I remember my parents making wine on a reasonably regular basis from either elderberries and blackberries or sometimes both.
My mother also mentioned making wine from elderflowers, but mentioned the tendency of the slightest bit of green stalk to spoil the brew.
I've certainly helped out in my youth with berry wines from the hedgerow and things are pretty much the same as making wines from any other juices... I have little or no idea how to deal with elderflowers though and mother is claiming senility to get out of explaining it to me...
Has anybody any experience of this or any other unsual brews from the hedgerow?
Reg
Brewing from the Hedgerow
Me and the wife once spent about a week collecting rose hips to make some wine.
Unfortunately, I let the airlock dry out (
) and it oxidised. Though in any case, I had my doubts about it, cos some of the rosehips came from cthe roadside, and I'm sure even after a good wash I could still detect an exhaust smell from them.
Unfortunately, I let the airlock dry out (
) and it oxidised. Though in any case, I had my doubts about it, cos some of the rosehips came from cthe roadside, and I'm sure even after a good wash I could still detect an exhaust smell from them.-
G-2
QUOTE (jim @ Mar 15 2005, 04:49 PM) Though in any case, I had my doubts about it, cos some of the rosehips came from cthe roadside, and I'm sure even after a good wash I could still detect an exhaust smell from them.
hah!
i remember picking fruit of some type (may have been brambles. do people even make bramble wine? never mind. heh!) for my folks and their mates who made wine together in our garage and loft. We used to go out into the countryside and picjk whatever it was but if we picked some from the roadside we weren't allowed to add them to the 'wine basket' but oddly and perhaps cruelly we were allowed to eat them once we'd cleaned them!!
"Polluted fruit is good enough for the kids but its not going anywhere near our wine"
hah!
i remember picking fruit of some type (may have been brambles. do people even make bramble wine? never mind. heh!) for my folks and their mates who made wine together in our garage and loft. We used to go out into the countryside and picjk whatever it was but if we picked some from the roadside we weren't allowed to add them to the 'wine basket' but oddly and perhaps cruelly we were allowed to eat them once we'd cleaned them!!
"Polluted fruit is good enough for the kids but its not going anywhere near our wine"
-
Reg
- I do it all with smoke and mirrors
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QUOTE (G-2 @ Mar 15 2005, 09:52 PM) QUOTE (jim @ Mar 15 2005, 04:49 PM) Though in any case, I had my doubts about it, cos some of the rosehips came from cthe roadside, and I'm sure even after a good wash I could still detect an exhaust smell from them.
hah!
i remember picking fruit of some type (may have been brambles. do people even make bramble wine? never mind. heh!) for my folks and their mates who made wine together in our garage and loft. We used to go out into the countryside and picjk whatever it was but if we picked some from the roadside we weren't allowed to add them to the 'wine basket' but oddly and perhaps cruelly we were allowed to eat them once we'd cleaned them!!
"Polluted fruit is good enough for the kids but its not going anywhere near our wine"
Aha! So you also were subject to this form of parental fruit testing... We used to go brambling for pies, jams and wines... I was also used as family taste tester on any fruit that from any spot that looked a little sorry for itself! Terrible behaviour!
However, in the spirit of answering my own questions, I have delved into our library, (not quite as voluminous as Hogwarts or the Unseen University as it adorns the walls of our study cum office)... and found a book called Home Wine and Beer Making by Ben Turner. Originally published in 1979 by the Treasure Press - (Who they?) - It goes into some detail on wine made from anything from celery to peapods and includes a recipe for Elderflower wine...
Checking out the quality of the book, it does seem to rely on sugar in a number of recipes but does understand how to make invert sugar and when and why to use pectic enzyme. However, I have never seen any yellower hops in any illustration in a Beer book in my life!!! So I have what may be an okay recipe as much of the other stuff in the book makes sense and will reproduce it here with suitable acknowledgements if anybody is interested...
hah!
i remember picking fruit of some type (may have been brambles. do people even make bramble wine? never mind. heh!) for my folks and their mates who made wine together in our garage and loft. We used to go out into the countryside and picjk whatever it was but if we picked some from the roadside we weren't allowed to add them to the 'wine basket' but oddly and perhaps cruelly we were allowed to eat them once we'd cleaned them!!
"Polluted fruit is good enough for the kids but its not going anywhere near our wine"
Aha! So you also were subject to this form of parental fruit testing... We used to go brambling for pies, jams and wines... I was also used as family taste tester on any fruit that from any spot that looked a little sorry for itself! Terrible behaviour!
However, in the spirit of answering my own questions, I have delved into our library, (not quite as voluminous as Hogwarts or the Unseen University as it adorns the walls of our study cum office)... and found a book called Home Wine and Beer Making by Ben Turner. Originally published in 1979 by the Treasure Press - (Who they?) - It goes into some detail on wine made from anything from celery to peapods and includes a recipe for Elderflower wine...
Checking out the quality of the book, it does seem to rely on sugar in a number of recipes but does understand how to make invert sugar and when and why to use pectic enzyme. However, I have never seen any yellower hops in any illustration in a Beer book in my life!!! So I have what may be an okay recipe as much of the other stuff in the book makes sense and will reproduce it here with suitable acknowledgements if anybody is interested...