brewing 2ne1

Gorse Flower Wine

Started 20 March 2010 following the advice for making flower wines in Terry Garey’s book “The Joy of Home Winemaking”

2 L of gorse flowers (picked with gloves!), 2.5 kg sugar, 1 tsp of citric acid, 1/2 tsp of tartaric acid, 1/4 tsp of wine tannin, 1 tsp of yeast nutrient, 1 tsp winemaking yeast, 1 gallon of water

The flowers were harvested in Pembrokeshire and smelled slightly of coconut, pleasantly sweet. I put the flowers in a straining bag, tied the top, and placed in a large pot with half the water. The pot was brought to simmering for 15 minutes and turned off. I let it sit for 1 hour and then poured the liquid into a primary fermenter bucket. I then added cool tap water to final volume to achieve “blood temperature” and dissolve the sugar to achieve a starting SG near 1.08. I then added the rest of the ingredients and covered with an airlock. Fermentation began quickly and slowed down within a week.

Cheers, Jason

Update 1 April 2010 - Racked into a glass demijohn with an airlock, SG 1.005. Tastes pleasant and quite similar to the smell of the flowers but still fermenting and needs to clear.

Update 1 June 2010 - Racked and stabilised, then bottled. Perfectly clear, medium sweetness, pale yellow. It captures the gorse flower smell rather well but it needs to sit for a while. Interesting, but time will tell on this one.