Winemaking 2012

Started a gallon of Honeysuckle Flower Wine on 4/7/12 and racked it off the sediment today (SG 0.990). I ferment small batches in 5 litre PET water bottles fitted with airlocks and rack off into 1 gallon glass demijohns so I get a full gallon of liquid + a small taste. And that small taste made me go out and pick another litre of honeysuckle flowers and get a 2nd gallon on. A honeysuckle fragrance + a taste of honey giving a perception of sweetness despite being bone dry. Off to get another litre of flowers later on.

For one gallon:

1 litre of flowers (lightly pressed down)
1 litre carton of white grape juice
1 litre carton of apple juice
700g of sugar
Yeast nutrient, 1 teaspoon tartaric acid, pinch of tannin, D47 yeast and 1 teaspoon pectin destroying enzyme.

Make a yeast starter using one of the cartons of juice the day before picking flowers.
Rinse flowers, put in saucepan with 1 litre of water, bring to simmer then remove from heat and leave 3 hours to infuse.
Dissolve sugar in boiling water and leave to cool.
Strain liquor from saucepan into demijohn, add rest of ingredients (give it a shake to re-oxygenate when 2/3 full because the liquid from the saucepan and the sugar syrup will have lost some essential oxygen + it will disperse that heavy sugar syrup), yeast starter and top up with water, fit airlock and ferment out.

This is the way I make all my flowers wines (and some others), reducing the amount of flowers from traditional recipes (and reducing lots of mind numbing flower picking) and using those same carton juices as a base for different additions.

Hopefully this will be ready to drink from around Xmas time and remind me of Summer.

 

I must admit I never made any flower wine, being put off by finding flowers at the right stage. With say elderberries amazingly when you wash the berries the unripe ones float to the top, and they can be scooped up with say a sieve. Besides Elderberries being so rich and dark you can make a second pressing as a claret wine, but add more body with say a carton of some juice. This I would imagine it would be much the same as making an Elderflower wine but much easier.

There are many books such I have by the great C.J.J.Berry on how to make wines from Tinned and Dried fruit, how to mimic well know drinks, and when to look for wild fruit etc.

 

Honeysuckle flowers are a doddle to pick - I shake the flower head/give it a couple of bats with the back of my hand to send any beyond it florets flying then nip off any remaining open flowers using a thumbnail. Soooo painless compared to picking gorse flowers.

 

Going to have to try this tomorrow !

 

Made some blackcurrent cider from jam & applejuice a couple of weeks ago.

Its a little bit frisky..


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Better be drinkable after all that mess.

 

That looks rather like a concoction called a 'Purple Nasty', a mix of cider & lager with a dash of blackcurrant squash.

 

That looks awesome! Never thought of using jam to flavour cider. I usually just make a standard Turbo Cider. Have you made it before?

 

Its a first for me, a chum dropped off 56 jars of jam that were past their sell by date so Ive been experimenting. My normal turbo cider (4L cheap apple juice, 1L grape juice & a cup of strong tea) works well but its a bit tasteless.

I hope its good - its going to be a real pain to clean those demijohns & get the red sticky foam off..