recipes the year round
THE recipes are given under the months in which they are usually made, so that
your winemaking can be practised all the year round, but they are also indexed
alphabetically at the back of the book so that any one can be quickly found.
Recipes are given in British measures but these are easily converted to U.S. or
metric measures. The pound measure of weight is the same in Britain, Canada and
U.S.A., and 1 lb. equals ½ kilo.
The Imperial or English gallon as used in Britain and Canada is 8 pints, 160 liquid
ozs. or 2771 cub. ins., whereas the U.S. gallon is 8 pints, 128 liquid ozs., or 231 cub. ins.
The English gallon thus equals 1.2 U.S. gallons and in the recipes American readers
should therefore substitute 1 t gallons for each English gallon, and Continental readers 41
litres, as follows:
Metric ½ 1 1½ 2 2½
(kilos)
British and 1 2 3 4 5
U.S.A. (lbs.)
Metric 4 ½ 9 13 ½ 18 22 ¾
(litres)
U.S.A. 1 ¼ 2 ½ 3½ 5 6¼
(gallons)
British 1 2 3 4 5
(gallons)
In all the recipes use, preferably, a wine yeast, but failing that a level teaspoon of
granulated yeast per gallon.
It is good practice to add 1 Campden tablet to each gallon of must, and always to
use a yeast nutrient.
If you are a diabetic, and wish to make a safe wine, always use the minimum
sugar (2-2 ½ lbs. per gallon) and a nutrient to ensure that you ferment it right out to
dryness. The wine can be sweetened to taste when finished with Sorbitol.
Warning
Some plants and flowers are so poisonous that they must on no account be used
for winemaking. Others are "doubtful" in that they may not be highly poisonous,
particularly in the small quantities in which they might be employed in winemaking, but
must still be highly suspect. The position is complicated by the fact that some substances
used in winemaking, notably sugar and yeast, can sometimes neutralise poisons, so that
occasionally safe wines may be made from apparently doubtful sources. But one cannot
depend upon this and we would urge winemakers NOT to use anything in the " poisonous
" or " doubtful " categories. Our lists are by no means exhaustive and the only safe rule is:
if in doubt about a material—don't use it.
Those " Not recommended " are so listed because, although we are often asked to
supply recipes using them, they are not suitable winemaking material either because of
fermentative difficulties or because they are not palatable.
POISONOUS : Aconite, alder buckthorn, aquilegia, azalea, baneberry, black
nightshade, bluebell, buttercup, celandine, columbine, charlock, Christmas rose, clematis,
cowbane, cuckoopint, cyclamen, daffodil, deadly nightshade, delphinium, dwarf elder,
fool's parsley, foxglove, most fungi, geranium, green potatoes, all hellebores, hemlock,
henbane, holly, honeysuckle (the berries), horsechestnut, laburnum, laurel, lilac,
lilies-of-the-valley, lobelia, lupins, marsh marigold, meadow rue, mezereon, mistletoe,
monkshood, narcissus, pheasant's' eye, peony, poppy, privet, rhododendron, rhubarb
leaves, spearwort, spindleberry, sweet pea, thorn apple, traveller's joy, wood anemone,
woody nightshade, yew.
DOUBTFUL : Borage, broom, carnation; chrysanthemum, clover, hawthornberry,
pinks.
NOT RECOMMENDED : Agrimony, cabbage, cocoanut, all fungi, including
mushrooms, lettuce, marrow, potato, pumpkin, spinach, tomato, turnip.
January
BARLEY WINE
Ingredients:
1 lb. barley Yeast, yeast nutrient
1 lb. raisins 1 gallon hot water
1 lb. potatoes The juice of two lemons
3 ½ lb. preserving sugar 1 Campden tablet
Method:
Scrub (or peel if old) and chop the potatoes; grind the barley and raisins in a
mincer, having soaked the grain in a pint of the water overnight. Put sugar, barley,
potatoes and raisins in bowl and pour on hot (not necessarily boiling) water.
Add the juice of the lemons. Allow to cool until tepid; add the crushed Campden
tablet, yeast and nutrient. Leave it to stand in covered pan for 10 days, stirring well daily.
Strain, put into fermenting vessel, and fit trap. Siphon off into bottles when clear and no
longer fermenting. Ready after about 6 months.
FIG WINE
Ingredients:
2 ½ lb. brown sugar 1 orange
2 lb. dried figs 1 gallon boiling water
½ lb. large raisins Yeast and nutrient
1 lemon ½ oz. root ginger
Method:
Chop the figs and raisins and place in a large crock with the sugar, the grated
lemon and orange rinds (no white pith) and the juice of the two fruits. Bruise the ginger
and add that. Bring the water to the boil, and pour it over the ingredients, stirring well to
dissolve the sugar, and adding one crushed Campden tablet. When the liquor has cooled
to about 70 degrees F., cool enough for you to be able to put your finger in it comfortably,
stir in the yeast, cover the crock closely, and leave it in a warm place (about 70 degrees)
for twelve days, stirring daily. After that, strain into fermenting jar or bottle and fit trap,
and move into a temperature of about 65 degrees. After another two months the ferment
will probably have finished; when the wine has cleared, siphon it off into clean bottles. It
is best kept at. least a year from the date of making but can well be sampled within six
months—and no doubt will be!
MAIZE WINE
Ingredients:
1 ½ lb. crushed maize 1 gallon water
3 ½ lb. Demerara sugar 1 lb. raisins
4 sweet oranges 1 lemon
Yeast; yeast nutrient
Method:
Despite the amount of sugar, this will make a medium wine, and there are many
similar recipes which advocate up to as much as even 4 ½ lb. sugar, so if you prefer a
sweet wine you can well exceed the normal 3 ½ lb. limit in this case. It is a help to soak
the maize overnight in some of the water to soften it, and then, when you come to make
your wine, run it through a coarse mincer, together with the raisins. Peel the lemon and
oranges, being careful to miss the white pith, and put the rinds into a crock with the sugar,
maize, raisins, and the juice of the fruits. Pour over the ingredients the water, which need
be only hot (not boiling) add one crushed Campden tablet, and stir well to dissolve it and
the sugar. Allow the liquor to cool to 70 degrees F., then add the yeast and yeast nutrient
and keep the crock in a warm place, closely covered, for 10 days, stirring well each day.
Then strain into fermenting jar or bottle and fit fermentation trap.
PRUNE WINE
Ingredients:
2 lbs. prunes 1 gallon water
½ lb. raisins Yeast; yeast nutrient
3 ½ lb. sugar 1 Campden tablet
Method:
Put the prunes in a crock and cover them with the water, mashing and stirring
them daily for 10 days. Then strain, and either press the pulp or squeeze it by hand to
extract as much juice and flavour as possible. Add the sugar, chopped raisins, and a
crushed Campden tablet, and stir to dissolve. Then add the yeast and yeast nutrient and
leave to ferment in a warm place, as usual, for 10 days. Keep the crock closely covered
and stir daily. Then strain into fermenting jar and fit trap, and move into slightly cooler
place (about 65 degrees). After another two months the secondary ferment should be
finished and when the wine clears it should be racked off into clean bottles.
RAISIN WINE
Ingredients:
8 lbs. large raisins Yeast; yeast nutrient
1 gallon water 1 Campden tablet
Method:
Clean the raisins thoroughly by washing them in a colander, then mince through a
coarse mincer. Put them into a fermentation jar with a wide neck, pour on the cold water,
and add one crushed Campden tablet. Keep the jar covered. Two days later add the yeast
and yeast nutrient, and fit a fermentation trap to the jar. Alternatively cover the wide neck
with a sheet of polythene secured by a rubber band, which will serve the same purpose.
Keep the fermentation jar in a warm place (about 70 degrees F.) for a few days, and
afterwards in a temperature of about 65 degrees F. until the ferment has finished. Each
day give the vessel a good shake. When fermentation has finished strain the liquor off the
raisins, which can then easily be removed (hence the need for a wide-necked jar, with a
narrow-necked one it can be a fiddly business). Put into a fresh jar and leave for a further
three months before racking (siphoning the wine off the lees) again and bottling.
By using some sugar one can reduce the amount of raisins required, although the
wine will have nothing like the same body. Here is a recipe, however, using this method:
RAISIN WINE (2)
Ingredients:
2 lb. raisins 1 gallon water
2 lb. sugar Yeast; yeast nutrient
Method:
Mince the raisins, put them in the water, and boil for an hour. Strain the liquor on
to the sugar, stir well to dissolve, allow to cool to 70 degrees F. and pour into fermenting
bottle. Add the yeast and yeast nutrient. Keep in a warm place until it begins to clear, then
rack for the first time, into a clean jar, re-fitting trap. When the fermentation ceases
completely siphon into clean bottles and cork.
GRAPEFRUIT WINE
Ingredients:
6 large grapefruit 1 gallon water
3 ½ lb. white sugar Yeast and nutrient
Method:
Clean the fruit and grate the skins finely. Put the water, gratings and juice into a
bowl, and add the yeast. Stand the bowl in a warm place (70 degrees F. is ideal), cover
closely, and leave for five or six days, stirring thoroughly twice daily. Strain off the liquor
through a nylon sieve, or two or three thicknesses of muslin, and dissolve the sugar in it.
Put into fermenting jar and fit trap. Leave to ferment out, and when this has happened
rack into clean bottles and cork firmly.
CITRUS WINE
Ingredients:
1 lb. raisins 3 ½ lb. sugar
3 grapefruit Yeast; yeast nutrient
3 lemons 1 gallon water
3 oranges
Method:
Firstly peel the fruit (do not squeeze the skins or include any white pith) keeping
the peel as intact as possible so it can be retrieved easily later. Put water into a crock and
add the chopped-up fruit and sugar, stirring thoroughly to dissolve the latter. Then add the
yeast and yeast nutrient, cover closely, and leave in a warm place (about 70 degrees F.)
for a fortnight, stirring daily. At the end of this period take out the peel and, having
strained off the liquor, squeeze out the fruit pulp and add the resultant juice to the bulk.
Put into fermenting jar and fit trap, and leave to ferment out. Siphon it into clean bottles
when it has done so.
"INSTANT" WINE
by A. S. Henderson
If you have just started winemaking and want an 8 % wine which is suitable for
table use, quickly—made, rapid to mature, and low-priced, try this "instant wine" recipe
ingredients :
1 medium (pint) tin 1 lb. granulated sugar
grapefruit juice 1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
½ lb. EDME light dried Yeast
malt extract Water to 1 gallon
Method:
Dissolve the sugar in up to ½ gallon of water, putting the saucepan over a very
low heat to speed up the solution. Meanwhile dissolve the dried malt extract in a little
cold water, open the tin of fruit juice, and funnel everything into the fermentation jar.
Dissolve the yeast nutrient with a little warm water and add to the jar, top up with cold
water to the shoulder (this should reduce the whole to a safe temperature) and add the
yeast. Shake well, and fit a fermentation lock. Stand in a warm place and watch it go !
Within 24 hours the stream of bubbles should be continuous, not less than 1 per second.
After a day or two, a thick layer will form on the bottom. Give the jar a swirl round daily
to agitate the deposit. When gravity has dropped to 1004, or less (10-14 days), filter. Boil
a little filter pulp for 2 mins. in half a pint of water, place a piece of clean linen in a
funnel and pour the filter pulp on to it, then pour the wine carefully on to the pulp so as
not to disturb it. Return the first few wine glassfuls to the funnel until the filtrate looks
reasonably clear. Repeat the filtration two or three days later, and keep the finished wine a
week in a cool place before drinking. Other fruit juices (except, God forbid, tomato !) can
be used in the same way.
February
TINNED PEACH OR APRICOT
Ingredients:
15 ½ oz. or 16 oz. tin peach slices ½ teaspoon tannin
1 ½ lb. sugar 1 nutrient tablet
½ lb. malt extract Sauternes wine yeast
1 teaspoon citric acid Water to one gallon
1 tablespoon pectic enzyme
Method:
The peaches can be bought in slices in either 15 ½ oz. or 16 oz. tins, as halves in
16 oz. tins, or labelled "white peaches" in 16 oz, tins. Wine firms also sell peach pulp.
