Barley Wine - to make one gallon

 

Barley wine is made from Barley grain. It is made from un-malted Barley grain and is more like Sherry! They used to call it "Poor man's Brandy"!

It is best to but the grain from a specialist shop. You can use Pearl Barley but it can end up a bit cloudy.

 

1/2 kg whole Barley grain

1/2 Raisins

2 lemons

1.5 kg sugar

High alcohol resistant yeast

Pectolase

Yeast nutrient

Campden tablets

Potassium sorbate

 

Use a good clean food grade bucket.

Pour 2 pints of boiling water over the grain and chopped raisins. Cover bucket with a cloth or rest the lid on and leave overnight.

Add the juice and zest of the lemons but not the pith.

Add the rest of the ingredients and a further 5 pints of cool water and stir well.

Leave for 4 days - stirring daily.

 

A crust will form. Stir this back into the mix and pop any raisins that you missed when you chopped them!

Strain off into a clean demijohn and top up to 8 pints with water.

Fit and airlock and leave to ferment out. This can take at least 4 to 6 weeks.

 

When all the bubbles stop, syphon off into a clean demijohn and add Campden tablets and Potassium Sorbate.

Best left for a year.

 

2017 Mini competitions

So that members can make wines to enter the competitions we have published the core ingredients in good time to get brewing –

 

 Fruit from hedgerows and Fruit from trees.

 

Fruit                                      1.8 kg                    4lbs

Sugar                                     1.8 kg                    4lbs

Grape concentrate          250 g   (red or white as appropriate)

Water                                   4.5 litres              1 gallon

Yeast and nutrient

Pectic enzyme

Campden tablets

 

Stone and chop the fruit and place in a bin. Pour in 2 pints of boiling water. When cool, add Pectic enzyme. Cover and leave for 4 days.  The Pectic enzyme is important to be sure of making a clear wine. Stir daily.

Strain off the liquor and return it to the container. Pour in the grape concentrate, use a little warmed water to ensure that no sugar crystals are not lost. Add the remaining water and three quarters of the sugar of the sugar. Stir until all the sugar is dissolved.

This is when you decide whether the wine is to be dry or sweet. Using a hydrometer, check the specific gravity (SG) of the liquor. It should be at least 1.750 on the hydrometer’s scale. This will result in a dry wine. For sweeter wine, stir in more sugar and test again. An SG of 2.175 will give you a sweet wine.

Make a ‘yeast starter’. Add a little tepid water to a teaspoon of yeast and a teaspoon of nutrient. Stir and cover; leaving the starter in a warm atmosphere. It will soon start to bubble. After 30 minutes, add the starter to the brew. Cover the container and leave in a warm place for a week; stirring daily.

Syphon brew into a demijohn, top up to the bottom of the neck and fit an airlock. Leave to ferment out. This is indicated by the wine clearing. To be certain that fermentation is complete, check the SG. A dry wine will have an SG of about 0.990. The sweet wine will stop fermenting at about 1.150.

Add a crushed Campden tablet to stop the fermentation and leave for a week.

There will be a residue at the bottom of the demijohn – the lees.

Syphon off the clear wine into a demijohn or bottles. Some wines benefit from a period of maturing.

 

Fruit Juice Wine

 

There’s really nothing to gather and make wine from this

early in the year, so perhaps this juice wine recipe may

come in handy. It's a bit open ended and it's really up to

you what you make.

To Make One Gallon

1 carton of red grape juice(or orange/mango or anything!)

1 carton of apple juice(or something else...)

1 Tsp pectolase (You can leave this out but the wine may

be cloudy-won't do you any harm though!)

1 Tsp citric acid ( or the juice of a medium sized lemon)

1 Tsp tannin--( or a cup of cold tea- no milk or sugar!)

1 Kg sugar

Yeast and nutrient( baking yeast will work)

Melt the sugar in about two pints of boiling water and

leave to cool to room temperature.

Throw everything into a sterilised bucket/pan or

demijohn-If you're making it in a pan cover it with a clean

tea towel .

Top it up to a gallon with cold water and leave to ferment,

it will froth and bubble so you'll know it's working.

Leave it a couple of weeks in a warm place then syphon it

off into a clean demijohn or something else and leave to

clear

That's it... Bottle it up ...

It may ferment a bit in the bottle so be careful, it may be

a bit cloudy---Here's how to stop that happening...

When you leave it to clear add a Camden tablet and

potassium sorbate and finings. You can buy finings from

any home brew shop!

Then, leave it to clear takes about a week, with the

Camden tablet in it will keep for six months, without it

you have to drink it fairly quickly but that's not usually a

problem!

www.thebrewshop.com

 

Elderberry Wine
 

3lb Elderberries
250 ml grape concentrate
1kg sugar
1 tsp citric acid
1 tsp pectolase
yeast and nutrient
Both these fruits are strongly flavoured and I would strongly recommend that you do not boil or soak them too long. Don't overdo the amount of the elderberries. They're easy to pick and it's tempting to use a lot.
Pull the elderberries off the stalks. Then put it into a clean sterilised food grade bucket. Light fingers will only tease off the ripe fruit.
Pour 2 pints boiling water over the fruit and leave overnight.

Next day add 4 pints cold water, and everything but the grape concentrate.
Leave 24 hours and strain off. Do not squeeze too much!

