Wishing Well Gardens

 How to Make Wine 


The general winemaking process is as follows:

  • Boil or soak flavour and place in a bucket.
  • Add the sugar and when cool add the yeast and ferment for approximately five days (this can be shorter or longer depending on the recipe). Keep the brew closely covered.
  • Strain the liquid into a demijohn and fit the airlock. The liquid should be filled to within an inch of the cork.
  • Keep the bottle in a warm area and allow the fermentation to continue until all the bubbles cease and the wine is clear.
  • Siphon off the wine from the lees or yeast sediment and place jar in a cooler environment. This procedure should be repeated within a month or so until fermentation has completely ceased and the wine is stable.
  • When the wine is approximately six months old it should be ready to bottle. Cork the bottles and store them in a cool temperature, preferably on their sides.

 Sloe Gin version one

 

Ingredients

  • 300g sloes (frozen)
  • 1litre gin
  • 4tbsp of sugar

Suggested Instructions

  1. Take your frozen sloes and smash with a rolling pin until mashed up, then in a Kilner jar.
  2. Add the sugar, and then pour in the gin.
  3. Shake vigourously and leave,  min 3 months,  best if left one year. Shake occasionally (when you remember).
  4. Check the taste and if you feel like it, add more sugar if you think it needs it. But really this is a different Sloe Gin recipe to the one you are mostly used to.
  5. Strain and bottle for later use.

Makes: 1 litre

 

 

Sloe Gin version two

Pick your sloes from blackthorn hedges ( Oct or Nov) when they are most ripe - best afterfirst frosts.

half litre bottle of gin.

 cut/ prick sloes and drop into a litre bottle, pour gin over sloes

Add 150g sugar

Shake bottle daily for a week then weekly for a month or three, it is ready to drink after about two months but is better left for a year.

 

Freezer Tips:
Don't confuse '1st frosts' with freezing in a domestic freezer, Leaving the sloes on the bush until 'after the first frosts' is about full ripening, and nothing to do with any (so-called) benefits of freezing!
Freezing sloes at home will not harm sloes, and many people  think it is helpful.

If you do choose to freeze your sloes - maybe preserve an excess bag for later, be sure to bottle them as quickly as possible after removing from your freezer bag.

 Frozen sloes quickly become covered in a deposit of condensed water vapour & you should be careful not to get this in your gin.

 Elderberry Wine Recipe


3 lbs/1,350 grams fresh elderberries
3 lbs/1,350 grams sugar
8 pints/1 gallon water
1 teaspoon citric acid
Wine yeast


Strip and crush the berries and place them in a bucket.

Add 1/2 of the boiling water and allow to cool.

Dissolve the sugar in the remaining boiling water and strain the berries through a sieve on to the sugar.

Add the citric acid and the yeast. Pour the liquid into a demijohn and seal with an airlock.

Store the wine in a warm place and allow the fermentation to work itself out.

When fermentation has ceased, place wine into a clean jar and put in a cooler environment and leave for a few months.

 

 Elderberry vinegar Recipe

Ingredients

  • 400g ripe Elderberries
  • 500ml of organic red wine vinegar
  • 700g of organic cane sugar

Suggested Instructions

  1. Put Elderberries in a bowl and pound lightly with the end of a rolling pin.
  2. Pour over the red wine vinegar, and cover with muslin.
  3. Leave for 5 days.
  4. Strain through a fine sieve, and pour the liquid into a saucepan.
  5. Add the sugar,  warm until dissolved. Keep stirring so the sugar doesn’t burn or start to caramelise. 
  6. Bring to a rolling boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
  7. Now pour into sterilised bottles and cap. (use cork or plastic, as rusting will occur if left too long)

Makes: 600ml

 Old Fashioned Lemonade Recipe

3 large lemons
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 pints / 1,250 ml water

Recipe makes approx 6/8 glasses, and is best served garnished with slices of lemon and a sprig of freshly picked mint.


Wash the lemons and slice them on a plate.  Place the lemon slices and juice in a jug and add the sugar.  Pour on the water (boiling) and leave to stand for at least two hours - maximum 24 hours.

 Strain this refreshing citrus drink and serve chilled, preferably with ice.

why not try exchanging one of the lemons with a lime.

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