Got the bug!

[medpretzel]

Onion and Cabbage have been already been made (by me!) and well... Onion isn't that bad.

[medpretzel]

Racked and filtered the Elderberry Oaked Wine (tremendous, and with the minijet! Thank you Bob!).
Racked and filtered the Carrot Wine
(Re)filtered 2008 Marigold and Pumpkin Wines.
The conglomerate wine was racked...

So, it's starting again to look like winemaking season here! Soon the elderflowers will be in bloom.

The garden is planted, let's hope for some great fruits and veggies!

M

[kampervan]

cant wait for elderflower, have made 2 great wines from this and a sparkling is in process. have always thought picking tooo much would limit availability of eklderberries but now have access to many. so will do loads more elderflower this year. make a syrup then use that as time allows. gardens doing ok even got leaves on my 4 vines

[medpretzel]

Oooh, the elderflowers are beginning to form!!!!

Elderflower wine!

Yay!

[medpretzel]

Update:
Last week sometime I started 3 small batches of wine:
1/2 gallon - M's Secret Recipe Gooseberry
1/2 gallon - M's Secret Recipe Sour Cherry
1 gallon - M's secret recipe Forest Blueberry

The recipes are only secret because they are not written down.

However, I added a liter of grape juice to each
The "Main" ingredient was tinned/glassed fruit (gooseberry, sour cherry, blueberry)
The gooseberry was given 1.5 tsp of acid
I did the rest to taste.
D-47 Lalvin Yeast for all, with yeast starter

[medpretzel]

elderberry oak

Here's the latest bottling update:

Elderberry Oak, ready for Scarbrah AND the VWC!

[medpretzel]

New wines with the intent on getting some (minor) points at the Fed/National next year.

1.) 1/2 gallon A different take (take 2) on Ancient Orange Mead
2.) 1/2 gallon of Orange Juice wine
3.) 1/2 gallon of Grapefruit Wine
4.) Started a vermouth

Racked my little batches, which include:
1.) Blueberry Forest
2.) Gooseberry with more acid
3.) Sour Cherry
4.) Hibiscus/Ginger T-bag
5.) Sacred Sage
6.) Balm/Hops T-bag wine
7.) Unknown Red (I think it's a bit left over from the lychee-et-al wine

Lots of little bits on the go.

[NorthernWiner]

4.) Started a vermouth

I've been working on a vermouth, too, but haven't been real pleased with the spice/herb flavors thus far. I only just found a source for wormwood online.

Have you made vermouth before? And, if so, were you happy with the results?

[medpretzel]

Update once again:

bottled/canned the rumtopf.
started a spiced apple liqueur

harvested 1 kg of red currants
harvested 1 kg of black currants
a HUGE shopping bag full of sage
some marigold petals ( )

Steve, never made a vermouth before, but I have to start sometime (for a comp next year). I just threw together some spices that I got from Mr. Keller's website. Wormwood sounded too much like worm poop for me, so I opted out of that.

The citrus wines are acually already beginning to clear, so that is good.

the a.o. mead is looking ill, but not in a bad way. Just looks a bit like watery vomit.
the sherry... well... we'll see. (ooh, didn't mention before - started it when Bobby was here the last time)

And that's about it. I haven't had time to do more.

Although, strawberries are on sale, and I got about 1200 grams of them. THey are covered in sugar and in the fridge at the moment, so I have to quickly find a recipe to use them.

[medpretzel]

Degassing the Lychee et al winen as I speak.
Racked the sherry (only have 1/2 gallon of it! The rest was lees!).
Racked and filtered all the other ones too, except the blueberry.
Started a beer.

Bought a BelVino kit on ebay, let's see what kind of wine that makes.
Bought a kilo worth of juniper berries, so that'll be on the go very soon!

M.

[medpretzel]

wow, I haven't updated much...

well, I'm pressing today:

about 500 grams of Triumph (red) = Brix 12
about 3 kg of Mueller-Thurgau = Brix (gasp) 9

I don't have an acid test kit, except for the one on my tongue (hehe), and I think I'm going to have to sweeten up a bit.... SG as it stands now: 1.040....

