Black Tea Wine

* 4 tablespoons bulk black tea

* 1 11-oz can frozen red or white grape concentrate, depending on desired color

* 2 lbs sugar

* 2 tsp citric acid

* 6 pts water

* 1 tsp yeast nutrient

* 1 pkt wine yeast

Bring water to a boil and pour over the tea and sugar, stir well, and infuse until cool. Strain into primary, add grape concentrate, acid, nutrient and yeast. Cover and ferment until s.g. drops below 1.020. Transfer to secondary, fit airlock and ferment to dryness. Rack when wine is clear and completely dry, top up and refit airlock. Rack again after 45 days, stabilize, refit airlock, and set aside for 3-4 weeks. Sweeten to taste if desired and bottle.

Source: Jack Keller

Cinnamon Wine

Photo by: S. Diddy



* 12 six-inch cinnamon sticks
* 3 lbs granulated sugar
* 7-1/2 pts water
* 1 tsp yeast nutrient
* 1/8 tsp tannin
* 3 tsp acid blend
* 1 crushed Campden tablet
* Champagne wine yeast


Put cinnamon sticks and one quart water in a pot with a tight-fitting lid. Bring to a simmer and hold for 10 minutes with the lid on, turn off heat, and let steep for two hours. Strain the water into a secondary and discard the cinnamon sticks. Add sugar to remaining water and bring to a boil. Turn off heat and stir until sugar is dissolved. Add all remaining ingredients to secondary except Campden and yeast and then pour in the sugar-water. Cover with a napkin held in place with a rubberband and allow to cool. Add Crushed Campden, stir, and allow to sit 24 hours covered. Add activated yeast and recover. Ferment 5-7 days, or until specific gravity falls below 1.030. Fit with airlock and continue fermentation 30 days. Rack into sanitized secondary, top up, and refit airlock. Ferment another 3 months, rack again and ferment additional 3 months. Stabilize, sweeten to taste, and let sit under airlock additional 10 days. Rack into bottles and store in dark place. [Adapted from Terry Garey's The Joy of Home Winemaking]

Source: Jack Keller

Rice Saki

Use raw rice rather than polished rice, if possible.

Ingredients

2 1/2 pounds rice
1 pound raisins
2 1/2 pounds honey
1 tablespoon acid blend
3/4 teaspoon energizer
1 campden tablet
1 package sherry yeast
water

Wash rice. Place in primary fermentor. Add raisins. Pour 1 gallon hot water into fermentor. Add all other ingredients except yeast. Let sit overnight.

Specific Gravity should be 1.100. Add yeast. Stir daily for 5 to 7 days. Strain out the pulp and put wine into secondary fermentor. Attach airlock. Rack when Specific Gravity reaches 1.020. Rack again when Specific Gravity reaches 1.010. Continue to rack every 3 months for 1 year. This method will yield a dry wine.

For a sweeter wine, add 1/2 cup honey at each racking. Rack every 6 weeks, adding more honey, until fermentation has ceased. Then rack every 3 months for 1 year with no further honey additions.

Bottle the wine when you are sure it is stable.

Honeysuckle Wine

With Spring almost here (it's still been a little chilly here), the flowers will soon be popping out. What better way to celebrate than to make a batch of wine with the flowers. For this wine make sure that you only use the flowers because the berries are poisonous.

Ingredients

4 cups honeysuckle blossoms 5 1/2 cups granulated sugar juice and rind of 2 oranges 1/2 pound raisins 2 teaspoons acid blend 1 teaspoon pectic enzyme 1 campden tablet 1 teaspoon nutrients 1 teaspoon tannin water to make 1 gallon 1 package wine yeast

Gently rinse the blossoms in cold water. Place in primary fermentor. Add 1 gallon of water and all other ingredients except yeast. Stir to dissolve sugar. Specific Gravity should be between 1.090 and 1.100. Let sit overnight.