One 15 ½ oz. or 16 oz. tin of either will make, using the quantities in the recipe, a light
dry table wine, but if a fuller-bodied wine is required use two tins of peaches (roughly 2
lb.)—they are quite cheap—and increase the sugar to 2 ¾ lb. (U.S. 2 ½ lb.), the citric acid
to 2 teaspoons, and the tannin to 1 teaspoon.
Pour any syrup into your fermenting jar, then mash the fruit with a stainless steel
spoon. Boil two quarts of water and dissolve the sugar and malt extract in it, then put pulp
into polythene bucket and pour the boiling syrup over it. Allow to cool to tepid (70 degs.
F) before adding acid, tannin and pectic enzyme. Stir well, cover closely, and leave in a
warm place. Next day stir, pour the whole into the fermenting jar with the syrup from the
can, and add yeast, nutrient, and enough cold water to bring level of must to just below
the shoulder of the jar, leaving room for a "head." Fit air lock and leave in a warm place
for 10 days, shaking jar daily to disperse pulp through liquid. Then strain into fresh jar,
and top up to bottom of neck with syrup. Ferment out, racking and bottling as usual. For a
sweet wine use a 1 lb. 12 oz. tin of pulp and 3 ¼ lb. of sugar.
ALMOND WINE
lagredients:
1 lb. raisins 2 lemons
1 ½ oz. bitter almonds Yeast
3 lb. white sugar Yeast nutrient
1 gallon water
Method:
The almonds and raisins should be minced and then boiled gently in the water for
about an hour. Strain, and add enough fresh water to make the quantity up to one gallon
again. Strain the liquor on to the sugar, stirring well to dissolve, then add the juice and
grated rind of the lemons, taking care to include no white pith. Add the yeast and nutrient,
when the temperature has dropped to 70 degrees F. and endeavour to maintain roughly
that temperature for 10 days, keeping the crock closely covered. Then strain the wine
through a nylon sieve into the fermenting bottle and fit a fermentation trap: Leave until it
begins to clear and then rack.
DRIED BILBERRY WINE
(or Elderberry or Sloe)
Ingredients:
½ lb. dried bilberries Yeast nutrient and yeast
4 oz. raisins 2 ½ lb. sugar
1 gallon water. 1 level teaspoon citric acid
Method:
Chop the raisins and pour the boiling water over them, the bilberries, and the
sugar. Stir well to dissolve sugar. Allow to cool, then add citric acid, nutrient and yeast.
Keep covered in warm place and stir daily for a week, pushing the fruit down. Strain into
fermenting jar, ferment, rack when clear, and bottle. An excellent dry red table wine, best
made with a Bordeaux or Pommard yeast. For a sweet wine increase sugar to 3 lb. and
use a Burgundy yeast.
N.B.—It is possible to take a second "run" off the discarded fruit by adding
another gallon of boiling water, more sugar, more nutrient and more acid. When it cools,
add some of the first batch of fermenting wine as a starter and ferment for 10 days on the
pulp, and continue as before. A lighter wine will result.
CARRAWATTEE
Another "tea-wine-by-stages" recipe from Mr. F. G. Spark,
of 88 Old Winton Road, Andover
Collect 1 ½ pints of tea left over from the teapot into a 1 quart bottle, add 6 oz.
sugar, 4 oz. raisins or sultanas, one saltspoon of dried H.H. yeast, or the equivalent
amount of whatever yeast you are accustomed to using.
When you have collected four bottles as above, place in a gallon jar, add one
ounce of Carraway seeds and the juice of two lemons, or level teaspoonful of citric acid,
fit air lock. Strain after one month, and carry on in the usual manner until fermentation
ceases; then bottle.
This may be drunk in 12 months but is much improved by keeping for two years.
If the wine should cloud up in the bottle do not throw it away as it has this habit,
like plum wine it will become quite clear again after a few weeks.
MANGOLD WINE
Ingredients:
5 lb. mangolds 2 lemons
1 gallon water 2 oranges
3 lb. sugar Yeast and nutrient
Method:
Wash the marigolds but do not peel. Cut into pieces and boil until tender. Strain,
and to every gallon of liquor add sugar and rinds of oranges and lemons (avoid the white
pith) as above, and boil for 20 minutes. Allow the liquor to cool, and add the juice of the
oranges and lemons. Stir in the yeast (a general purpose wine yeast or a level teaspoonful
of granulated yeast) and leave in a warm place, well covered, for about a week. Then stir,
transfer to fermenting battle or jar, and fit fermentation trap. When the wine clears, rack it
off with a siphon into a clean storage vessel. Keep it for another six months in a cool
place, then bottle.
ORANGE WINE
Ingredients:
12 sweet oranges 1 gallon water
3 ½ lb. white sugar Yeast and nutrient
Method:
Peel six of the oranges thinly, avoiding the white pith like the plague (it imparts a
most bitter taste to the wine). Pour a quart of boiling water on to the rind and allow to
stand for 24 hours, then strain off the water into a bowl containing three quarts of water
and the sugar. Cut all the oranges in half and squeeze the juice into the bowl. Stir until the
sugar is dissolved, and then add the yeast. If you use a general purpose wine yeast, which
is to be recommended, the liquor can safely be strained from the crock into a fermenting
jar, and fitted with a trap, within two or three days. Siphon it off the lees for the first time
when it clears, and rebottle two or three months later.
SEVILLE ORANGE WINE
Ingredients:
24 thin skinned Seville 8 lb. white sugar
oranges 2 gallons water
4 lemons Yeast and nutrient
Method:
Peel 12 of the oranges and throw away the peel. Cut up oranges and lemons into
slices and put in earthenware pan. Boil the water and pour on boiling. Place in moderately
warm corner and when tepid add yeast, a good wine yeast or a level teaspoonful of
granulated yeast; stir each day for a fortnight. Strain, then add sugar and stir until
dissolved. Put in 2-gallon jar, filling up to top. Put surplus in black bottles (bottles must
be dark or wine will lose its colour). Use this for filling up large jar. Ferment to
completion under air lock, rack when it clears, and bottle two months later.
PARSNIP SHERRY
Ingredients:
4 ½ lb. parsnips 4 lb. Demerara sugar
½ oz. hops 1 teaspoonful gravy
½ lb. malt extract browning (liquid variety)
1 gallon water Yeast
2 lemons
Method:
Clean parsnips, but do not peel, and ensure that their weight is not less than four
pounds after cleaning. Cut them into slices and boil gently in half the water until soft (but
not mushy, or the wine will not clear). Then strain into a pan. Put the hops in a bag in the
remaining water and boil gently for half an hour, then stir in the gravy browning (which is
only caramel colouring). Mix the liquids together and stir in the malt and sugar, allow to
cool to blood heat, and then add yeast. Keep warm and closely covered and ferment for
14 days, then stir, siphon into fermenting jar and fit air lock. When the wine clears siphon
off into sterilised bottles and keep for a further six months.
March
BANANA WINE
Ingredients:
4 lbs, of peeled bananas 1 gallon of water
½ lb. of banana skins 1 lemon, 1 orange
¼ lb. of raisins 3 lbs. of sugar
Yeast and nutrient
Method:
Use black or spotted bananas, whatever you can scrounge. Place bananas and fruit
peel into a cloth bag and put the bag, tied up, into a large saucepan or boiler with the
water. Bring to the boil, then gently simmer for half an hour. Pour the hot liquor over the
sugar and fruit juice, and when the cloth bag has cooled squeeze it with the hands to
extract as much liquor as possible. When all the liquor is lukewarm (70 degrees F.) add
the yeast. Leave it in a warm place for a week, stirring daily, then pour into a glass jar and
move to a cooler place; it will be a thick-looking mess, like a lot of soapsuds. Keep it
well covered and in a couple of months it will have a large sediment at the bottom.
Siphon off, then add the chopped raisins. Fit an air lock and siphon off again after four
months; by then it will have started to clear. Leave a further six months before sampling.
It improves the longer you keep it.
PINEAPPLE LIQUEUR
Buy a big juicy pineapple and try your hand at making this really delightful
liqueur. Slice the pineapple thinly, sprinkle with a little sugar, and leave for 24 hours.
Press out the juice, measure it, and add an equal amount of brandy to which sugar has
been added in the proportion of 2 ozs. sugar to every half pint of brandy. Put in a jar with
a few slices of fresh pineapple and leave for three weeks, then strain and bottle.
BIRCH SAP WINE
This is a wine, which, intriguing by its novelty, is also an excellent wine in its
own right. It is probably of Baltic origin and during the last century was a popular drink
in Russia, so much so that upon occasions whole forests of young birch trees were killed
by the peasantry, who tapped them too enthusiastically . . . so beware of that error. No
harm will come to a tree by the loss of a gallon or so of sap in the spring (about the first
fortnight in March) but the hole must afterwards be plugged with a wooden plug, and can
then be used again next year. I am also told, although I can produce no written authority
for it, that birch sap wine was a favourite with the Prince Consort, who doubtless had
plenty of trees at his disposal!
The main precautions to observe are that you do not tap a very young tree—it
should be at least 9 in. diameter—that you bore only far enough into the tree for your tap
or tube to be held securely (bore to just beyond the inside of the bark, where the sap rises,
and not into the "dead" wood of the centre of the trunk), that you do not take more than a
gallon of sap from one tree, and that you plug the hole afterwards. Neglect of any of these
points may harm the tree.
Ingredients:
1 gallon birch sap 3 lb. white sugar
2 lemons (or quart of honey)
1 sweet orange 1 Seville orange
1 lb. raisins Yeast and nutrient
Method:
Obtain a wooden beer or wine-barrel tap, a piece of glass or plastic tubing, or even
a piece of bamboo cane with the pith removed. With a brace and bit of the same diameter
as tap or tube bore a hole into the trunk of the tree to just beyond the inside of the bark,
and insert the tube, which should incline slightly downwards to allow the sap to run
easily. In March, when the sap is rising, it should be possible to draw off a gallon or so of
liquor in two or three days. Plug the hole afterwards.
Peel the oranges and lemons (discard all white pith) and boil the peel in the sap
for 20 minutes. Add enough water to restore the volume to one gallon, then pour into a
crock containing the sugar and chopped raisins. Stir until sugar is dissolved; when the
liquor has cooled to 70 degrees F. add the fruit juice and yeast. Cover the crock with a
thick cloth and keep in a warm place until fermentation has quietened. Then strain into
fermenting jar and fit trap. Leave for about six months, then siphon off and bottle. Use
strong bottles, tie down the corks, and store the bottles on their sides for at least another
six months before sampling.
Sycamore and walnut sap wines can be made in the same manner and an excellent
beer can be produced by reducing the sugar to 1 lb.
PINEAPPLE WINE
Ingredients:
4 pineapples 3 ½ lbs. preserving sugar
2 lemons Yeast
9 pints water Yeast nutrient
Method:
"Top and bottom" the pineapples, then slice them into a one-gallon saucepan and
cover with three pints of water. Bring to boil, and simmer for 15 minutes. Strain on to
sugar in earthenware crock, and add remaining six pints of water, cold. Add the juice of
the lemons. Stir well to dissolve sugar thoroughly, and leave to cool to blood heat. Then
add yeast (wine yeast, a level teaspoonful of dried yeast, or ¾ oz. of baker's yeast), and a
yeast nutrient if desired. (I used a general-purpose wine yeast and a teaspoonful of a
proprietary nutrient). Cover the pan closely for a week and leave it in a warm place,
giving a daily stir, and then transfer to fermenting jars or bottles, which should be filled to
the bottom of the neck and fitted with fermentation traps. Keep in temperature of about
60 degrees until wine begins to clear and has thrown a substantial sediment, then siphon
off into clean bottles. Allow it to throw a fresh sediment, then siphon off into clean
bottles and cork. This is a delicious light wine with a delightful bouquet.
