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Nearly Last of the Summer Wine ...




Hi Homebrewers, and welcome to our August 2020 Brewers Blog (BB).


It won't be long now before the summer fruits will be ready and it's looking like we will be blessed with some plentiful crops this year, so this blog includes a couple of recipes to help you make the most of some of those fruits ready for early harvesting.


Below are my easy, 5 step recipes for both Plum wine and Blackberry wine. The Plum wine recipe is simple to follow and works with all different types of plums, Victoria, Golden or Damsons. Blackberry wine is one of the most rewarding hedgerow wines you can make. It just takes a short walk to get the blackberries off the hedgerows, a couple of tiny scratches from the thorns and then back home to make wine. This is dark red, with a deep flavour, a sweetness and a good kick of alcohol, but careful as it can leave a stain on anything it touches.


All ingredients (except for the fruit!) available at Homebrewman.co.uk and if you have any queries or want to talk through your homebrew project then don’t hesitate to get in touch (paul@homebrewman.co.uk).


Next month it's my favourite, cider and apple wine, we have a couple of apple trees and the fruits are looking fantastic this year so I’m looking forward to collecting those up and sharing my recipes with you.


Enjoy the rest of summer and happy home brewing!


Paul




Plum Wine


Ingredients

  • 5 lbs / 2,250 grams plums

  • 3 lbs / 1,350 grams sugar

  • 8 pints / 1 gallon water

  • 1 teaspoon citric acid

  • 1/4 teaspoon tannin

  • 1 teaspoon pectolase

  • Wine yeast and nutrient


Method

  1. Wash and cut up the fruit and place in a fermentation bucket. Pour over the boiling water, add tannin, after 24 hours add pectolase . Cover the bucket and leave for a further three days.

  2. Stir twice daily and then strain on to the sugar, stirring vigorously until all the sugar has dissolved. Add the yeast and cover.

  3. Stir regularly for five further days and then pour into a fermentation bottle, fit an airlock and leave to finish fermenting.

  4. When fermentation has ceased, rack the wine into a clean jar, place in a cool environment and leave for a further few months.

  5. Rack again if necessary and leave until the wine is stable and then bottle. This wine can take up to 12 months to mature.



Blackberry (Bramble) Wine


Ingredients

  • 3lb BlackBerries (washed)

  • 3lb sugar

  • 6 Pints Boiling Water

  • Campden Tablets

  • 1 tsp Pectolase

  • 1 tsp Wine Yeast

  • 1 tsp Yeast Nutrient

  • Straining bag


Method

  1. Take the blackberries and put them in a fermenting bucket. If you don't have one, then mash with your hands. Pour on the 6 pints of boiling water and stir thoroughly. Add the 3lb of sugar and stir until thoroughly dissolved. Cover and leave to cool to 20°C.

  2. Crush 1 Campden Tablet and add this along with the pectolase and stir. Pop on the lid and put somewhere between 18-22°C for 24 hours to allow the pectolase to work it's magic. Take a hydrometer reading and save this for later. Stir in the yeast and yeast nutrient. Put the lid on loosely and transfer to somewhere warm (approx 20°C) for 7 days, stirring daily.

  3. After 7 days, using the muslin bag, strain into another bucket to remove most of the blackberries. Transfer the liquid into a demi-john to the top of the shoulder. Fit a bung and airlock (half filled with steriliser water) and transfer to a cool corner in the house, ideally between 16°C and 20°C to allow for the fermentation to complete. This can take up to 4 weeks.

  4. Once the fermentation has completed, rack the wine off the sediment into a clean, sterilised demi-john. Add 1 crushed Campden tablet and stir. Refit the airlock and leave to clear. You may need to rack this wine a couple more times until it is completely clear.

  5. Bottle and ideally leave for 6 months for its full flavour potential to be reached, but it is also great for drinking after just a month.




Paul's Top Tips ...

  • Don’t forget to always sterilise your equipment before starting. It’s important to make sure you don’t have anything leftover from your previous brew or where your things have been sitting in a cupboard for a while.

  • I use our potato masher whenever I’m mashing my fruit, it’s really effective at getting every last drop of juice out.


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