The next day, add yeast. Stir daily until frothing stops -- about 3 to 5 days. Strain out blossoms and siphon into secondary fermentor. Attach air lock. 

For a dry wine, rack in six weeks, then every three months for one year. Bottle.

For a sweet wine, rack at six weeks. Add 1/2 cup sugar dissolved in 1 cup wine. Stir gently, and place back into secondary fermentor. Repeat process every six weeks until fermentation does not restart with the addition of sugar. Rack every three months until one year old. Bottle. 

Bottle the wine when it is 6 to 12 months old. I like to continue racking for a whole year to ensure the wine is as clear as possible. Wine is ready to drink one year after the date the batch was started.

Birch Wine

Soon it will be time for the sap to start moving up the trees. I thought that this would be one that would be kinda' neat to make. Very simple recipe.

1 gallon birch sap
4 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 oranges or 1 lemon, sliced thin
campden tablets
1 package wine yeast

Place birch sap in primary fermentor. Add sugar. Stir to dissolve. Add oranges or lemon. Let sit overnight.

Next day, Specific Gravity should be 1.090 - 1.100. Stir in yeast. Stir daily for 5 to 6 days or until Specific Gravity is 1.040. Strain out fruit and squeeze as much juice out of it as you can. Siphon into secondary fermentor and add airlock.

For a dry wine, rack in three weeks, and every three months for one year. Bottle.

For a sweet wine, rack at three weeks. Add 1/2 cup sugar dissolved in 1 cup wine. Stir gently, and place back into secondary fermentor. Repeat process every six weeks until fermentation does not restart with the addition of sugar. Rack every three months until one year old. Bottle.

The wine is best if you can refrain from drinking it for one full year from the date it was started.

TO GATHER YOUR OWN SAP:

To get your birch sap without harming the tree:

Harvest in springtime. Cut only one or two low branches per tree, about the thickness of your thumb, with pruning shears. Attach a plastic food container (milk jug, margarine carton, etc) so it can catch the sap as it drips. You can cover the opening of the container with cheesecloth or nylons to keep out debris. Collect your sap daily and store it in the refrigerator until you have enough to make your wine. Add one crushed campden tablet each time you add sap to the refrigerator to kill any wild yeast and vinegar bacteria you may have collected.

Sack Mead

Last in the Series

If you like your meads sweet, light and true to their heritage, you'll love sack mead. The flavor is full of honey, you can almost hear the bees buzz!! Because this mead is only flavored with honey, the tannin is an essential part of the recipe. Leave it out, and you may find the end result a bit insipid.

Makes 1 gallon

3 pounds orange blossom honey

1 teaspoon acid blend

1 teaspoon pectic enzyme

1 Campden tablet

1 package Montrachet yeast

1 teaspoon yeast nutrient

1 1/2 cups orange juice at room temperature

1/4 teaspoon grape tannin


In a large enamel or stainless steel pot, boil the hone in water (1 part honey to 2 parts water) for 10 to 20 minutes, skimming off any foam that forms. (the foam will contain water impurities and beeswax residue.)

Let cool, and then transfer the honey mixture to a 2 gallon fermenter. Add the acid, pectic enzyme and enough water to make 1 gallon. Add the campden tablet and let the mixture sit, well covered, for 24 hours.

In a jar, make a yeast starter culture by combining the yeast, yeast nutrient, and orange juice. Cover, shake vigorously, and let stand 1 to 3 hours, until bubly, then add to must.

Add the tannin and allow the mixture to ferment. We recommend racking meads after the most vigorous fermentation, siphon the wine into a 1-gallon airlocked fermenter. In about 3 months, rack again. In about six months, rack once again. Rack a final time right before bottling--about a year after fermentation started. Then bottle and cork the finished mead and store in a cool cellar.

Age for at least six months before opening a bottle.

Sweet Wheat Wine

Fifth in the Series

This wine is light and lively with hints of citrus and a nice, vinous character. The wheat supplies nutrients and sugars to enhance the fermenation process.