RAISIN WINE
Dried fruits, like grains, are a good standby in the winter months when fruit is not
plentiful. Try this easy raisin wine:
Ingredients:
1 gallon water 2 lb. white sugar
1 lb. raisins Yeast and nutrient
Method:
Chop the raisins and boil them in the water for an hour, adding more water to
restore the volume to the original one gallon. Then rub them through a sieve. Restore
them to the water and dissolve the sugar in it, and when cool add the yeast, in this case
preferably a pre-prepared wine yeast starter but a pinch of dried yeast will do if necessary.
Ferment the liquor on the raisins, and it is preferable to use a wide-mouth bottle. Fit trap,
and rack for the first time as soon as the wine begins to clear. Re-bottle as soon as it
throws a fresh sediment.
RICE WINE
(or Sake)
Ingredients:
3 lbs. rice Yeast and nutrient
3 lbs. sugar 1 gallon water
1 lb. large raisins A pinch of isinglass
Method:
Put the rice and sugar into a bowl, cover with warm water. Add the chopped
raisins and dissolve the yeast in a little warm water and add. Sprinkle the isinglass over
the top. Stir often the first three days, then leave to ferment, keeping well covered. Leave
nine days in all before straining and putting into fermenting jar. Bottle when completely
clear.
This produces a strong, sparkling wine which is inclined to be harsh at first but
which improves greatly by being kept.
A variation which you may prefer is to add a little citric acid to the basic
ingredients (say the juice of one lemon), and use a sherry yeast.
DRIED PEACH WINE
Ingredients:
2 lb. dried peaches Yeast
3 ½ lb. granulated sugar Yeast nutrient
1 gallon water
Method:
Soak the peaches for 12 hours in the cold water, then place all in a large saucepan
or preserving pan, bring to the boil, and simmer for five or six minutes. Strain the liquid
off into a crock, add the sugar and the yeast nutrient, and stir well until all is dissolved.
Allow to cool to about 70 degrees F., then add a pre-prepared general-purpose wine yeast
starter or a level teaspoonful of granulated yeast.
Cover the bowl closely and keep in a temperature of 70-75 for four days, giving it
a daily stir; then stir, transfer to fermenting jar, and fit air lock. When wine clears and
fermentation has finished, siphon it off the sediment into clean bottles and cork securely.
VIN ORDINAIRE
WHITE
Ingredients:
½ pint canned orange juice 1 teaspoonful Pectozyme
½ pint canned pineapple juice Bordeaux yeast
2 lbs. sugar Water to 1 gallon
Method:
The sugar is poured into a gallon jar, the juices and nutrients, etc., are added and
the jar is topped up to the shoulder with cold water. Vigorous stirring will dissolve the
sugar and the yeast starter and Pectozyme are added immediately. This wine will ferment
out to dryness in about 3-4 weeks at 75 deg. F. At the end of this time 2 Campden tablets
should be added and the wine racked a week later. After 3-4 months the wine is brilliantly
clear and is drinkable as a rough white wine but is much improved if cask matured for
two months.
RED
Ingredients :
1 lb. fresh elderberries 1 teaspoon Pektolase
(or ¼ lb. dried) Burgundy yeast and nutrient
1 lb. raisins (or ¼ pint red 2 lemons (or ¼ oz. citric acid)
grape concentrate) Water to 1 gallon
1 ½ lb. sugar
Method :
The ingredients are crushed and placed in a bucket and boiling water is poured
over them. The water level is brought up to 1 gallon and when cool the yeast starter and
Pektolase are added. The pulp is strained off after four days and thereafter fermentation
continues in a gallon jar. Rack when all sugar has been used up (generally within a
month) and allow to clear.
April
PRIMROSE WINE
Ingredients:
1 gallon primroses 1 gallon water
3 ½ lb. white sugar 1 lemon
2 oranges Yeast; yeast nutrient
Method:
Bring the water to the boil and stir into it the sugar, making sure that it is all
dissolved. Put the peel of the oranges and lemon into a crock, bowl, or polythene bucket,
being careful to exclude all white pith, to prevent the wine from having a bitter taste, and
pour the hot syrup over the rinds. Allow to cool to 70 degrees F., then add the flowers, the
juice of the fruit, your chosen yeast, and some yeast nutrient. Cover closely and leave for
five days in a warm place, stirring each day. Then strain through a nylon sieve or muslin
into a fermenting jar, filling it to the bottom of the neck, and fit a fermentation trap.
Leave for three months, then siphon the wine off the yeast deposit into a fresh jar. A
further racking after another three months is helpful, and shortly after that the wine will
be fit to drink, if still young.
BROOM WINE
Later in the month, and right up till July, you can make another flower wine which
is thought by many to be one of the most agreeable table wines, when made reasonably
dry—broom, or gorse,
Ingredients:
1 gallon gorse flowers 2 oranges
3 lb. sugar 1 gallon water
2 lemons Yeast; yeast nutrient
Method:
The best plan is to put your flowers in a calico bag, which can then be dropped
into the water and simmered for a quarter of an hour, afterwards making up the water to
the original quantity. When you remove the bag, squeeze it well to extract the liquor, and
return this to the bulk. Then dissolve the sugar in the liquid, and add the lemon and
orange juice, and the skins (no pith) of the fruit. Allow the liquor to cool to 70 degrees F.,
then add the yeast (a general-purpose wine yeast) or a level teaspoon of granulated yeast
and yeast nutrient. Three days is sufficient a soaking period to extract colour and aroma,
and for fermentation to get well under way, as long as the liquor is kept in a warm place
(65-70 degrees F.), closely covered and given an occasional stir. Then strain it into a
fermenting jar and fit an air lock and put it in a slightly cooler place. Siphon it off the lees
when the top third has cleared (after two to three months) and again three months later.
Put in a cooler place still (55 degrees F.); it will be ready to drink after another two
months or so.
COLTSFOOT WINE
Coltsfoot grows abundantly in the British Isles but the flowers are not always easy
to come by in quantity unless you have previously earmarked the plant's position. It is
usually to be found in waysides, railway embankments and waste places, the bright
yellow flowers putting in an appearance from March onwards, long in advance of the
heart-shaped leaves. Because of this the old country name for this plant was "Son Before
Father"! (Those who do not live in the country can obtain the dried flowers from a
herbalist.)
Ingredients:
1 gallon coltsfoot flowers 3 ½ lb. sugar
1 gallon water Yeast and nutrient
2 oranges 2 lemons
Method:
Dissolve the sugar in the. water and bring to the boil. Simmer for five minutes.
Remove from heat and allow to cool. Peel the oranges and lemons thinly, and put the
rinds into a bowl or stone jar with the juice and the coltsfoot flowers (just the heads).
Pour over the cold syrup, and stir. Add the yeast mixed with a little of the lukewarm
liquid, and leave to ferment for seven days in a warm place, and well covered. Stir daily.
Strain into a fermenting jar, cover, or insert an air lock. When fermentation ceases, siphon
off and bottle.
COWSLIP WINE
Ingredients:
1 gallon cowslip flowers 2 oranges; 1 lemon
1 gallon water Yeast
3 ½ lb. white sugar Yeast nutrient
Method:
Do not use the green stalks and lower parts of the flowers, but only the yellow
portions. This is rather fiddling, but does protect the taste and colour. Boil the water,
dissolving the sugar in it, and then pour the hot syrup over the peel of the fruit, having
been careful to exclude all white pith, which will give a bitter taste. When the liquor has
cooled to 70 degrees F. add the flowers, yeast nutrient, the juice of the fruit, and finally
the yeast. Leave to ferment in a closely covered crock for four to five days (no longer or
the taste will be impaired), then strain into fermenting vessel and fit trap. Siphon off for
the first time when the wine begins appreciably to clear, then leave for another three
months before the final racking into sterilised bottles.
DANDELION WINE (1)
Ingredients:
3 quarts flowers 2 lemons, 1 orange
1 gallon water Yeast and nutrient
3 lb. sugar 1 lb. raisins
Method:
The flowers must be freshly gathered (traditionally St. George's Day, April 23rd,
is the correct occasion), picked off their stalks, and put into a large bowl. One does not
need to pick off the petals: use the whole heads. Bring the water to the boil, pour over the
dandelions, and leave for three days, stirring each day. Keep the bowl closely covered.
After third day, turn all into a boiler, add the sugar and the rinds only of the lemons and
orange. Boil for one hour. Return to the crock, and add the juice and pulp of the lemons
and orange. Allow to stand till cool, then add wine yeast or a pinch of dried yeast, and
yeast nutrient, since this is a liquor likely to be deficient in desirable elements. Let it
remain closely covered for three days in a warm place, then strain into fermenting bottles
and divide the raisins equally amongst them. Fit traps. Leave until fermentation ceases
and rack when wine clears. This wine, made in April or early May, is ready for drinking
by Christmas, but improves vastly by being kept a further six months.
DANDELION WINE (2)
Ingredients:
2 quarts dandelion heads 4 oranges
3 lb. white sugar Yeast nutrient
1 gallon water Yeast
Method:
This recipe makes a pleasant alternative to the foregoing one. It is important that
the flowers should be picked in sunshine, or at midday, when they are fully opened, and
the making of the wine should be done immediately.
Measure the yellow heads, discarding as much green as possible (without being
too fussy about it), bringing the water to the boil meanwhile. Pour the boiling water over
the flowers and leave them to steep for two days. Again, be careful not to exceed this time
or a curious odour often invades and spoils what is a most pleasant table wine, properly
made. Boil the mixture for ten minutes with the orange peel (no white pith) and strain
through muslin on the sugar, stirring to dissolve it. When cool add the yeast nutrient, fruit
juice and yeast. Put into fermentation jar and fit trap, and siphon off into clean bottles
when the wine has cleared. It will be just right for drinking with your Christmas poultry!
FARMHOUSE TEA AND RAISIN WINE
Ingredients:
2 lb. large raisins 4 lemons
1 lb. wheat 1 gallon water
1 oz. tea Yeast and nutrient
2 lb. sugar
Method:
Tie the tea loosely in a muslin bag. Pour the boiling water over it and let it mash,
leaving it in the liquor until it is lukewarm. Remove the bag, and to the liquor add the
chopped raisins, wheat, sugar and sliced lemons. Add a Campden tablet. Dissolve ½ oz.
of baker's yeast in the liquid and stir it in. Leave it to ferment in a closely-covered pan for
21 days, stirring often, then strain into fermenting bottle and fit trap. Siphon off into clean
bottles when fermentation has ceased.
TEA WINE
Ingredients:
4 pints tea (the leavings in 2 lemons
the pot) Yeast and nutrient
1 ¼ lb. sugar
Method:
The "key" to the recipe is: 5 oz. sugar to the pint of tea. Save the leavings from the
teapot daily until you have accumulated four pints. It should be noted that this should not
be "strong" tea but rather the weaker tea one obtains from the "second pot."
When you have the half-gallon, bring it to the boil in a one-gallon saucepan, add the
sugar, and boil just long enough to ensure that it is thoroughly dissolved. This will give
you a specific gravity of about 1100, or sufficient to produce a wine of about 13% alcohol
by volume. Pour into an earthenware jar, add the juice of the lemons, half a teaspoonful
of yeast nutrient, and, when cool, a pinch of dried yeast. Keep closely covered in a warm
place. When the first vigorous ferment is over, stir, transfer to a fermenting bottle, and fit
trap. When it begins to clear, after about six weeks, siphon off into sterilised bottles and
keep for a further 4-5 months. If you wish to make a larger quantity, the second
half-gallon can be prepared in the same way (except for the addition of yeast) and added,
when it has cooled to blood heat, to the first, which by then will be fermenting nicely.
May
RHUBARB WINE
Rhubarb contains an excess of oxalic acid, which is rather unpleasant and is best
removed by the use of precipitated chalk.