I got about 2 liters of juice out of the Mueller Thurgau, so I'm quite pleased.... Just not sure what to do with it. Do I add supermarket juice, or do I try to do a "big-boy's ferment?" (i.e. like the guys at grapefest?)

[medpretzel]

TraubFest Luebeck

My (solo) take on Grapefest 2010....

Sorry, not that impressive!

[medpretzel]

ooh, and started 5 gallons of juniper wine... D47 yeast, great old recipe found from my previous notes.

[medpretzel]

Got the bug even more than ever today!

I have bottled some STELLAR wine, allbeit it's "hippie-tea" wine, but definitely a good batch so far. Even the Sour Cherry is not bad!

Bottled today!

• Sour Cherry
• Hibiscus/Ginger T-bag (sweet-ish. Fermented to dry, though, so I think it's non-fermentable sugars in the tea bag)
• Balm/Hops T-bag wine (ooh, yummy!)

Added Kwik-Clear to these:

• Blueberry Forest
• Gooseberry with more acid

Thinking that it will clear nicely over a LONG period of time.

Racked:

• ADTOJAOM (A different take to Joe's Ancient Orange Mead)
• Sherry (certainly smelling like sherry at the moment!)

Oooh, Yorkie-Federites, watch out. (Actually, just Bolton!)

Filtered in July, but has since then dropped some sediment:

• 1/2 gallon of Orange Juice wine
• 1/2 gallon of Grapefruit Wine
• Vermouth
• Blueberry Forest

Man, if I go to Yorkshire Fed next year, I'm gonna take 'em all down. Not sure how the Vermouth should taste, but smells quite spicy.

The Rumtopf is waiting in its bottle to be filtered for the "other Liqueur" class.

Started:
using D-47 yeast, sugar to 1.070 blah blah...

• 3 gallons Marigold Wine (a.k.a. Insipid Wine) - thinking of adding maybe some orange juice to it. Not sure.
• 5 gallons Juniper Wine (original recipe, different yeast, it's taking off like a racecar (that one was for you Pete))
• Not sure, but probably ending up to be 2 gallons of my own harvest: elderberry & red currant. I wish it would be 3 gallons of really rich, huge wine, but I don't think I'm going to get that yet. Elderberry juice (self-steamed) is defrosting now, so we'll see how much that will give us.

Fresh grapes:

• I have about 250 ml of Triumphe on the go. I think it'll be a winner. Should I do a second run?!?
• I have 2 L of Mueller-Thurgau on the go, fermenting like crazy, smells fantastic.

Kits:
Got the Belvino Kit still going... Taking an awful long time, for some reason.
Not sure why, but it's a little annoying to be honest. I think this was the first and last Belvino Kit I've ever made.


Planning:
Still have gooseberries and rhubarb (probably 3 kg) in the freezer, but...... I've never made a decent gooseberry wine in all the time I've been trying (3 years now?), not sure where I'm going wrong. None of the recipes seem to be any good either. I also have black currants (tempted to add it to the elderberry/red currant wine) and tons of marigold petals (what was I thinking?!?).

I am also thinking of doing a Marrow wine, a' la CJJJJJJJ Berry. Not sure about it though, but it does have some very interesting aspects to it. I'm sure to harvest another marrow in a few days' time.... Don't worry, just one gallon. And it needs a ****load of zucchini to do so.... We'll see if I get 5 pounds of it together (right now, only 2)... but do have about 300 in the freezer (well, more like 20)....

Does anyone have any good recipes for gooseberry wine? Or black currants? I can make 1/2 gallon batches, so let me know.

Thanks!

I'm so excited, got the bug again!

M.

[koomber]

Does anyone have any good recipes for gooseberry wine? Or black currants? I can make 1/2 gallon batches, so let me know.

M.

At the risk of tooting my own trumpet, my Blackcurrant Rose is pretty nice. And is very very dark.