Makes 1 gallon

3/4 pound wheat berries

1 pound raisins or 1 pint white grape juice concentrate

2 1/2 pounds brown sugar

1 Campden tablet

1 package wine yeast

1 teaspoon pectic enzyme

1 teaspoon yeast nutrient

1 1/2 cups orange juice at room temperature

1 ounce citric acid



Soak the wheat berries overnight in 1/2 quart of water to soften them. Mince the wheat berries and raisins and transfer to a 2 gallon fermenter. Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil, pour it over the wheat-raisin mixture, add the brown sugar, and let cool. Add a Campden tablet and let sit, well covered, for 24 hours.

In a jar, make a yeast starter culture by combining the wine yeast, pectic enzyme, yeast nutrient and orange juice. Cover, shake vigorously, and let stand 1 to 3 hours, until bubly, then add to the must.

Add the citric acid; then let the mixture sit, loosely covered, for ten days, stirring daily. Rack the mixture toa 2 gallon airlocked fermenter and allow it to ferment to completion. When fermeentation stops, bottle, cork and cellar the wine.

Wait at least six months before sampling.



Technorati Tags: Wine, Winemaking, Wheat, Recipe

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Cornmeal Wine

Fourth in the Series

Cornmeal wine is initially a bit slower to ferment than many other wines, so be patient with it. Once the fermentation gets going, it makes a good dry wine.

Makes 1 gallon.

2 lemons

3 oranges

1 1/2 pounds cornmeal

2 1/4 pounds sugar

3 pints grape juice concentrate

1/4 ounce ground rice

1 Campden tablet

1 package wine yeast

1 teaspoon yeast nutrient

1 1/2 cups orange juice at room temperature

1 teaspoon pectic enzyme


Grate the outer rinds of the oranges and lemons, discard the solids and the white outer rind.

Squeeze the juice from the oranges and lemons into a 2 gallon plastic container.

Add the grated rind to the container, along with the cornmeal, sugar, grape juice concentrate and rice.

Add enough water to make 1 gallon.

Add Campden tablet and let mixture sit, well covered, for 24 hours.

In a jar, make a yeast starter culture by combining the wine yeast, yeast nutrient, and 1 1/2 cups orange juice. Cover, shake vigorously, and let stand 1 to 3 hours, until bubbly, then add to the must.

Add the pectic enzyme. Let the mixture sit for 30 days, loosely covered.

Strain out the solids, transfer the liquid into a 1 gallon airlocked fermenter and allow to ferment for 30 days.

When fermentation is complete, bottle the wine, cork it and store in a cool cellar. Wait at least six months before opening the first bottle.

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Technorati Tags: Wine, Winemaking, Cornmeal, Recipe

Basil Wine

• 1 cup basil leaves, loosely packed
  
• 2 11-oz cans frozen 100% white grape concentrate
  
• 14 oz granulated sugar (to specific gravity of 1.085)
  
• Water to make one gallon
  
• 2-1/2 tsp acid blend
  
• 1 Campden tablet, finely crushed and dissolved in 1/4 cup water
  
• 1/4 tsp tannin
  
• 1-1/4 tsp yeast nutrient
  
• 1 pkt Champagne wine yeast
  

Wash fresh basil leaves and place in nylon straining bag and tie
closed. Put all other ingredients except yeast in primary and stir well
to dissolve.

Cover primary and set aside 6-8 hours. Add nylon straining
bag, activated yeast, recover primary, and set aside for 5 days.

Taste and remove bag and discard leaves if basil flavor is sufficient. If
not, leave bag in an extra day. Recover primary until s.g. drops to
1.015.

Transfer liquid to secondary, top up if required and fit
airlock. Ferment to dryness, then rack, top up and refit airlock.

Repeat every 30 days until wine clears and no new sediments form during
a 30-day period. Stabilize and sweeten to taste if desired (if
sweetened, wait three weeks for any renewed fermentation to begin) and
rack into bottles. Age 3 months before tasting. Serve chilled.

