The advantages of home brewing when you fancy a cheap tipple

mr2jay

Hehe, give me a chance

Supposed to be working but I have recipes for a few varieties of cider, blackberry wine, ginger beer and a whole host of others.

I'll be glad to share but it will take a while to write them all down

19lottie82

I made my own strawberry wine when I was a student and it was lethal! We used to fill fruit squash bottles with it take to the park during the summer.

I'm estimating it must have been aout 15%, at least.

MrsMoo2U

Thanks for the tips. I am finishing work next week so definitely want a cheap hobby and this sounds great. Really appreciate it.

mr2jay

No problem - if you have any questions, just ask

I have a few recipes I will post up over the weekend for fruits you can easily grow in the garden including raspberries and strawberries as well as some you can forage for including elderberries and blackberries

As I say, any help needed, just shout

FireWyrm

Have demi johns...will brew...just need more recipes.....

<drums fingers on table>

Time_to_face_the_music

mr2jay wrote: »

No problem - if you have any questions, just ask

I have a few recipes I will post up over the weekend for fruits you can easily grow in the garden including raspberries and strawberries as well as some you can forage for including elderberries and blackberries

As I say, any help needed, just shout

Car boot sale tomorrow at the crack of dawn and am hoping for some brewing equipment at bargain prices.

Thanks so much for the inspiration mr2jay :beer:

lollipopsarah

Oh this brings back memories.
Dad used to make a home brew (lager I think) many year ago and gave the dustmen a glass each for christmas - they loved it but couldn't drive afterwards.
As for the ginger ale - oh dear all the bottles exploded!
Happy days, thanks for reminding me.
xx

mr2jay

OK OK

Raspberry Wine

4lb raspberries
3 and a half lb of sugar
2 pints boiling water
6 pints cold water
Yeast

Pour the boiling water onto the fruit so as to cover it well in the fermenting bucket. Use more than 2 pints if necessary. Allow to cool then mash the fruit with the hands. Add the remaining water so as to make 1 gallon (8 pints) total liquid added. Add 2 crushed campden tablets and stir. Cover closely and leave 3 or 4 days, stirring twice daily. Strain the mixture as much as possible (muslin bag) onto the sugar and stir well to dissolve. Add a good quality general wine yeast (or if specific a port or burgundy yeast). Cover and leave for 24 hours then put the mixture in a demijohn and fit an air lock. Ferment it right through, then rack into a clean demijohn, and again as necessary before bottling. Keep it at least another 6 months, preferably 12 months in the bottle.

To give a little more bite (and it darkens the wine a little), add a tea bag at the beginning before the 4 day steeping period.

To make blackberry wine, simply replace raspberries with blackberries - This really is a basic recipe but it does make some REALLY good wine. You can experiment by replacing the raspberries with any berries really - I find a REALLY good one is to mix blackberries, raspberries and blueberries

mr2jay

Fiery Ginger Beer 5 gallons

2tsp dried ginger
1kg Fresh grated ginger
1tsp Cream of tartar
2 lemons
2 limes
2.5kg Sugar
2tsp Yeast nutrient
1 sachet champagne yeast Use S-04 yeast. That's the only one that worked for me

Really quick and easy (and cheap) to do - ginger was donated so very cheap

First i grated the ginger into a large pan

Then added the sliced and squeezed lemons and limes, cream of tartar - topped up with boiling water and simmered for 30mins (lovely smell )

Next i dissolved all the sugar in the ginger liquor and then put everything into the FV and topped up with cold water

Dry pitched the yeast......done

Dependant on what it ferments out to it should be between 6 and 8% ferment at 18C should see you right! But 16 to 20 ok too

If you want to make a gallon, just only use a fifth of the ingredients, so half a lemon, half a lime, etc etc - you can still use a full sachet of yeast....

You'll quickly learn this isn't an exact science

Linus2864

Some excellent recipes there mr2jay - I may have to try some of them.

I currently have 3 demijohns on the go: 2 grape and 1 plum so I can see another couple getting filled!

Also I find that the experimentation with different fruits, amounts of sugar/water etc is one of the best parts.

However we don't give the wine as gifts - we seem to find most of it gets drunk by ourselves

Looking forward to more of your excellent recipes!

Best wishes