Beating Winter -Self Sufficency & Home Brewing

elliewild

Hi everyone, as Christmas approaches i've been trying to find ways to beat the winter blues and would like tips on self sufficency and home brewing.

I've recently been brewing homemade cider, lager and wine and i noticed on some other threads people had been making their own alcoholic cordials and ginger beers and wanted to share some of my experiences and add to my brewing knowledge!

also was thinking about preserves and stews etc to beat those winter blues!

Does anyone know a good alcoholic cordial recipe?

elliewild

Here's how i made my home made cider (its a bit of a cheat!) please feel free to share yours too!

I got a selection of cheap apples from the supermarket and some 'don simon' 100%pure apple juice (2 cartons).

I washed and chopped the apples into small pieces and boiled them up with some water till they were mushy (i don't have a press - this is my first cider)

i got 1litre of hot water and melted 1kg sugar in a fermentation container and once melted i poured in my apples and juice and filled the rest up with water (container was 5 litres/1 gallon). i added 1 heaped teaspoon of wine yeast and i've left it to ferment.

this is the stage i'm at, at the moment

----
What i intend to do after this stage is (using my hydrometer to test whether its ready and then to be honest i'm not overly sure! any tips? as its my first cider i'm expecting it to be a bit cruddy and to have made mistakes, which im sure i have, but i'll let you know how it goes.

for a Christmas variation i was wondering about apple cider and cinnamon - anyone tried it?

elliewild

Just set off my 40pint youngs beer kit (brewbuddy) has anyone used these before?

i'll let you know how i get on with this, does anyone recommend any particular beer making kits?

elliewild

Recently been using the youngs 30 bottle wine kits (sov blanc) my first batch as 6 bottle one which i found wonderful, and got quite drunk off (i added extra sugar at the end to sweeten and it ended up a bit too sweet for my usual tastes but it was drinkable)

so i've high expectations for my 30 bottle kit!

ive done my own labels with a little story on and i'm going to get some ribbons to tie round and give them friends and family for Christmas. At about £1 a bottle its a thrifty present!

What i'm planning to do is get some 100% fruit juice to make some wine from - anyone ever done this before? do you have a recipe?

katskorner

We have done wine and beer in the past and we will be kicking off a 40 pint Irish Stout kit this week to be ready in time for Christmas. It is usually really nice.

TIP - Make sure your equipment and bottles are really really clean - use sterilising fluid and rinse really well before use!

UnderPressure

I too am interested in home brewing, I love the idea of having a selection of my own brews sat there waiting to drink as and when and as I am also a bit of a foodie I also like the idea of experimenting.

Im not a lager or bitter fan, used to be at one time I could drink any of the premium lagers by the crate, they just give me wind now and heartburn sign of getting old

I would want to brew true home made wines similar to your cider recipe all from "real" ingredients rather than using a kit. I have bought a few old fashioned brewers books over the years but never had a go not yet anyhow now may be the right time

Anyhow I am sure after a search you should find other threads on here relating to this, I did find a great forum once I will see if I can find the link for you.

UnderPressure

Here you go, its only a small community but it is packed with some great threads:

http://www.winesathome.co.uk/forum/index.php

There is also a section on beer and cider, there will be other probably bigger forums online ask Google and see