Technorati Tags: Wine, Winemaking, Basil

Dandelion Wine

Spring is here and soon yards will be sprouting those little yellow flowers. A great solution to the dandelion problem is to make wine with them. This recipe was taking from "Making Wild Wines and Meads" and will make a 1 gallon batch.

6 cups dandelion petals

2 pounds sugar

1 pound light raisins

1 tablespoon acid blend

1 campden tablet

1 pack wine yeast

1 teaspoon yeast nutrient

1 1/2 cups orange juice

1 teaspoon pectin enzyme

Wash and prepare dandelion petals. Place them and sugar, raisins and acid blend into fermenter. Bring 1 gallon of water to a boil and pour it into the mixture. Add a campden tablet and let the mixture sit for 24 hours.

Add pectin enzyme and yeast and allow to ferment for 3 days. Then rack over and allow to finish fermenting. This should take about 3 months. Rack 1 more time and allow to clear. Then bottle.

Should be ready for sampling in about 6 months.

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Technorati Tags : Dandelion, Flowers, Wine, Recipe

Oak Leaf Wine

Here is a strange one. Oak leaf wine? I wonder if you can use maple leafs? This will be one to try this summer.

• 1 gallon oak or walnut leaves
• 2 lb sugar
• 2 tsp citric acid
• 1 gallon water
• yeast and nutrient

bring 6 pints of water to boil and dissolve the sugar in it.when sugar is fully dissolved pour ,still boiling, over leaves. let sit overnight and the next day strain into a fermenting jar. add citric acid,nutrient and yeast.shake well. top up with cold water. let it ferment until finished. rack when clear and again in 2 months.

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Technorati Tags : Oak, Wine, Recipe, Making_Wine

Eggplant Wine

Sometimes you just get a case of the "blahs" and you really don't feel like posting too much. Well, today is one of those days. I found this recipe while cruising the web and it can also be found at Jack Keller's site. (source)

Enjoy !!

You certainly can. The eggplant is a tropical Old World plant, Solanum melongena, cultivated for its glossy, ovoid fruit. The fruit, called aubergine in French, have long been used to make a reasonably dry white wine. The fruit must be ripe or the wine will taste woody.

EGGPLANT WINE

• 4 lbs eggplant
• 2-1/2 lbs granulated sugar
• 1/2 oz citric acid
• 1/4 tsp tannin
• water to make 1 gallon
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient
• Chablis wine yeast

Bring 1 gallon water to boil. Meanwhile, slice the fruit thinly. Removing the peeling is optional. Put sliced eggplant and sugar in primary. When water boils, pour over contents of primary and allow to cool to room temperature. Add remaining ingredients and cover with clean cloth. Ferment 3 days, then strain liquid into secondary and fit airlock. Rack every 30 days into sanitized secondary until wine clears and no further sediments are dropped during a 30-day period. Stabilize and rack into bottles. This wine improves with age. [Recipe adapted from Leo Zanelli's Home Winemaking from A to Z]

Tech Tags: Wine, Winemaking, Eggplant

Clover Wine

Red clover wine can be made with either fresh or dried red clover flowers. Pick the clover flowers early in the morning, but after any dew from the early morning pre-dawn has evaporated. After picking, remove the stems and wash the flowerheads well. You can pick more flowers than needed and dry them for future use. To dry, lay them on a cookie sheet and let the pilot from your gas oven dry them. Turn every 2-3 hours until absolutely dry. If you don't have a gas oven, you'll have to use a dehydrator. When dried, measure 2-1/2 ounces by weight and seal these in a ZipLoc bag for later use to make one gallon of wine. Use recipes below, substituting dried flowers for fresh.

RED CLOVER WINE

• 1 qt fresh red clover flowers
• 1 pint white grape juice (reconstituted from concentrate)
• 2-1/4 lb finely granulated sugar
• 2 tsp acid blend
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient
• 1/4 tsp tannin
• water to one gallon
• wine yeast

Bring 1/2 gallon water to boil and dissolve sugar in it.

