brewing 2ne1
A log on homebrewing by a band of merry persons.
Rhubarb Champagne
Everyone loves Rhubarb yeah? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0420127/
Seriously, it’s got to be one of the best films ever. The only word that people say is “rhubarb” for the entire duration of the movie. Yes, yes… I was about 6 the last time I saw it :)
Anyway..
This weekend I’ll be attempting rhubarb champagne. Seems to be a simple variant of the elderflower champagne.
I’ve taken the recipe from here:-
and scaled it up for double volume:-
- 10 ltr water
- 7 cups rhubarb - I’ll weigh this and come up with an equivalent
- 7 cups sugar - ~1.5kg
- 2 lemons
- 390ml cider vinegar
I’ll be using frozen rhubarb as I saw a post for rhubarb wine saying that it tastes better if frozen first. Does anyone know if this will kill the yeast though?
/Mike
Wild Cherry Wine
Picked many varieties of cherries from seven different trees. Mostly the small ‘bird cherries’ that are too sour or bitter to eat. Took a couple of hours and much neck and arm straining to gather 3lbs of cherries. Should be just enough to make a gallon of wine.
Crushed and soaked over night. Removed many stones and added pectin destroying enzyme, citric acid and a Campden tablet this morning. Will add ~225g chopped raisins tonight If I remember to buy some. Tomorrow I’ll strain, add sugar, yeast and nutrient and put into a demijohn to ferment.
Dylski
Is That a Cat I Smell?
Due to the warm weather we’re having I decided to let some gas out of the two batches… Batch 2 imparted the room with the luscious smell of a crisp new summers day. Batch 1 i’m afraid to say emitted the scent of pure evil. If the RSPCA had been in the neighbourhood they would have assumed I was a cat abuser. I assume the smell is perhaps generated from one of the wild yeasts that live on the flower? I wonder whether the malodourous brew will settle down with time? /Mikey
Elderflower Champagne
Scooped out the flowers and peel from the bucket last night. Brew still bubbling. Cloudy and a little syrupy to taste. The liquor was bubbling again this morning. Will look up when to bottle soon.
UPDATE:
Bottled last night. Pressure building in the plastic bottles this morning… SG 1.026
Dylski
Even more elderflower champagne
Here lying in the leaves of the Elder is a lovely bevvy of edlerflower brews.
At first glance they appear to be the same, however the tasty number on the left is an example of the Elderflower Champagne I started 2 weeks ago.
General recipe was:-
- 10 Ltr water
- 10 heads ederflower
- 3 lemons
- 1Kg sugar
- 3 Tbs white wine vinegar
Left to ferment with natural yeast for 4 days.
The cheeky number on the right is from a batch generated just a week ago and generally follows the same recipe, however, after a sample tasting of the original batch suggested it might be a little laid back, this batch contains 2Kg sugar and some champagne yeast from that fine purveyor Ebay,
Time will tell… I think I need to invest in a vin-o-meter!
Elderflower Champagne 2010
Tested the 1st Batch and it is very fizzy. I released the pressure on all the bottles. At this stage the SG is 1014 original was 1030 difference being 16 / 7.36 = 2.17% alcohol
It still has a tart taste to it, but is mellowing out nicely.
Marcus
Elderflower Champagne 2010 Batch 2
Bottled the 2nd Batch of Elderflower Champagne. This tastes more like last years. However, it is still very sweet. I now have 22 litres of Champagne!
At this stage the SG is 1020 original was 1030
difference being 10 / 7.36 = 1.36% alcohol
Marcus
Elderberry Wine Bottled.
Tastes good, the dryness as mellowed and it has a deep flavour. I think this is going to age well. I have laid the bottles down and will crack one open at Christmas. The original recipe suggested that the wine will be palatable after 12 months.
My Daughter created a brilliant label for the bottles, Picturing elderberries and the Elderberry fairies!
Marcus
Apparently proper ‘Nettle Beer’ uses malt for the sugars. There is a recipe here using whole plants and some discussion here.
Put together a batch of Elderflower Champagne this morning according to Jason’s recipe. No yeast added yet; will see what happens after 48 hours.
Dylski