Alternatively, use the Saftborn equipment.
Pour into a demi john with an airlock and add the grape concentrate.
Leave until it stops frothing (about 2 days) and fill up with cold water to the shoulder of the demi john.
Ferment out as normal, when it stops fermenting ( bubbles stop) syphon off into a clean demi-john  and add a Campden tablet .
Leave about a month if it doesn't clear, add finings and another Campden tablet.
Bottle when clear- it can taste a bit strong but gets better!!
If you want to drink it quick add only 2lb of fruit and cut the sugar down by about a tenth.

www.thebrewshop.com (amended by me).

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Rose Petal Wine

 

Rose Petals make a lovely wine. Some are more fragrant than others – just choose a good smelling flower.

 

Half litre petals, stripped off the stem

1 kg sugar

250 gm grape concentrate or 1 litre Apple Juice

Pectolase

Tannin

1 tsp Yeast Nutrient

1 tsp Acid blend or citric acid

All-purpose yeast

Place petals in a bucket and pour 2 pints of boiling water over them. Leave overnight.

Add the rest of the ingredients and 4 pints of cold water. Leave for two more days. Strain into a demi-john. Cover until vigorous bubbling stops. Top up to one gallon and fit an air-lock. Allow to ferment out. Rack and add a crushed Campden tablet and one Potassium Sorbate tablet.

NB> Taste the wine before adding the tablets. If it is too sweet allow more brewing time.

Apple juice gives a different wine that matures quicker.

www.thebrewshop.com

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Strawberry/Raspberry  Wine

1 to 2 Kg Strawberries
1kg Sugar
250 ml red grape concentrate
1 tsp pectolase
Tannin
Yeast & Nutrient
1 tsp acid blend or citric acid
Strawberry tastes nicer a touch sweet. The flavour of the fruit comes through better with the sweetness. I'd recommend that you add about 4 to  8oz of sugar at the end.
 Pour 4 pints of boiling water(two kettles full is about right) over the fruit and add the sugar.
When cool to room temperature usually overnight add the rest of ingredients and 2 pints of cold water.
It should start bubbling within 24 hours. If it doesn't, add more yeast because you killed the first lot!
After 3 days strain off, using a coarse straining bag, Muslin or the net curtain will do the job.
Put into a clean demi john. Top up to shoulders of demi john with cold water. Add an airlock and leave to ferment out. This may take a few days or a couple of weeks depending on the temperature.
When the bubbles stop coming through the airlock, or slow down to about one every 2 minutes test the wine.
Either use a hydrometer or taste it. If it's too sweet leave it longer.
If it's dry(sour taste) or just right syphon off into a clean demi john.
Add 1 campden tablet and potassium sorbate.
Leave to clear.
When clear, syphon into a clean demi john or bottle.
If it's too dry you can sweeten with sugar but keep a check that it doesn't start fermenting again. Leave it a couple of weeks then add a campden before bottling.
www.thebrewshop.com (as amended by GB)

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  Specific Gravity/Added Sugar Guide

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  Ounces of sugar to be added to one gallon

  SG of grape juice       10%     14%     18%

  1050                              11        20        32

  1055                                9        17        29

  1060                                7        15        27

  1065                                5        13        25

  1070                                3        11        23

  1075                                -         10        21

  1080                                -           8        20

  1085                                -           6        18

  1090                                -           4        16

  1095                                -           2        14

  1100                                -           -         12

  1105                                -           -         10

  1110                                -           -            8

  1115                                -           -            6

  1020                                -           -            4

  1025                                -           -            2

  1030                                -           -             -

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Trivia Recipe - Fred Day

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3 x 1 ltr cartons red grape juice 

2 grapefruit

2 lb sugar

Yeast & nutrient

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Dissolve sugar in 3 pints of boiling water. Pour o

into demijohn when cool. Add 1 ltr grape juice plus the juice of two grapefruits. Add yeast and nutrient. A vigorous fermentation should follow within 24 hours. When fermentation quieten, add another litre of grape juice and wait until fermentation quietens before adding the third litre of grape juice. As fermentation quietens, top up to neck of demijohn with cool boiled water. Rack as necessary, topping up with grape juice as required.

This should produce a light, crisp rose style wine.

 

Strawberry Wine

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Uses wild yeast

 

Ingredients:

• 3lbs fresh strawberries

• 2lb granulated sugar

• 1 gallon water

• Juice of 1 lemon

Ideally you want to use whole strawberries as they bring out a fuller flavour to the wine. Ensure you use good quality strawberries, avoiding those which are over ripe or spoiled as they will affect the overall quality of the wine produced.

Method:

• Sterilise all equipment before use.

• Place the strawberries in a primary fermenter such as a bucket and crush them with either a potato masher, wooden spoon or your hands.

• Cover the crushed fruit with the boiling water.

• Add the sugar, nutrients, citric acid and lemon juice to the bucket.

• Stir the mixture until all the sugar has dissolved.

• Lightly cover the bucket and allow to cool to room temperature (this may take a day).

• Stir the mixture daily for the next five days.

• Strain the fruit off and discard.

• Transfer the remaining liquid to a secondary fermenter such as a clean demijohn.

• If necessary top up using cold water to one gallon.

• Fix the demijohn with an airlock and allow to ferment.

• Rack after 30 days and again after an additional 30 days.

• Bottle the wine when clear.

• Allow to age for 6 months.

• For better results wait 1 year.

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