Destem and wash the flowers and put in primary.

Pour boiling water over flowers and add grape juice, acid blend, tannin, yeast nutrient, and water to bring up to one gallon total liquid.

When lukewarm, add yeast. Knock down cap 2-3 times daily.

After 7 days, strain liquor into secondary and fit airlock.

Rack after 60 days, top up, refit airlock and set aside 4 months.

Wine should be clear.

Stabilize, wait 10 days, rack, sweeten to taste, and bottle.

Wait 6 months before tasting. [Adapted recipe from W.H.T. Tayleur's The Penguin Book of Home Brewing & Wine-Making

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Tags : Clover, Wine, Recipe, Making, _Wine

Barley Wine

Barley Wine

• 1/4 lb barley
• 1/2 pint grape concentrate(or 1 lb raisins)
• 2 lemons(or 4 tsp citric acid)
• 2 1/2 lb sugar
• amylozyme(follow directions on label)
• 1 campden tablet
• 1 gallon water
• yeast and nutrient

soak barley in a pint of water overnight.

grind the barley and raisins in a mincer.

put sugar,barley,and raisins in a polythene bucket and pour on hot(not boiling)water.

add the juice of lemons or use citric acid.allow to cool then add amylozyme and a crushed campden tablet. cover and leave for 24 hrs.

add yeast and nutrient cover well,and leave for 8 days,stirring daily.

strain into fermenting jar.

rack when fermentation is complete and wine is clear.

age 6 months.

Usually I think of barley wine as a beer product that uses malted barley and is high on the alcohol content. This recipe is different and I'll probably give it a try.

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Technorati Tags : Wine, Winemaking, Barley

Tea Wine

This is a recipe for Tea Wine.  I made a batch in May and just bottled it a few days ago. I made it out of orange-tangerine tea and just throw everything in and allowed it to ferment.  My recipe is at the bottom if you want to try it.  My wine ended up tasting like orange tea but with a little kick.

TEA WINE

• 8 teaspoons of dry tea leaves.
• 1 pound of raisins
• 2 lemons
• 3 lb. sugar
• 3/4 tsp. pectic enzyme
• 3/4 tsp. yeast nutrient
• "all purpose" wine yeast

Bring one quart of water to the boil. Remove from heat and add the tea leaves. Let the tea steep for ten minutes, then strain into the primary fermenting vessel. Discard the spent tea leaves. Boil half the sugar in half a gallon of water for a minute or two. When it is cool, add it to the tea. Run the raisins through a meat grinder, or find some other way to chop them, and add them to the fermenting vessel. Juice the lemons and add the juice to the mixture. Then slice the lemons and add them, too. (It is better to add only the yellow part of the lemon rind. The white can be bitter, Stir in the yeast nutrient and the pectic enzyme. These may not be necessary. It never hurts to add them but it can hurt to leave them out should you need them. add them to be safe. let it sit overnight. Then pitch the yeast. After a week or ten days strain through cloth into the jug or carboy. Boil the rest of the sugar in the rest of the water. When it is cool, add it to the carboy. Make the volume up with water. It may take a while to finish fermenting. However, it has always cleared nicely and rapidly when done. Other than chopping the raisins, this is an easy wine to make.

Orange Tea Wine

28 oz sugar
3/4 gallon water
1.5 ounces orange tangerine tea (loose)
montrachet yeast
1 tablespoon acid blend
1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
I mixed everything together, added the yeast and allowed it to ferment.   I racked it several times and bottled it just a few days ago. 

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Technorati Tags : Wine., Winemaking, Orange, Tea

Garlic Wine

 

This wine is more for cooking than drinking.  But, hey, if you like garlic, than you might like this one as a drink.