Ingredients:
6 lb. rhubarb 1 gallon water
(preferably red) Yeast; nutrient
3 ½ lb. white sugar 1 lemon
Method:
Wipe the rhubarb with a damp cloth and cut it into short lengths, and crush it in a
crock with a piece of hardwood. Pour the cold water over it and add one crushed
Campden tablet. Leave three days, closely covered, stirring several times daily. Strain,
squeezing the pulp as dry as possible, and then add 1 oz. of precipitated chalk (obtainable
at a chemist); the juice will fizz. This may suffice, but if the juice still has an acid taste
add up to another ½ oz., but not more. Then add the sugar, the yeast, the yeast nutrient,
and the juice of two or three lemons. It is worth using a good wine yeast (Sauterne, Tokay
or Sherry). Put into fermenting vessel and fit trap, keeping half a pint or so separately in a
bottle plugged with cotton-wool. When the ferment quietens top up with this. Leave until
the wine begins to clear and the yeast settles; then rack for the first time. If you wish to
remove all colour add half a dozen clean, broken eggshells. This is an excellent wine for
blending, since it will take up the flavour of any other and its own will be virtually lost.
MEAD
Ingredients:
4 lb. English honey 1 lemon
1 orange 1 gallon water
Yeast and nutrient
Method:
Put the honey into the water and bring to the boil, then pour into a crock and allow
to cool. Add the juice from the orange and lemon, and the yeast, preferably a Maury
yeast, or all-purpose wine yeast, and nutrient.
N.B.—It is most important to add a good nutrient, since honey is deficient in
essential minerals. Pour into fermentation vessel and fit airlock. Allow to ferment to
completion—this is liable to take much longer than with most country wines—and rack
when no further bubbles are passing. Mead should preferably be matured for at least a
year after this, but one needs to be very strong-willed to follow this advice!
HAWTHORN BLOSSOM WINE
Ingredients:
2 qts. of hawthorn blossom 2 lemons
3 ½ lb. white sugar 9 pints water
Yeast and nutrient
Method:
Grate the rind from the lemons, being careful to include no white pith, and boil
with the sugar and the juice of one lemon in the water for half an hour. Pour into bowl
and when it has cooled to 70 degrees F. add the yeast (and, preferably, as with all flower
wines, a good yeast nutrient). Leave for 24 hours, then tip in the flowers. Let the mixture
stand for another eight days, stirring well each day. Then strain through two thicknesses
of butter muslin into fermenting vessel, and fit fermentation trap. Rack for the first time
when it clears, and after a second racking about three months later (about six months in
all) bottle in the usual way. This is a light and delicious wine.
LEMON THYME WINE
(By Mr. L. Foest, Penygraig House, Ammanford, Cams.)
Ingredients:
1 pint lemon thyme leaves 1 gallon water
(no stalks) 4 quart measures of rhubarb
1 lb. raisins Yeast and nutrient
3 lb. sugar
Method:
Cut up the rhubarb into ½ in. lengths, and chop the lemon thyme (to
approximately the size of mint when making mint sauce). Pour boiling water over them,
and then add the raisins. Stir every day for two weeks. Strain on to the sugar, stir
thoroughly and add yeast, wine yeast, or a level teaspoonful of granulated yeast. Leave to
ferment, closely covered and in a warm place, for another two weeks. Strain into
fermenting vessel and fit air lock, and leave until it has fermented right out. Ladies may
prefer to add ½ lb. - l lb. more sugar to obtain a much sweeter wine, but this is best done
finally, to taste, and not at the outset.
NETTLE WINE
Ingredients:
2 quarts young nettle tops 1 gallon water
4 lb. white sugar 2 lemons
½ oz. root ginger Yeast; yeast nutrient
Method:
Pick only the tops of the nettles, rinse them in water, and drain. Simmer them in
some of the water with the bruised ginger and lemon peel (being careful to exclude any
white pith) for forty-five minutes. Strain, and make the liquor up to a gallon by adding
more water. Pour this hot liquor over the sugar, add the juice of the lemons and the yeast
nutrient, and stir until the sugar dissolves, and when the liquor has cooled to 70 degrees
F. add the yeast, preferably a general purpose wine yeast. Keep the crock closely covered
in a warm place, and after four days stir thoroughly and transfer the liquor to fermentation
vessels and fit air locks. When the wine begins to clear, rack off into fresh bottles, and
leave for another three months before the final bottling.
SACK
Many, out of curiosity, want to try making sack, once a favourite English drink,
mentioned by Shakespeare and earlier writers. It can be made as follows:
Ingredients:
Three or four fennel roots 2 gallons water
3 or 4 sprays of rue 4 lbs. honey
Yeast; yeast nutrient
Method:
Wash the roots and leaves and boil them in the water for 45 minutes. Do not be
tempted to add more fennel or you will get an unpleasantly strong flavour. Then pour the
liquor through a nylon sieve and add the honey. Boil the whole for nearly two hours,
skimming off any froth or scum which arises. Allow the liquor to cool to 70 degrees F.,
then add your chosen yeast and yeast nutrient, and put into cask or fermenting jars and fit
traps. Sack, like most meads, may be a little slow to ferment and mature, and it is
important not to omit the yeast nutrient, or this will be aggravated. Rack after four
months if the sack has cleared, if not, delay racking until it has. It is fit for drinking after a
year.
VANILLA WINE
Ingredients:
6 lb. rhubarb 4 lb. white sugar
1 gallon cold water 2 lemons
1 gallon hawthorn blossom Yeast and nutrient
Method:
When boiling water is used in the making of rhubarb wine jellification is often
caused later, during fermentation. It is safer, therefore, to employ a cold water method.
If cold water is used, of course, the natural yeasts present in quantity (the bloom on the
rhubarb) may complicate your ferment if you are using a wine yeast and it is therefore
best to add a little sulphite (one Campden tablet per gallon) at the outset. Alternatively
you may care in this case to ferment with the natural yeast (in this case, since there is so
much of it present, the method usually works quite well). If you do, omit the Campden
tablet, and add no yeast.
Cut the rhubarb into small pieces, cover with the cold water, and add the hawthorn
flowers and the juice and rind of the two lemons, excluding any white pith. Add also one
crushed Campden tablet. Keep the pan closely covered (not in a warm place) and stir
daily for ten days. Strain on to 2 lb. sugar, stir thoroughly until all sugar is dissolved, and
add yeast. Keep in a warm place, closely covered. After four to five days add the
remainder of the sugar, stirring thoroughly, then transfer the liquor to fermenting jar and
fit trap. Siphon off the lees after three months, and again three months later, when the
wine may be bottled. At the second racking it will be vastly improved by the addition of
¼ to ½ pint of glycerine, to counter any over-acidity.
BALM WINE
Ingredients:
2 quarts of Balm Leaves, or a packet of Heath and Heather Dried Balm Leaves
3 lb. sugar and 1 lb. raisins (1 lb. barley if required)
1 lemon and 1 orange and yeast; nutrient
Method:
Add boiling water to the bruised leaves, raisins, sugar and the juice and rinds of
the lemon and orange. When cool add yeast. Allow to work for seven days then siphon
into fermenting vessel with air lock until fermentation is finished. The tender shoots
should be used if aroma is considered of most importance.
ELDERFLOWER
Ingredients:
2/3 pint elderflowers ½ lb. raisins
1 gallon water Juice of 3 lemons
3 ½ lb. white sugar Yeast; nutrient
Method:
Gather the flowers on a sunny day when they are fully opened, and trim them from
the stems with a pair of scissors, until you have a pint (pressed down lightly) of petals.
Bring the water to the boil and pour over the flowers, then add the sugar, chopped raisins
and lemon juice. When cool (70 degrees F.) add the yeast (a pre-prepared wine yeast is
best, but a level teaspoon of granulated yeast can be used) and nutrient. The nutrient is
most important in this case. Cover well and leave to ferment in a warm place for four or
five days. Strain into another jar, fit air lock, and leave to ferment. When it clears siphon
it off the deposit for the first time; two months later rack it again, and bottle it.
ELDERFLOWER (2)
Ingredients:
1 ½ pts. stripped elder blossom 3 ½ lb. Demerara sugar
2 lemons 1 gallon boiling water
2 oranges Yeast
2 pieces root ginger Yeast nutrient
Method:
Slice the lemons and oranges and put them in a crock with the flowers, ginger and
sugar. Pour on to them the boiling water, and add the yeast nutrient. When the liquor has
cooled to blood heat add yeast, and allow to ferment for four days, keeping closely
covered in a warm place. Then strain, put into fermenting bottle, and fit trap. Leave for
about two months, then rack off, cork tightly, and keep for another two months.
SPARKLING ELDERFLOWER
Ingredients:
3 quarts elderflowers 3 ½ lb. sugar
1 gallon water 2 lemons
Wine yeast Yeast; nutrient
Method:
Cut the elderflowers from the stalks, add a gallon of boiling water, and leave for a
few days, stirring occasionally. Strain on to 3 ½ lb. of sugar and the juice of two lemons,
add a teaspoonful of yeast nutrient, and a wine or champagne yeast.
This wine will be nearly dry but when it has started to clear and while there is still
some sugar present it may prove suitable to convert into a sparkling wine. A bottle
containing some of the wine is stood in a warm place and lightly plugged with
cotton-wool. If after a week a slight yeast deposit has formed it is quite safe to transfer all
the wine to champagne bottles which are either closed with corks well wired down or by
screw caps similar to cider flagons. The bottles are stored on their sides in a cool place
and after six months or so should be sparkling and ready to drink. If on the other hand
when trying the wine out for its suitability for bottle fermentation a heavy yeast deposit is
noted then fermentation must be continued for a few more days or even weeks till there is
less sugar in the wine. A further test then should show a smaller yeast deposit, in which
case the wine can be bottled and complete its fermentation in the bottle. Bottling a wine
which shows a heavy deposit will inevitably lead to burst bottles.
GREEN GOOSEBERRY
Ingredients:
6 lb. gooseberries 2 ½ lb. preserving sugar
6 pints water Yeast
Method:
Top, tail and wash the gooseberries, put into large crock and squeeze by hand
until they are pulpy. Then pour on the boiling water and allow to stand for three days,
well covered, stirring occasionally. Strain through two thicknesses of muslin, and add the
sugar, stirring until it is all dissolved, then add yeast and yeast nutrient. Put into
fermenting bottle and fit trap, leaving until bubbles cease to pass; then rack off and leave
to mature, siphoning off the lees again after another six months. Leave for a year before
drinking. Indistinguishable from a good hock.
JUNE
WALLFLOWER WINE
Ingredients:
1 pint wallflower blossoms 1 teaspoon grape tannin
½ lb. minced sultanas Water to 1 gallon
2 ½ lb. sugar Yeast and nutrient
Juice of 2 lemons
Method:
Put the sugar, minced sultanas, and flowerlets into a polythene bucket and pour
over them 3 quarts hot (not boiling) water. Stir vigorously. When cool add the lemon
juice, tannin, and a general-purpose wine yeast, and ferment, well covered, for not more
than three days. Strain into fermentation jar, top up with cold boiled water to bottom of
neck, fit fermentation lock, and continue as usual.
PARSLEY WINE
Ingredients:
1 lb. Parsley (fresh) or 4 lb. sugar
1 packet (Heath and Heather) 2 oranges and 2 lemons
Dried Parsley 1 gallon water
½ oz. Bruised Ginger (if liked). Yeast and nutrient
(1 lb. Barley can be
added if required)
Method:
Boil the parsley (the dried variety should firstly be infused for 24 hours), bruised
ginger and thinly peeled rinds of the lemons and oranges for 20 minutes in the gallon of
water. Strain on to the sugar and stir well. When lukewarm add the yeast and the fruit
juice. Stir and cover, leave for 24 hours. Pour into a fermenting jar and insert an air lock.
Leave in a warm place to ferment to a finish. Siphon off into a storage jar.
SAGE WINE
Ingredient:
8 lb. stoned raisins 4 lb. sage leaves
1 lb. barley (if desired, it Yeast and nutrient
will lend "body" to the 2 Lemons
wine) 1 gallon water
Method:
Pour the boiling water on to the raisins and barley and add the chopped leaves of
the red sage. Allow to cool and then add the juice of the two lemons and the yeast (a
pre-prepared wine yeast, a level teaspoonful of dried yeast, or ¾ oz. baker's yeast). Keep
covered, in a warm place, for seven days, stirring daily, then place in a fermentation
vessel with an air lock and ferment in the usual way.
