The advantages of home brewing when you fancy a cheap tipple

princess*daisy

Hello :wave:

After reading this, my boyfriend really wants to give wine/cider making a go Silly question though - how do you get rid of the lumpy bits left by the fruit? Is that where the muslin bags come into it? Are there any bits left over by the fermenting process?

Thanks :beer:

geordie_ben

princess*daisy wrote: »

Hello :wave:

After reading this, my boyfriend really wants to give wine/cider making a go Silly question though - how do you get rid of the lumpy bits left by the fruit? Is that where the muslin bags come into it? Are there any bits left over by the fermenting process?

Thanks :beer:

Yep, muslin to get rid of the fruit, not sure about after fermenting tho

geordie_ben

So, I'm now the proud owner of...

~ 11 Demi jars
~ Siphon kit
~ 2 air locks
~ Camden tablets
~ Stabliser
~ Steriliser
~ Hydrometer
~ 2 x 25L fermenting bucket (one complete with tap)
~ 1 x bottle brush
~ Thermastic heater
~ Muslin clothes
~ Bottle capper
~ Plastic beer bottle caps
~ 6 x brown beer bottles
~ Thermometer

All for a whopping price of £12.05 :T

Now to pick get everything clean and pick some recipes... any suggestions for a good cider or wine to start on?

mr2jay

Here's a good (and cheap) one to get you going

You will need....

1. 20 Fruit tea bags (Good one to get you going is the Twinings Strawberry, Raspberry and Loganberry)
2. 2 litres of 100% red grape juice
3. 1 tsp Citric Acid
4. Half a mug of REALLY strong black tea
5. 1 tsp Yeast Nutrient
6. 1 sachet of wine yeast
7. 1kg sugar
8. 1 Campden tablet
9. 1 tsp Potassium Sorbate
10. 1 tsp Bentonite (to clear)

Step 1 - Put all 20 tea bags into 2 pints of water and bring to the boil. Leave to simmer for 30 minutes.

Step 2 - Bring 1 pint of water to the boil and add the sugar to make a syrup.

Step 3 - Remove the tea bags from the infusion, squeezing as much as you can out of the bags

Step 4 - Add 1 litre of grape juice and the sugar and allow to cool

Step 5 - Add the citric acid, cold black tea and the yeast nutrient and transfer to a demijohn

Step 6 - Add the last litre of grape juice and give a good shake

Step 7 - Add the yeast and seal with the airlock

After a couple of days, the foaming will have subsided. You then need to top up with boiled and cooled water. Watch the airlock and once you reach the point where you have 1 bubble every couple of minutes (usually after about a fortnight) move onto the next stage

Step 8 - Into another clean demijohn, put one crushed campden tablet. Make a solution of about 2 teaspoons of water to 1 tsp potassium sorbate and once dissolved, add this to the new demijohn. Make up a third solution of 2 tsp water to 1 tsp bentonite, stir vigorously and add this to the demijohn.

Step 9 - Rack (syphon) the wine from the first demijohn into the second, making sure you leave the sediment on the bottom.

Step 10 - Give a good shake and leave to clear

This should take about 2 weeks. Once clear it is ready to bottle

Good luck

geordie_ben

Cheers! I wondered what 'rack' meant! haha

I better get some more ingredients. What type of sugar? Granulated or Caster?

I've been on the hunt to find the sugar as cheap as possible

mr2jay

In home brew, unless you are making beers (in which case brewing sugar is the best thing for it), ordinary granulated sugar is what you need. Castor sugar contains something which the yeast doesn't like so much

geordie_ben

mr2jay wrote: »

In home brew, unless you are making beers (in which case brewing sugar is the best thing for it), ordinary granulated sugar is what you need. Castor sugar contains something which the yeast doesn't like so much

Perfect, thanks

Now to get the extra bits

January20

I've just racked both my Wild Cherry Tea Wine and my Strawberry Wine. The first one is nice but a little sweet for my taste and the second one is just absolutely lovely: light and fresh, like a rose with a hint of strawberry. I shall make this again this week as I'd only made 1/2 a demi-john of it.

geordie_ben

January20 wrote: »

I've just racked both my Wild Cherry Tea Wine and my Strawberry Wine. The first one is nice but a little sweet for my taste and the second one is just absolutely lovely: light and fresh, like a rose with a hint of strawberry. I shall make this again this week as I'd only made 1/2 a demi-john of it.

What was the recipe for the Strawberry Wine?

mr2jay

Had a bit of a major session with the home brew last weekend

Ditched the Raspberry and the Coffee - If I am 100% honest, they were a disaster Still, experimenting is part of the fun after all....

Also tried some of these cinnamon tea wines (Apple and cinnamon, Cherry and cinnamon). My advice? Don't bother The cinnamon leaves a really bitter after taste

Decided to make a few more of these fruit tea wines - I have a Lipton Raspberry, Blackberry and Blueberry that is about ready to stabilise and bottle. Smells great

Got a Raspberry, Cranberry and Elderflower one on the go (Twinings) and a Strawberry and Mango (Twinings) and they both smell fantastic - bubbling away nicely

A little while ago, I did a Millstone Raspberry Wheat Beer which has been sat in bottles maturing. Cracked open a bottle the other night to test and although it is still a little harsh, it is showing great promise Won't be long before that one is a great summer drink - just hope we get an Indian summer to appreciate it

Also decided to try another experiment. Heard many good things about a recipe called Wurzels Orange Wine (Or WoW). So decided I would give it a go. Looks foul but the smell is out of this world. Hopefully it'll be as good as the recommendations

Need to get more yeast now as I am out but the home brew is still coming strong and fast