Wine for the festive season 2007/8.

[quaffter]

I went to the supermarket today a purchased 20 lts of red concentrate grape juice.
I will start tomorrow making a port wine ready for Xmas 2007.
The current one I have is wonderful and 9 months aged.
Just great.

After clearing out(completely), I add 35 cl of a cheap brandy per 3 lts.
Add more if you wish a stronger taste, but 35 cl is enough for me.

My(apricot) sherry is now 9 months aged.
Have racked again with a table spoon of lees(cleanest I could extract).
Will sit now for 6 months.
Should be ready for Xmas 2007,but the experts say 2008 it will be at its greatest .

It is thick, a little sweet for me but should fall back a shade to a medium sherry.

Wine unlike beer, needs a lot of time and if you want wine for Xmas start now, to give it time to mature.

Will be starting a few more in the next weeks.

Busy Q .

[quaffter]

What you need for this is patience with a capital "P".
Select the fruit base you want.
We went for apricots as we had loads in the fridge and we like apricots.

Here is what I am working to...

APRICOT SHERRY


1 lb. chopped dried apricots
3 lb. granulated sugar
1 cup strong, black tea
1 tsp. pectic enzyme
6 pints to 1 gallon water
Sherry wine yeast and nutrient

Bring apricots in 6 pints water to simmer for 30 minutes without boiling.Strain off liquor, add sugar and stir well to dissolve, and bring to boil for five minutes. Add tea, and pour into secondary fermentation vessel. When cool, add pectic enzyme, cover, and set in warm place for 24 hours. Add yeast culture and nutrient and fit airlock. After 30 days, replace airlock with one devoid of water but plugged with cotton to allow the Sherry yeast to “breathe.â€

[quaffter]

A tad sweet for our taste, but that may mellow in time.

Bloody'ell Q it's got a year to ferment out

Presumably the tea is for the tannins, can this be improved upon by replacing with some sort of powdered tannins from the shop of spells and potions or doesnt this stuff exist?

Can see why you chaps like beer making....its quick .

In a year DaaB I could be TT .

Yes the tea is for the tannins. Some recipes call for a teaspoon of grape tannins powder or strong dark tea.

Will start another one off at the start of next month as this one looks good.
Hope I am still around to enjoy it
.
Q .

[quaffter]

This is what I have been up to yesterday and today.
Q's Poor mans port wine.

On the left the red grape juice used,100% and free from colouring,sugar and preservatives.
The yeast used ..Young's u brew..Burgundy Red. ( did not have port yeast or I would have used that).

2 DJ'S which I started 6 hours ago. Will top up with more juice once it has settled down.

The DJ on the right is my Apricot Sherry with its dry lock(cotton wool,I change this every month).
Will move to a dark room tomorrow and see yaa again in 6 months time.

The blue bucket just about seen far right, is my cleanser and steriliser session going on after using my equipment.
DaaB will be happy to see that .



Will post tomorrow the recipe for ..Q's poor mans port wine.
Q .

[quaffter]

btw Q...is that a nautical theme in the tiles?

A little yes .

It is a shower room at ground floor level that we do not use as such now.
I nicked it for my brewing room .

It is by far the coolest room in the house.
Now that room is around 70 f and stays around that all day and night.
The other rooms with out air con on, are around 85 f at the moment,go up to 90 f and only down to 80 f at night with out cooling on.
And its not hot season yet

Good thing about an ex shower room is that I can wash down the whole area with my cleaning solution once my kit is cleaned.
Squeaky clean Q

[quaffter]

Let me start by saying I can not buy port unless I travel the equivalent distance of London to Glasgow and then pay a fortune for a bottle. .

Mrs Q and myself love port.
So I looked at how I could make a poor man's version.
I researched about port and its uniqueness and found this which encouraged me to have a go. .

"There are several styles of port, but there are essentially two aging styles: reductive aging and oxidative aging. Ports that are aged using the reductive process are sealed in their container and have no exposure to oxygen. They are smoother and less tannic. The ports that are aged using the oxidative process are matured in wooden barrels and are slightly exposed to oxygen. Oxidated ports are more viscous and intense.

Traditional production methods include stopping the fermentation process by adding grape brandy (beneficio)".

I had no wooden brandy barrels to mature the wine in. Hard enough to find glass DJ's.

At this stage my drinking buddies started to take the St Michael on a regular basis.
Any port yet Q. Where is your “woodyâ€

[quaffter]

Much more civilized than adding Campden tablets


Interesting stuff that Q, if I ever went to that trouble i'd probably try and get hold of a small oak cask, after waiting for 6 months tapping the barrel would be quite a momentous occasion, mind you it wold be a real kick in the teeth if it got infected ...only another 6 month to wait to try a fresh batch

.

The Campden tablets was interesting....a bit of the old methods were the best .

At least with a glass DJ DaaB, you can see if some bugger is swimming around doing the breast stroke,drinking your brew and flicking you the bird .

I can not carry on a can of coke to an aircraft, let alone a woody barrel stinking of brandy....yum,yum .

Yes its 6 months, I am used to it now .

Brewing is like a motorway

The turbo cider boys are in the fast lane .
The beer boys are in the middle lane .
The wine'o boys are in the slow lane .
The sherry boys are in the crawling lane .

Sh*t life is a bitch .
Q .