BRAMBLE TIP
Ingredients:
1 gallon bramble tips 1 gallon water
3 lb. preserving sugar Yeast and nutrient
Method:
Place the tips in a crock and cover them with boiling water. Leave this to stand
overnight, then bring to the boil and simmer gently for a quarter of an hour. Strain
through muslin on to the sugar, add the yeast when it has cooled, and keep closely
covered in a warm place for ten days. Then pour into fermenting jar and fit trap. Leave
until wine clears, then siphon off and bottle.
JULY
REDCURRANT, WHITECURRANT or
BLACKCURRANT WINE (1)
Ingredients:
1 gallon blackcurrants 3 ½ lb. sugar to every gallon
1 gallon boiling water of juice
Yeast and nutrient
Method:
Strip the currants, wash them very thoroughly, and put them in a large vessel.
Bruise well to extract the juice, and pour on the boiling water—there should be sufficient
to cover the fruit completely.
Leave it until the next day, then strain through a coarse cloth, pressing the currants
well. Measure the juice, and add sugar in the above proportion. When the sugar is
dissolved add yeast, and put liquor into a clean jar or cask fitted with a fermentation lock
and leave to ferment. When it stops working and has cleared, siphon off into clean bottles
and cork securely. Keep another nine months before bottling.
BLACKCURRANT WINE (2)
Ingredients:
3 lb. blackcurrants 1 gallon water
4 lb. preserving sugar Yeast and nutrient
Method:
Put the currants into a large earthen jar and crush them. Boil up the sugar in the
water and pour, still boiling, on to the currants. When it has cooled to about blood heat,
add the yeast (wine yeast or a level teaspoonful of dried yeast) and keep closely covered
for five days in a warm place, giving it an occasional stir. Then strain into a fermenting
jar, and fit an air lock. Let it stand until fermentation ceases and the wine clears, usually
in about three months, then siphon off into fresh, sterilized bottles.
BLACKCURRANT, RIBENA (3)
One 12 oz. bottle of Ribena Blackcurrant juice will in fact make one gallon of
wine. Dissolve 3 lb. of sugar in some warm water, and pour into a 1-gallon jar, then add
the bottle of blackcurrant juice and three-quarters fill the jar to the shoulder. Then add
your chosen wine yeast, or a level teaspoon of Heath and Heather granulated yeast. The
merest trace of acid, one-third of a teaspoon of citric acid, and a pinch of yeast nutrient
should also be added. Insert the fermentation lock and stand the jar in a warm place for
fermentation to get under way. When the first vigorous fermentation has died down after
a fortnight or so, top up the jar with water to the bottom of the neck, and reinsert
fermentation lock; then continue with the fermentation in the usual way.
BROAD BEAN WINE
. . . and you just must try this most unusual and astonishing wine for which the
recipe comes from Mr. C. J. Padwick, of 16 Clarendon Avenue, Andover. This recipe
produces a light, dry wine of superb quality, hard as that may be to believe!
Ingredients:
4 lb. broad beans ¼ lb. raisins
(shelled) Yeast and nutrient
1 gallon water 1 lemon
2 ¾ lb. sugar
Method:
Mr. Padwick writes: Use beans that are too old for normal culinary purposes. To 4
lb. of shelled beans add one gallon of water and boil slowly for one hour. It is essential
that the skins do not break or you will have difficulty in clearing the wine. Strain off the
liquor and make up to one gallon with boiled water. For a dry wine add 2 ¾ lb. of sugar,
the juice of one lemon and ¼ lb. of raisins. When sufficiently cooled add the yeast, and
allow five days for the first fermentation. Remove the raisins after this period, fix the
airlock and from then on treat as any other wine. By careful use of the hydrometer more
sugar can be added at stages, but I do not recommend this as a sweet wine.
CHERRY WINE
Ingredients:
6 lb. black cherries 1 gallon water
4 ½ lb. preserving sugar Yeast and nutrient
Method:
Crush the cherries (without breaking the stones) and then pour the boiling water
over them. Leave to soak for 48 hours. Strain through two thicknesses of muslin. Bring
the juice just to boiling point and pour it over the sugar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved.
Allow to cool and then sprinkle the yeast on top and stir it in. Cover closely and ferment
in a warm place for 14 days, then put into fermenting bottle and fit trap. Siphon off when
finished and clear into clean bottles.
HONEYSUCKLE WINE
Ingredients:
2 pints of honeysuckle 1 lemon
blossom (pressed down 1 orange
lightly) 1 Campden tablet
3 lb. sugar 1 gallon water
4 ozs. raisins Yeast and nutrient
Method:
The flowers must be fully open, and dry. Wash them in a colander, pour the water
(cold) over them, and stir in two lbs. of sugar, the minced raisins, and the citrus fruit
juice. Add the crushed Campden tablet. Stir well, and next day add the yeast (a Sauternes
yeast is suitable) and the nutrient. Ferment for a week in a warm place, stirring daily, then
add the remaining sugar and stir well. Strain into fermenting jar and ferment, rack and
bottle as usual. Use ½ lb. sugar less for a really dry wine.
MARIGOLD WINE
Ingredients:
3 quarts marigold flowers 1 gallon water
(no stalk) Yeast
2 lemons Yeast nutrient
3 lb. preserving sugar
Method:
Bring the water to the boil, dissolve the sugar in it, and allow to cool. Add the
crushed flowers, the juice and rind of the lemons (being careful to include no white pith),
the yeast nutrient, and yeast (prepared wine yeast or a level teaspoonful of dried yeast).
Leave in a warm place, closely covered, for a week, stirring twice daily, then strain into a
fermenting jar, insert a fermentation lock, and leave in a fairly warm place to finish.
When fermentation ceases and wine has cleared siphon off into clean bottles and keep in
a cool place for at least six months before drinking.
MARROW WINE
Although the recipe which advocates filling a marrow with brown sugar to make
Marrow Rum is one which appeals by its novelty I have never yet tasted any made by this
method which has been successful, unless the recipe has been considerably adjusted.
Usually the result is far too sweet. You will find this recipe for Marrow Wine far more
successful:
Ingredients:
5 lb. ripe marrow 2 lemons
3 lb. white sugar (or brown, 1 oz. root ginger
if you wish a rum colour) 2 oranges
Yeast and nutrient 1 gallon water
Method:
Grate the marrow and use the seeds, slice the oranges and lemons, bruise the
ginger, and put all into a jug or crock. Pour over the boiling water and when cool add the
yeast. Allow to stand for five days, closely covered, stirring frequently, then strain and
dissolve the sugar in the liquid. Ether put it into a fermentation jar and fit trap, or keep it
closely covered and then ferment in the usual way. When it clears siphon it off the yeast.
It should be ready after about six months and can then be bottled.
MEADOWSWEET WINE
Ingredients:
1 gallon meadowsweet flowers ¼ pint strong tea
(heads only) or 1 packet 1 teaspoon citric acid
dried heads (Heath and 1 gallon water
Heather) 1 lb. raisins
3 lb. sugar Yeast and nutrient
Method:
Place the flowers, chopped fruit and sugar in polythene vessel, pour in the boiling
water, and stir well. When cool add the citric acid, tea and yeast nutrient. Introduce the
wine yeast and ferment on the pulp for 10 days, stirring twice daily and keeping it closely
covered. Then strain into fermentation vessel and ferment, rack, and bottle in due course.
MORELLO CHERRY WINE
Ingredients:
8 lb. cracked and windfall 3 ½ lb. preserving sugar
Morello cherries (approximately)
1 gallon water Yeast and nutrient
Method:
Stalk and wash the fruit, place in a crock, and add one pint of cold water to each
pound of fruit, and then one crushed Campden tablet (per gallon). Lastly add a level
teaspoonful of dried yeast. Leave for 10 days, keeping closely covered, but stir well each
day and mash the fruit with the hands.
To strain it is a good plan to tie muslin over another pan, tying it on. Then, by
standing a colander on two laths over this, the bulk of the fruit is retained in the colander
and the liquor enabled to strain through the muslin more easily. Do not squeeze or hurry
the process.
Measure the liquid, and to each quart add 1 lb. sugar; stir well till dissolved.
Leave for four days in a warm place, still covered, then put into fermenting bottles and fit
traps. When fermentation has finished and wine has cleared, rack off into clean bottles
and keep six months before using.
PLUM WINE
Most plums will make good wine, but generally speaking Victoria plums have
been found to be the most satisfactory. Even they sometimes produce a wine, which is
somewhat lacking in body, and many winemakers, to counter this plum failing, are in the
habit of adding a pound of grain (wheat or barley) to the recipe.
Ingredients:
6 lb. plums (before stoning) Yeast
3 ½ lb. sugar 1 gallon water
Method:
Cut the plums in half, and crush them in your hands. Take half of the water, bring
it to the boil, and then pour it over the fruit pulp. Leave it for four or five hours, then
strain, and add the other half of the water to the pulp. Strain the two lots of juice and you
should have about a gallon of really clear juice. Bring this to the boil, and then pour it
over the sugar, stirring to dissolve. Allow the liquor to cool to 70 degrees F. then add the
yeast (preferably a Bordeaux, Tokay or Sauterne wine yeast, but failing that ¾ oz. baker's
yeast or a level teaspoon of granulated yeast), pour the whole into your fermenting vessel,
and fit an air lock. When the wine begins to clear, siphon it off for the first time, and
when all fermentation has finished, rack it again into clean bottles and cork.
RASPBERRY WINE
If ever you can persuade yourself not to eat raspberries, but to make wine with
them instead, here is an excellent recipe:
Ingredients:
4 lb. raspberries 1 gallon boiling water
3 ½ lb. sugar Yeast and nutrient
Method:
Bring the water to the boil and pour it over the fruit; then leave it to cool. Mash
the fruit well with the hands, or with a wooden spoon, then cover it closely and leave for
four days, stirring daily. Strain through at least two thickness of butter muslin on to the
sugar, and stir thoroughly to dissolve. Add a good wine yeast (Burgundy, Port or Sauterne
is best), ¾ oz. baker's yeast, or a level teaspoon of granulated yeast, and stir well in.
Leave for 24 hours, closely covered, in a warm place, then put the liquor into your
fermentation vessel, and fit trap. Ferment it right out, and when it clears, siphon the wine
off the lees into clean bottles.
RASPBERRY AND REDCURRANT WINE
Ingredients:
4 lb. raspberries Yeast and nutrient
4 lb. redcurrants Sugar
Method:
Wash the fruit, rejecting any which are damaged, and press out all the juice. (If a
press is not available use a plate and colander stood on laths over a crock.) Boil the
squeezed pulp in three times its own volume of water for two hours, and then strain on to
the original juice. The pulp should be squeezed dry and this liquid also added. Measure
the total liquid thus obtained and to each gallon add four lb. sugar, and then the yeast
(when the liquor has cooled to blood heat). Put into fermenting bottle, filling to shoulder
to allow space for the vigour of the primary fermentation, but keep a little liquor aside in
a covered jug with which to "top up" once the initial ferment is over. Fit fermentation trap
and leave until fermentation is finished. Then siphon off and keep for six months before
final bottling.
ROSE PETAL WINE
Many gardens have masses of rose-petals which, In the normal course of events,
would finish up on the compost heap. But why not take advantage of their glorious scent
and make this most unusual wine? All you need is:
Ingredients:
2 quarts rose petals (the 2 ½ lb. white sugar
stronger scented the better) Yeast
1 lemon Yeast nutrient
1 gallon boiling water
Method:
Bring the water to the boil, and add the sugar, rose petals, and juice of the lemon.
Stir well, and when it has cooled to 70 degrees F. add the yeast (a G.P. wine yeast or a
level teaspoon of granulated yeast) and a yeast nutrient. Leave to ferment for a week,
stirring daily, and keeping closely covered. Then strain into a fermentation jar and
ferment until finished. A wine made in this way will normally have good colour, if
coloured roses are used; if less colour is required the petals should be strained from the
liquor three days earlier.