12 large garlic bulbs

12 ounces (360 ml) apple juice concentrate

Juice of 1 lemon

2 teaspoons (10 g) lemon zest

1 Campden tablet (optional)

1 package (5-7 g) Montrachet wine yeast

1 teaspoon (5 g) pectic enzyme

1 teaspoon (5 g) yeast nutrient

1 1/2 cups (360 ml) orange juice, at room temperature

1/4 teaspoon (1.25 g) tannin

To make:

1. Divide garlic into two piles, one with 8 heads and the other with 4 heads. Separate and peel garlic cloves, discarding any with brown spots. Wrap the cloves from 4 garlic heads in a piece of aluminum foil and seal tightly. Bake in a 350-degrees F (177-degrees C) oven for 2 hours to caramelize the sugars.

2. Place the baked garlic and the cloves from the remaining 8 heads of garlic in a large pot with 2 quarts (1.9 L) of water. Boil for 45 minutes, replacing the evaporated water as needed. Strain out the cloves and return the garlic water to the pot. Add the apple juice concentrate and boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice and lemon zest. Let cool for 1 hour. Strain out the zest and transfer liquid to a 1-gallon (3.8 L) plastic bucket. Add a Campden tablet, if desired, and let the mixture sit, loosely covered, for 24 hours.

3. In a jar, make a yeast starter culture by combining the wine yeast, pectic enzyme, yeast nutrient, and orange juice. Cover, shake vigorously, and let stand 1 to 3 hours, until bubbly; then add to the must.

4. Add the tannin and let the mixture sit, loosely covered, for seven days. Rack into a 1-gallon (3.8 L) airlocked fermentation vessel, topping off with water if necessary. Let the mixture ferment for three to four months, racking as needed to clear. Bottle, cork, and cellar the wine.

5. Wait six months before using this wine to make wonderful meat marinades. Yield: 1 gallon (3.8 L)

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Technorati Tags : Wine, Winemaking, Garlic, Recipe

Ginger Wine

I had some ginger wine about 2 months ago at the local wine makers meeting.  Being the person that is willing to try anything once, I gave it a taste.  My first thoughts were that it would be some very nasty stuff.  Boy, was I surprised !!  It was quite mild and rather smooth tasting.  The best way I can describe it  was that it tasted like a flat ginger ale but had a kick.

The real beauty of this wine is that you can purchase most of the basic ingredients at your local supermarket.

• Root Ginger 1 oz.
• Sugar 2.25 lb
• Lemons 2
• Oranges 2
• Raisins 0.4 lbs.
• Campden Tablet 1
• Pectic Enzyme
• Water 1 gallon
• Wine yeast
• Yeast nutrient

Crush the ginger then add it to the water along with the raisins.

Bring to the boil and then add the sugar.

Stir until all of the sugar has dissolved then simmer for around half an hour before placing in a fermenting container.

Allow to cool then top up to 1 gallon with cold water.

Grate the skins of the oranges and lemons then add this plus the juice of the fruit to the fermenting container.

Allow to cool then add the pectic enzyme.

Leave for 24 hours then add the yeast and nutrient.

Place the container in a warm place and leave to ferment on the pulp for four to five days stirring daily.

Strain off the pulp into a carboy then fit a bung and airlock and return to a warm place to ferment out.

Once fermentation has finished, rack off the wine and add the campden tablet.

Once the wine is clear bottle and leave for around three to four months to mature before drinking.  

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Technorati Tags : Wine, Winemaking, Ginger, Recipe

Mint Wine

Since I grow mint, I've been wanting to try this recipe for the past couple years.  Just could never find the time.  Maybe this summer.
 

 4 cups fresh mint
 2 pounds honey
 pectic enzyme (opt)
 zest and juice of 2 lemons for acid (opt)
 champagne yeast

Steep mint in 3 quarts boiled water.

Add honey- stir till honey dissolves.

Add pectic enzyme and lemons.

Let sit over night with tight cover.

Strain into gallon jug.

Pitch yeast. Add airlock.

Rack after 2 weeks.

Then Rack every three months until clear.

Bottle.

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Technorati Tags : Wine, Winemaking, Mint, Recipe