i'm not sure why parsnip wine has such a poor rep as my only attempt at it has been a great result and i'll be doing it again soon. So here is my version ....
3.4 kg parsnips
3.6 kg sugar
zest of 1.5 lemons
5 tspoon citric acid
1 tspoon tartaric acid
thumb size piece root ginger
pectic enzyme
nutrient
sauternes yeast
wash and thoroughly scrub the parsnips but don't peel. top and tail them then slice into 1 inch thick discs. Bring to the boil then simmer until they are tender but not mushy. this took about 20 mins but i checked frequently and found that they were done just before they started to split in the middles. i can't remember if i brought the water to the boil then added parsnips or brought to the boil with parsnips in sorry
. As they were very much intact i poured the juice through a colander into the fermenting bin. Boiled up the sugar in plenty of water and added that the FB too. Bruised the ginger, zested the lemons and added both of those. Allowed to cool (covered) for a few hours then added citric acid, tartaric acid and enzyme. Left it overnight then added yeast and nutrient and topped up to 3 gallons. It was stirred well daily for about 10 days then transferred to DJ's and thereafter racked when appropriate. I didn't quite clear so i used youngs finings A+B (gelatin based finings didn't work).
Other things you should know. somewhere along the line i have lost some notes. The final wine is probably about 14% ABV which may be too strong for most tastes. i say probably because everyone who drank it is surprised that its that strong! After racking and fining/racking i needed to top up with water, which is i think where the gap in my notes happened as i dunno how much water i used. i think it was a fair amount tho as my notes say the OG was 1114!
i hope there is enough detail in here to be useful, for me this time round i'll just be careful to get the original volume and OG where i want it, which'll be a lot less than 1114. I believe the ginger and zest additions were key to a decent product, tho obviously the wine pixies were helping as my topping up etc left some room for some luck.
3.4 kg parsnips
3.6 kg sugar
zest of 1.5 lemons
5 tspoon citric acid
1 tspoon tartaric acid
thumb size piece root ginger
pectic enzyme
nutrient
sauternes yeast
wash and thoroughly scrub the parsnips but don't peel. top and tail them then slice into 1 inch thick discs. Bring to the boil then simmer until they are tender but not mushy. this took about 20 mins but i checked frequently and found that they were done just before they started to split in the middles. i can't remember if i brought the water to the boil then added parsnips or brought to the boil with parsnips in sorry

Other things you should know. somewhere along the line i have lost some notes. The final wine is probably about 14% ABV which may be too strong for most tastes. i say probably because everyone who drank it is surprised that its that strong! After racking and fining/racking i needed to top up with water, which is i think where the gap in my notes happened as i dunno how much water i used. i think it was a fair amount tho as my notes say the OG was 1114!
i hope there is enough detail in here to be useful, for me this time round i'll just be careful to get the original volume and OG where i want it, which'll be a lot less than 1114. I believe the ginger and zest additions were key to a decent product, tho obviously the wine pixies were helping as my topping up etc left some room for some luck.
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