STRAWBERRY WINE
Ingredients :
4 lb. strawberries ½ teaspoon grape tannin
3 lb. sugar Yeast and yeast nutrient
1 tablespoon citric acid Water to 1 gallon
Method :
Take the stems from the strawberries, and wash the fruit. Mash the berries well,
and mix with the sugar and 2 quarts water. Leave for 24-36 hours, then strain liquor into
fermenting jar ; add a further quart of water to the pulp, mix well, and immediately strain,
again, then add the acid, tannin, yeast nutrient and yeast, and make up to 1 gallon with
cold water. Stir thoroughly, fit trap, and continue as usual.
August
CARROT WINE
. . . a readily available and very popular drink, with both "kick" and flavour . . .
Ingredients:
6 lb. carrots 1 lb. wheat
1 gallon water Yeast and nutrient
4 lb. sugar 2 lemons
1 tablespoonful raisins 2 oranges
Method:
Wash the carrots well but do not peel. Put into the water and bring to the boil;
then simmer gently until the carrots are very tender. Use the carrots for food, and strain
the water. Make up to one gallon. In a bowl put the sugar, sliced oranges and lemons and
pour over the hot liquid. Stir until the sugar is dissolved, and then stand until lukewarm.
Then add the chopped raisins and wheat and sprinkle the level teaspoonful of granulated
yeast on top. Leave to ferment, closely covered, for 15 days, stirring daily. Then skim,
strain and put into fermenting jar. Fit trap and leave until it is clear and stable. Then
bottle. Keep almost a year (from the start of the fermentation) before drinking.
"FOLLY," OR VINE PRUNINGS WINE
Those of you who are growing vines—and all amateur winemakers should, or
they miss a great deal of fun and enjoyment—will have not only grapes (in September)
but, throughout the summer, a plentiful supply of vine prunings and leaves as the growing
vines are cut back to ensure that the maximum nutrition goes into the bunches of grapes.
Do not waste these prunings and leaves; they will make excellent wine! Cut only the
green shoots and not ripe wood or the vine will "bleed."
Ingredients:
8 pints boiling water 3 lb. white sugar
5 lb. leaves and tendrils Yeast and nutrient
Method:
Put the cuttings and leaves into a bowl and pour on to them the boiling water. Let
this stand for 48 hours, but turn occasionally to submerge top leaves and keep prunings
well under water. Keep crock closely covered. Pour off liquid and press out remaining
leaves and tendrils. "Wash" the leaves with a pint of water and press again. Dissolve the
sugar in the liquid, add the yeast and yeast nutrient, and pour into fermenting vessel and
fit trap. Ferment right out in the usual way and siphon off when clear.
POMEGRANATE WINE
Ingredients:
10 pomegranates 1 lemon
½ lb. barley Yeast and nutrient
3 lb. sugar 1 gallon water
Method:
Take all the seeds out of the pomegranates and meanwhile bring the water to the
boil, with the barley in it. Simmer for about five minutes; then strain on to the inside of
the pomegranates, the sugar, and the juice of the lemon. Stir well. When cool add the
nutrient and yeast. Ferment, closely covered, on the pulp for five days, then strain into
fermenting jar. Bottle the wine when it clears. An excellent medium table wine.
GINGER BEER
If you wish to be popular with the kiddies during the holidays, try making them
some ginger beer . . .
Ingredients:
2 lb. sugar 1 gallon water
2 lemons 1 level teaspoon granulated
1 ¼ ozs. well-bruised root yeast
ginger ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
Method:
Put into a large bowl or jar the sugar, the rinds (thinly peeled) and the juice of the
two lemons, and the well-bruised ginger. Add the squeezed halves of the lemons to the
water as it comes to the boil. When it reaches boiling point, pour it over the ingredients in
the bowl. Remove lemon halves, stir well, and cover. When tepid add the yeast,
previously dissolved in a small amount of the warm liquid. Use a small bottle for this,
dropping crumbled yeast in and shaking it to dissolve; leave it half-an-hour or more
before adding it to the liquor. Lastly stir in the cream of tartar. Cover and leave for 24
hours. Strain and bottle, and tie down the corks. NEVER use screwstoppers or the bottles
may burst. Store in a cool place and drink fairly soon. Take care when opening the
bottles, or they are apt to froth over.
PEACH PERFECTION
This is a recipe by Mrs. Cherry Leeds, of Twickenham, for a peach wine which is
so superb—and cheap—that we give the fullest possible instructions . . .
It sounds extravagant, but it is not. Keep an eye on the greengrocers and you'll see
that in August (usually about the first fortnight) peaches come right down in price, to 6d.
each or even less. The wine works out at about l/4d. a bottle.
Mrs. Leeds uses a Kitzinger sherry or Tokay yeast.
TO MAKE 10 GALLONS
Ingredients:
30 lb. peaches 3 oz. citric acid
32 lb. sugar (10 Demerara) l ½ teaspoon tannin
Boiling and boiled water 3 oz. Pectin enzyme
Method:
Wipe peaches and remove the stones; drop into large container such as a
polythene bin. Scrub hands well and squeeze the peaches until well mashed. Well cover
with boiling water and leave covered overnight.
The next day stir in the Pectin enzyme and cover well. On the third day strain
through muslin, twice if possible to reduce sludge, and put into the 10-gallon jar; add
citric acid, tannin and nutrient.
At this point it is a simple matter to place the jar or carboy into the position it will
occupy during fermentation. Put 20 lb. of sugar into the large container and add
sufficient. boiling water to dissolve, and when cool add to the jar. Then the level of the
liquid is brought up to the turn of the shoulder of the jar with boiled water. Open the yeast
bottle, pour in, and fit fermentation lock. The gravity at this stage will be about 100; the
original gravity is almost invariably 25-30. Fermentation will start on the third day if the
temperature is sufficient (70 degs. - 75 degs. F.).
The rest of the sugar is added in stages from now on, the first addition of four
pints of syrup when the gravity is 30, that is, roughly, after two weeks. The sugar is then
added in two-pint lots when the gravity is between 10 and 15 each time. The syrup used is
2 lb. sugar to one pint boiling water and cooled, thus making two pints syrup.
The fermenting period lasts for about seven or eight months, though one can keep
it going for a year with small additions of syrup.
The first racking takes place when all the sugar is in and the reading is 10. Some
of the wine will have to be removed to accommodate the last two pints of syrup. Stir up
the jar and remove half a gallon. Put it by, under an air lock, and this can be used to top
up the jar after the first racking. Stir the liquid vigorously with an oak rod once a day for
the first few weeks.
Because of the Pectozyme used the wine will clear perfectly and after the first
racking will become crystal clear, but don't be tempted to rack again until fermentation
has ceased finally. This usually happens when the gravity is about five.
The alcoholic content will be about 18%.
TO MAKE FIVE GALLONS
For the 5-galIon jars use half quantities except the Pectin enzyme—this is 2 ounces
—otherwise the procedure is the same.
TO MAKE ONE GALLON
Ingredients:
3 lb. peaches Saltspoon tannin
1 teaspoon citric acid 3 lb. sugar
½ oz. Pectin enzyme ½ gallon boiling water
Method:
The method is the same but the yeast starter bottle is prepared on the same day as
mashing, and the sugar is put in all together, just before the yeast starter.
PEA POD WINE
Despite its somewhat unattractive and prosaic name (a chance here for someone to
invent a better one!), this is a light, attractive wine which is a great favourite with many
winemakers. Certainly no one can complain that the ingredients are expensive!
Ingredients:
5 lb. pea pods 1 gallon water
3 lb. white sugar Yeast and nutrient
Method:
Wash the pods carefully, and then boil them in the water until they are tender,
then strain and dissolve the sugar in the warm liquid. Add the yeast, and then pour into
fermenting vessel and fit trap. Siphon off when wine begins to clear and bottle when
fermentation has ceased.
PLUM WINE
(or Greengage Wine)
Ingredients:
4 lb. plums or greengages Yeast
½ lb. barley Yeast nutrient
4 lb. preserving sugar 1 tablespoon Pectozyme
1 gallon water
Method:
Grind the barley in a mincer and cut up the fruit, putting both into a crock. Pour
over them the boiling water, cover closely, and leave for four days, adding the Pectozyme
when cool. Stir daily. Then strain through muslin on to the sugar, add the yeast nutrient,
and stir till all is dissolved. Then add the yeast (preferably a Burgundy wine yeast, but
failing that a general-purpose wine yeast or a level teaspoonful of granulated yeast). Keep
closely covered in a warm place for a week, then pour into fermenting bottle, filling to
bottom of neck, and fit air lock. Siphon off for the first time when it clears but do not
bottle until assured that fermentation has completely finished.
RED GOOSEBERRY
Ingredients:
3 lb. white sugar 1 gallon water
4 lb. gooseberries Yeast and nutrient
Method:
Pick the ripe gooseberries on a dry day, choosing large and juicy fruits. Top and
tail and mash well in a bowl with a wooden pulper. Add yeast. Pour on the cold water and
allow to stand three days, stirring twice a day. Strain well through muslin and dissolve the
sugar in the juice. Then put into fermenting jar and fit trap and leave until wine has
cleared and fermented out. Then siphon off into clean bottles and cork.
PASSION FRUIT WINE
And this doesn't mean what you're thinking ! The Passion Fruit, or Purple
Granadilla, is of the Passifloraceae. The Passiflora, or Passion Flower, is so called
because its several parts symbolise the story of the Passion of Our Lord. Two types
produce edible fruit. P. edulis and P. quadangularis, rather like plums.
Ingredients :
4 lb. passion fruit 1 gallon water
½ lb. barley Yeast and nutrient
3 ½ lb. preserving sugar 1 tablespoon
Method:
As for plum wine.
September
APPLE WINE (1)
This is a truly delicious wine, and although apparently "heavy" on fruit is well
worth making. It is strong yet delicately flavoured, with an attractive, faintly "cidery"
bouquet.
Ingredients:
24 lb. mixed windfall apples 1 gallon water
3 lb. preserving sugar to the Yeast
gallon of liquor
Method:
Chop the apples into small pieces, put into a bowl, add the yeast and water (the
water will not cover the apples). Leave for about a week, stirring vigorously several times
a day to bring the apples at the bottom to the top. Keep the pan closely covered and in a
fairly warm place. Then strain the juice from the apple pulp. Press the juice from the
apples and add to the rest of the liquor. To every gallon add 3 lb. of sugar. Put into cask
or glass fermenting vessel and fit fermentation trap, racking when it has cleared. The
wine will be ready for drinking within six months, but improves for being kept a year.
If eating apples are used it is a good idea to make every tenth pound one of crab apples,
and another improvement is to employ a Sauterne wine yeast.
APPLE WINE (2)
Ingredients:
6 lb. apples 1 lemon
3 lb. sugar Yeast and nutrient
¼ lb. chopped raisins
Method:
Wash and cut up the apples, skins, brown patches and all. Windfalls will do.
Simmer 10-15 minutes in one gallon of water. Strain liquid on to the sugar, and the thinly
peeled rind of the lemon. Stir well. When lukewarm add the juice of the lemon, and the
yeast creamed in a little of the warm liquid, cover and leave for 24 hours in a warm place,
then pour into a fermenting jar, cover with three layers of clean cotton material, or insert
an airlock. Leave in a warm place to ferment for four weeks. Siphon off into clean dry
storage jar, and add the chopped raisins. Leave six months to mature under air lock. Then
siphon off into clean bottles, and cork.
ARTICHOKE SHERRY
Ingredients:
4 lb. artichokes 2 lb. white sugar
1 orange 7 pints water
1 lemon Respora Sherry yeast
2 ozs. root ginger
Method:
Slice the artichokes and add the thin peel of the fruit. Bruise the ginger and place
all in the water and boil for 30 minutes. Pour liquid over the sugar, and when cool, add
the juice of the fruit and yeast. Leave two days closely covered, transfer to jars, fit locks,
and leave to ferment out. Then rack and bottle in the usual manner.
ELDERBERRY WINE
Ingredients:
3 lb. elderberries 1 gallon water
3 ½ lb. white sugar Yeast
Method:
Strip the berries from the stalks by using the prongs of an ordinary table fork
(otherwise it is a messy and tedious business), then weigh them and crush them in a bowl.
Pour on the boiling water, and then let it cool to about 70 degrees before adding the yeast.
Leave three days, stirring daily, then strain through muslin on to the sugar. Pour the liquor
into a "grey hen" or dark glass bottle (in clear bottles the wine will lose its colour), but do
not fill completely until first vigorous ferment has subsided, plugging the neck with
cotton-wool. When the ferment is quieter fill to bottom of neck, and fit fermentation trap.
Leave till fermentation is complete—it may be longer than most—then siphon off into
clean, dark bottles and keep for six months at least.
GRAPE WINE,
More and more people are now growing their own outdoor wine grapes,
particularly in the south of England, and the "Amateur Winemaker" has received many
requests for "grape wine recipes." The word grape here is really superfluous, since true
wine can only be the product of the grape, as the etymology of the word shows (Greek
oine-vine, oinos-wine) and it is fitting that in any book on wine the grape should have
pride of place. Many are puzzled as to how to convert their grapes into wine, but in
essentials nothing could be simpler.
Firstly, make sure that your grapes are as ripe as possible (the birds will tell you
when they are nearly ready, if the vine is unprotected!), gather them, and set to work
quickly. All one has to do is to ferment the grape juice, but it is as well to note that, if
making small quantities, with a consequent high degree of wastage, as much as between
12 and 15 lb. of grapes will be required to produce a gallon of wine. About 4 lb. will
make one bottle. And, even in one of our sunniest summers, when the sugar content of
our grapes will perhaps be higher than usual, it is likely that one must expect to have to
add some sugar, if a reasonably strong wine is required. If you use a hydrometer, it is
simple to ascertain how much, but if you do not, no matter; the solution then is to aim at a
strong wine, say 18 per cent of alcohol by volume, and to continue adding the sugar in
small quantities of, say 4 oz. to the gallon at a time, until the ferment is carried as far as it
will go, and the sweetness of the wine is to your taste.
Many beginners seem to be puzzled by the difference between white wine and red,
and ask whether black grapes can be employed to produce the former. The answer is: Yes.
White wine can be made from grapes of either colour, the method being to express the
juice and ferment it alone. Red wine, on the other hand, is produced by leaving the skins
of the crushed black grapes in the must, so that the colour from them is extracted.
If the skins are left in only one or two days a vin rosè will be produced, if longer, a
wine of much deeper colour. This process can usually be continued for about 10 days, but
it is unwise to leave it much longer, and the liquid should then be drawn off.
A press, of course, is invaluable, and essential if making large quantities of white
wine, but most winemakers will be able to contrive to press enough grapes for one or two
gallons without one, by crushing with the hands or a piece of hardwood, or by using
boards and weights, or some similar device. For white wine, of course, the grapes must be
contained in stout calico or some such material to keep the skins separate.
Aim at a strength of 18 per cent alcohol by volume. If using a hydrometer, express
the juice from a few of the grapes and measure the S.G. With English grapes it is likely to
be fairly low, about 50 or 60, and to obtain the desired strength you will need to add 32
oz. of sugar. It may be higher, if so, consult this table, given by E. Chancrin in"LeVin":
(If you have no hydrometer, make a mental note of the fact you are likely to have
to add up to 2 lb. of sugar to each gallon, but do it by stages, adding 8 ozs. initially and
thereafter 4 oz. at a time.)
If you are making wine from grapes for the first time it is unlikely that you will
want to bother your head unduly about acidity, for if the grapes are really ripe any slight
over acidity can be masked by a little extra sugar once the wine is made. But for the
perfectionist it is as well to note that grapes—and certainly English grapes—are likely to
be slightly too acid, and probably contain about 1.30 per cent acid, whereas the desirable
acidity is about 1 per cent. The experienced winemaker will go to the trouble of
correcting this by diluting with syrup, but for our present purpose this is an unnecessary
complication.
Approx. number of ounces of sugar
to be added to 1 gallon to increase
alcohol to (by vol.)
S.G.
of grape
juice
10% 14% 18%
1,130
1,125 2
1,120 4
1,115 6
1,110 8
1,105 10
1,100 12
1,095 2 14
1,090 4 16
1,085 6 18
1,080 8 20
1,075 10 21
1,070 3 11 23
1,065 5 13 25
1,060 7 15 27
1,055 9 17 29
1,050 11 20 32
WHITE WINE
Discard any mouldy or unsound grapes, remove the stems, and express the juice
by means of a press or by crushing with the hands, the fruit being in a calico or sacking
bag. If using a press, apply pressure gradually; it is better to repeat the pressing once or
twice slowly, than to try to rush it through, for you may only burst the bag and be in
trouble.
If using a hydrometer, test the juice and determine how much sugar has to be
added; dissolve it in the juice, and pour the juice into your fermenting vessel. (Many
winemakers prefer to add only half the sugar at this stage and the remainder two or three
days later.)
You can then either (a) rely upon the natural yeast (the bloom upon the grapes, of
which sufficient will have passed into the juice, to start fermentation) or, preferably, (b)
add one Campden tablet per gallon, and, 24 hours later, a vigorous yeast starter of your
own choice. A good yeast nutrient will also help.
Fermentation, in a warm place, will be more rapid than with the usual run of
country wines but the advent of chillier weather will slow it down.
If you are not using a hydrometer, of course, add your initial 8 oz. of sugar, and
thereafter keep a close eye on your ferment, for it is likely to require further sugar almost
every day, although the ferment and sugar consumption will be slower in the latter stages
than in the early one.
Thereafter the process is the same as with any country wine.
RED WINE
If using a hydrometer, press a few of the grapes to determine the specific gravity
of the juice and how much sugar to add. (If not using a hydrometer, it is best to add at
least 1 ¼ lb.)
Remove the stalks of the grapes: place the grapes in a tub or large crock (a
cylindrical one is convenient) and crush them by hand or with a piece of hardwood and, if
using the natural yeast, add the sugar and yeast nutrient, stirring very thoroughly. If using
a special yeast add one Campden tablet per gallon, and 24 hours later stir in the sugar and
add the yeast.
Use a disc of heavy hardwood (oak or beech) fitting very loosely in the cylindrical
crock, to hold the skins down below the surface of the liquid. Bore holes in it with a 2-in.
bit. Each day push this "sinker" down to keep the skins wet. This is important or you may
get poor colour extraction and the "cap" of skins may acetify. Keep the crock in a warm
place for up to 10 days, according to the depth of colour you require, but not more, then
strain off the liquor into your fermenting vessel and add (by stages if not using a
hydrometer) the balance of the sugar. If you can, press the pulp to get "just that little
extra."
Keep this wine, of course, in an opaque or coloured fermenter to preserve its
colour, and thereafter continue as for any ordinary country wine.
MEAD
(by S. H. Pullinger, Alresford)
Take 3-4 ½ lb. of mild honey, amount according to dryness or sweetness of wine
required. If a wine yeast is to be used, have it activated and ready in advance.
Bring the honey to the boil in two or three times its volume of water. Stir with
wooden spoon until honey is dissolved, or it may burn. Skim off any scum which rises.
To the hot liquid add approximately ½ oz. of citric acid and the yeast nutrient.
Alternatively, one may use the juice of 4-6 lemons, when only half the yeast nutrient need
be added.
Add the rest of the water when convenient, transfer to fermenting containers and
add yeast when cool. A narrow neck and fermentation lock are advisable. Since there is a
gallon of water and several pounds of honey there will be about nine to ten pints of liquid.
This will allow for a full gallon after racking, which should take place when the wine is
beginning to clear and a definite layer of sludge can be seen at the bottom. Wine made
now would be worth drinking at Christmas, but would be better for keeping.
MELOMEL
(Rosehip Mead)
If you wish to use rosehips for flavouring to make Melomel, as a fruit flavoured
mead is called, use about 4 lbs. Boil them in a gallon of water for five or ten minutes, and
when cool mash them with your hands or a piece of hardwood, and strain through butter
muslin.
To this add four pounds of honey, the juice of two lemons, and yeast nutrient, and
stir until the honey is dissolved. When lukewarm add the yeast and ferment as usual. It is
an improvement for this mead to use a sherry yeast and ferment in the sherry manner, i.e.,
after the first racking (not before) have your fermenting container only seven-eighths full,
and use an empty fermentation trap, the end of which can be lightly plugged with a small
piece of cotton-wool, thus exposing the mead to air but preventing the entrance of any
vinegar flies, allowing a degree of oxidisation. But you can also use an ordinary wine
yeast and ferment and mature throughout in the usual way if you wish.
To make Metheglin use 4 lb. honey, 1 oz. hops, and ½ oz. root ginger to the
gallon, or with the same amount of honey and water, 2 cloves and ¼ oz. cinnamon bark,
or one-third of an ounce of carraway seeds.
Marjoram, balm, mace, lemon and orange peel, cinnamon, are also flavourings
which can be tried, but it is as well not to overdo them.
BLACKBERRY WINE
Ingredients:
4 lb. blackberries Yeast
3 lb. granulated sugar Yeast nutrient
Method:
The fruit should be picked when ripe and dry on a sunny day. Wash it well, being
careful to remove any of the small maggots sometimes found in blackberries. Place the
fruit in a crock, and crush it with a wooden spoon. Pour over it the gallon of boiling
water. Stir well, allow to become lukewarm (about 70 degrees F.), then add the yeast.
Cover closely and leave for four or five days, stirring daily. Strain through two
thicknesses of muslin or a nylon sieve on to 3 lb. of granulated sugar and add the yeast
nutrient. Stir well to make sure that all is dissolved. Pour into dark fermenting jar or "grey
hen," filling to shoulder, and fit fermentation trap. Keep the spare liquor in a smaller
bottle also fitted with a trap or plug of cotton-wool. When the ferment quietens sufficient
for there to be no risk of it foaming through the trap (after, say, a week) top up with the
spare wine to the base of the neck and refit trap. Leave until it clears and then rack for the
first time.
MEDLAR WINE
Ingredients:
6 lb. medlars 1 tablespoon Pectozyme
3 lb. sugar Yeast and nutrient
½ teaspoon grape tannin Water to 1 gallon
Method:
Chop the fruit and pour over it two quarts boiling water ; stir in 1½ lb. sugar, and
1 quart cold water. Leave till cool, then add ingredients. Cover closely and leave in warm
place. After three days strain into fermenting jar and top up to bottom of neck with cold
water. Fit trap and continue as usual.
CIDER OR PERRY
Cider is made from apples, perry from pears.
Strictly speaking, only natural sugar of the fruit should be employed and no sugar
should be added.
A press or juice extractor is essential. Put the fruit in a tub or polythene dustbin
and crush it with a "masher," a heavy balk of timber. Then express the juice by means of
a press or by wrapping the fruit a little at a time in a stout cloth and running it through a
mangle. Collect the juice in a jar, stand it on a tray in a warm place (about 70 degrees F.)
and add yeast. Invert a small glass over the top of the jar. For a few days the jar will froth
over and must be kept topped up, but when the ferment quietens fit a fermentation lock
and proceed as for any other wine.
SPARKLING MEAD
Ingredients:
3 lb. honey (preferably of a 1 gallon water
mild flavour) Yeast nutrient
Good mead or wine yeast
(say Maury)
Method:
Bring the water to the boil for a minute or so, and then allow it to cool to 120
degrees F. Warm up the honey meantime to the same temperature, and then mix the two,
stirring well to dissolve the honey.
Allow the honey liquor to cool to 70 degrees F. and then add the required amount
of a yeast nutrient and the pre-prepared yeast culture. Failing this, one can use a level
teaspoonful of granulated yeast, but there is then a risk if racking should happen to be
delayed later on, of spoiling the delicate mead flavour. Pour the liquor into a fermenting
jar, filling it to the bottom of the neck, and keep the surplus in a covered jug nearby. Put
both vessels in a warm place (65-70 degrees F.). As the fermentation froths out of the jar,
as it may do, top up from the jug. When the vigorous ferment slows down, and froth
ceases to form, fill the jar to the bottom of the neck, fit an airlock, and clean the exterior.
When fermentation stops completely move the jar to a cold room and leave it there for a
fortnight or three weeks before siphoning the mead off the lees, and into a clean jar. Use a
rubber bung or a waxed cork but do not wire it down. The following March (after roughly
six months’ storage) siphon the mead off the lees again and to the gallon add 2 oz. honey
(or white sugar) dissolved in ¼ pint of water, boiled and cooled as before. Mix
thoroughly and bottle, using strong bottles (of the champagne type, if possible), cork, and
wire or tie the corks down.
Note that honey is usually deficient in trace minerals and is sometimes difficult to
ferment. It is therefore important to use a yeast nutrient.
October
MULBERRY WINE
Ingredients:
3½ lb. mulberries 1 gallon water
2½ lb. sugar 4 ozs. raisins
1 Campden tablet Yeast and nutrient
Method:
Wash the mulberries, having removed the stalks, and chop and mince the raisins.
Pour on the boiling water; when cool add crushed Campden tablet, half the sugar, the
nutrient, and the yeast. Stir well. Ferment for four days on pulp, then strain, add
remaining sugar, and ferment, rack and bottle in usual way. A Bordeaux yeast is
preferable.
PEAR WINE
Ingredients:
5 lb. pears 1 gallon water
3 lb. white sugar Yeast; yeast nutrient
2 lemons
Method:
Really ripe pears, even "sleepy" ones, are best for your purpose. Do not bother to
peel or core them, but chop them, being careful to save any juice, put them into a large
saucepan, and add the water and any juice. Bring slowly to the boil, and simmer gently
for not more than twenty minutes, or the wine may not clear later. Strain the liquor off
into a large crock on to the sugar, and add the juice of the two lemons to supply some
acid, and yeast nutrient, since pears are deficient in both. When the liquor has cooled to
blood heat transfer to a fermenting jar, add a wine yeast or a level teaspoonful of
granulated yeast, and fit air lock, for contact with air is not only risky because of possible
infection, but also because it may cause an unwanted brown discolouration. Do not fill
the jar to the bottom of the neck but keep a little of the liquor aside in a closely covered
jug or another air-locked bottle, to be added when the first vigorous fermentation has
quietened and there is no longer risk of the wine foaming out through the trap. An
excellent wine can be made in this way, but if you have a fondness for dry wine, for
which pears are particularly suitable, cut the sugar down until the original gravity of the
liquor is about 1090, or 2 lb. 3 ozs. per gallon.
ROSEHIP WINE
Ingredients:
2 ½ lb. rosehips or ½ lb. dried 1 gallon boiling water
rosehips Yeast; yeast nutrient
3 lb. white sugar
Method:
The best time to gather your rosehips, of which there are usually plenty in the
hedgerows, is immediately after the first frost. Wash them well, and either cut them in
half or crush them with a piece of wood or mallet. (This is unnecessary with the dried
rosehips.) Put the sugar into a crock, then the crushed rosehips, and pour over them the
boiling water. Stir well to dissolve the sugar. When the liquor has cooled sufficiently for
you to be able to put your finger in it comfortably, add yeast (a general-purpose wine
yeast, or a level teaspoonful of granulated yeast) and, preferably a yeast nutrient. Leave
in a warm place, cover closely for a fortnight, and stir daily. Then strain through a jelly
bag or two thicknesses of butter muslin into a fermentation jar and fit air lock. When the
wine clears (after about three months) siphon into a fresh jar, and leave for a further three
months before racking again and bottling. Since the only main ingredient which has to
be bought is the sugar, this is a most economical wine to make, and I am told that the hips
contain a high proportion of Vitamin C, so it is probably beneficial as well!
Rosehip Syrup provides an easy way of making wine too. And a 6-oz. or 8-oz.
bottle is sufficient to make a gallon. Brands commonly available are Delrosa (in 6-oz. and
After a week top up to bottom of neck with cold boiled water and refit lock. Ferment,
rack and bottle in the usual way.
ROWANBERRY WINE
Ingredients:
½ gallon of rowanberries 1 lb. raisins
1 gallon water Wine yeast or a level
3 ½ lb. sugar teaspoonful of granulated
½ lb. wheat yeast
Method:
Pour the boiling water over the berries and let it stand four days, then strain. Put
fermenting jar and fit trap. When it clears, siphon into bottles, corking lightly at first.
RED TABLE WINE
Ingredients:
10 lb. elderberries Nutrients
10 lb. raisins Beaujolais yeast starter
4 lb. sugar Water to 4 ½ gals.
Method :
Crush the elderberries and strain off the juice. Leach the pulp by adding 1 gallon
stir until completely dissolved and make up the volume to 4 ½ gallons with water.
Thereafter continue as usual with fermenting, racking and bottling.
SUGAR BEET WINE
Ingredients:
4 ½ lb. sugar beet 1 oz. bruised ginger
9 pints water Yeast
2 lb. 2 oz. sugar Yeast nutrient
Method:
This is a recipe devised two or three years ago by Cdr. I. Mudie, of Chilbolton,
and it made a sturdy dry wine of 15.4% alcohol by volume.
Wash or scrub the beet, slice them and boil with the ginger in 7 pints of the water
months, then siphon into fresh jars or bottles. A warming wine for winter nights !
November
APRICOT WINE
Ingredients:
2 lb. dried apricots 2 lemons (Juice only)
1 lb. wheat Madeira wine yeast (or
3 lb. white sugar level teaspoonful
½ cup tea of granulated yeast)
Method:
Cut up the apricots, put into one gallon of water, and bring to the boil; simmer for
air lock, and ferment for a further month. Then strain, bottle, and cork tightly.
CELERY WINE
Ingredients:
4 lb. celery (green and white) 3 lb. sugar
1 gallon water Yeast; yeast nutrient
Method:
Chop up the celery into short lengths and boil it in the water until it is tender to
a firm sediment, and wine is really clear, before siphoning into clean bottles as usual. The
slight bitterness of this wine makes it an excellent aperitif.
CLOVE WINE
Ingredients:
1 oz. doves 3 lb. Demerara sugar
1 gallon water 3 lemons
1 oz. ginger Yeast; yeast nutrient
1 Seville orange
Method:
fresh jar and refit lock. When the wine has cleared completely, has thrown a second
deposit, and all fermentation has ceased, bottle.
CORNMEAL WINE
(or "Golden Dinamite")
Since many home winemakers now seem to be using Messrs. Hidalgo's
concentrates, they may care to try this recipe which the firm has evolved:
Ingredients:
2 lb. yellow cornmeal 3 lb. sugar
(cornflour) 1 oz. tartaric acid
2 gallons water ¼ oz. ammonium phosphate
Juice of 2 lemons and 3 ¼ oz. ground rice
oranges 2 crushed Campden tablets
3 pints of Hidalgo's red or Yeast and nutrient
white grape juice concentrate
Method:
covered, for at least 30 days, stirring once a day. Siphon off, and 30 days later rack off
again; it will then be ready to drink.
HOP WINE
Ingredients:
3 ozs. hops 1 orange
1 oz. stem ginger 1 lemon
3 lb. sugar 1 gallon water
Method:
Boil the hops and ginger in the water for one hour, then strain and pour the liquor
¼ lb. of chopped raisins and ½ lb. of loaf sugar and bung tightly. Leave for six months
before bottling.
PARSNIP SHERRY (light)
Ingredients:
4 lb. young parsnips 3 ½ lb. white sugar
1 level teaspoon citric add Yeast and nutrient
2 tablespoonsful malt 1 gallon water
Method:
Scrub the parsnips (which are best lifted after the first frost) but do not peel. Cut
for ten days, then put into a fermenting bottle and fit airlock. Siphon it off, and bottle
when all fermentation has ceased and wine has cleared.
QUINCE WINE
Ingredients:
20 quinces 2 lemons
3 lb. white sugar 1 gallon water
Yeast
Method:
Grate the quinces as near to the core as possible, and boil the pulp in the water for
extra-careful attention to racking is necessary to stabilise it, with the addition of one
Campden tablet per gallon finally.
SULTANA SHERRY
Ingredients:
1 lb. sultanas (or "white ½ teaspoon citric acid
raisins") 1 nutrient tablet
1 lb. grapes Sherry yeast
2 ½ lb. sugar Water to 1 gallon
8 oz. barley
Method:
cool just tepid, then introduce the nutrient, acid and yeast. Ferment closely covered for 10
days, stirring vigorously daily, then strain into fermenting jar and fit trap.
SLOE WINE
Ingredients:
3 lb. sloes 6 pints water
½ lb. raisins Yeast and nutrient
3 ½ lb. sugar
Method:
air lock and store in a cool place to clear for a few weeks. When clear, bottle and store for
at least a year before use.
SLOE GIN
Half-fill a clean Kilner jar with pricked clean sloes, adding 4 oz. of caster sugar,
and fill the jar up to the top with dry gin.
Place a ring on the top, also the lid, and screw down tightly. Shake, the jar daily
until the sugar is dissolved and the liquid has taken on a dark colour, ¼ oz. of almond
essence can be added after two weeks.
Leave the sloes in the jar for two months in all, shaking up fairly often. When the
the clarity are kept from the bottle.
December
BEETROOT WINE
Ingredients:
3 lb. beetroot Yeast and nutrient
3 lb. granulated sugar Juice of 1 lemon
6 doves Small piece of ginger
1 gallon water
Method:
glass vessels, wrap them in brown paper, invert sugar bags over them, or keep them in a
dark cupboard.
GINGER WINE
Ingredients:
½ oz. essence ginger 1 oz. burnt sugar
½ oz. essence capsicum 3 ½ lb. granulated sugar
¼ oz. Tartaric add 9 pints water
20 drops essence lemon Yeast and nutrient
Method:
Buy the first five ingredients ready-made up from your chemist, but if you are
ingredients except yeast and nutrient. Stir frequently till tepid, strain into fermenting
bottles, add yeast and nutrient, agitate, fit traps.
MIXED DRIED FRUIT WINE
This is a glorious, golden wine which is simplicity itself to make.
Ingredients:
3 12-oz. cartons of mixed G.P. wine yeast
dried fruit Yeast nutrient
1 lb. wheat 1 gallon boiling water
3 lb. sugar ¼ oz. citric acid
Method:
Make up a starter bottle two days or so before you need it with half a pint of
orange juice—it can be a little diluted to make up the quantity—1 oz. of sugar, a little
yeast nutrient and the general-purpose wine yeast. Place it in a temperature of about 70
degrees F.
F.) for three weeks, stirring vigorously daily. Then strain into fermenting bottle and fit
and is doubly useful in that it can be made at any time of the year.
PARSNIP WINE
Ingredients:
7 lb. parsnips 2 ½ gallons of water
3 lb. sugar to each gallon Yeast; yeast nutrient
of liquor 2 lemons
Method:
Scrub and scrape the parsnips; then slice them and boil them in the water until
tender, but not mushy, or the wine will not dear later. The parsnips can be boiled in half
the water, if necessary, and the remaining water added afterwards, warm.
or press the parsnips in any way, for again this may be fatal to the wine's clarity. A
Many people have difficulty in clearing parsnip wine, but if you follow these
instructions carefully yours will be of brilliant clarity and excellent colour.
SARSAPARILLA WINE
Ingredients:
1 ½ ozs. sarsaparilla 1 gallon water
¾ oz. caramel l ½ oz. tartaric acid
3 lb. sugar Yeast and nutrient
Method:
Infuse sarsaparilla and caramel in 1½ pints boiling water, and add sugar. Allow to
cool, add 6 ½ pints cold water, acid, nutrient and yeast. Ferment, rack and bottle in usual
way.
WHEAT WINE
Ingredients:
3 ½ lb. Demerara sugar Yeast; nutrient
1 pint wheat 1 lemon
2 lb. raisins 1 gallon hot water
Method:
Soak the wheat in one pint of the water overnight to soften it, and put it and the
raisins through a mincer. Put sugar, wheat, and raisins in a bowl and pour on hot (not
necessarily boiling) water. Add the juice of the two lemons, and allow to cool to 70
degrees F. Add yeast, and yeast nutrient. Cover well with cloth and allow to stand for ten
days, stirring well daily. Strain, put into fermenting bottle, and fit trap. Siphon off into
bottles when clear and no longer fermenting.
