Christmas Pudding Wine

[user 23602]

Yes there has been quite a few posts about this, one that I've even responded on but I am after some help and guidance in order to get this started in July.

I'll be using this list of ingredients:

2kg of Christmas Pudding
8 x Oranges (zest)
4 x Tinned Mixed Fruit
250ml of Dark Maple Syrup
1.5kg of White Sugar
250g of Grape Concentrate
2tsp of Pectolase
2tsp of Dessert Wine Yeast 15-18%
70cl of Brandy

If any of this is wrong, please say so! I have quite simply just pulled together the most frequently used ingredients and the quantities.

Now, I can only seem to find the following method:

• Slice Xmas pudding thin and add to bucket with Orange Zest and Mixed Fruit. Add 750g of Sugar. Add 3L of boiling Water and stir until most of Xmas pudding has dissolved.
• Add 4L of cool water and stir in Grape Concentrate. Add 2tsp of Pectolase and pitch Yeast.
• Leave to ferment for 5 days ensuring the brew is stirred twice daily to ensure everything stays moist.
• Transfer into 2nd fermentation bucket. Using 4 x Muslin bags and a strainer to syphon funnel and stop as much sediment as possible.
• Add Maple Syrup straight from unopened container. Swirl gently to combine. Top off with cool water if required. Add remaining Sugar to bucket.
• Let brew ferment for 2 weeks feed with 10g of sugar daily until the alcohol tolerance of the yeast has been reached.
• Add bottle of Brandy before bottling and stir gently before bottling.

Any suggestions or corrections would be appreciated on both method and ingredients.

Does anyone know what colour this wine comes out?

Many thanks, Ben.

 

[user 23602]

Does anyone know if this will be okay to use?

 

[user 23602]

All done and bottled! Ended up with a sweet dessert wine at 28% ABV... And it's lovely. Now to just sit on it until Christmas .

 

[uDicko]

Holy cow! 28%!

Thanks for coming back with updates.

Would you mind sharing what your final process and recipe was? Id quite like to make something similar in prep for some Xmas presents and general Xmas consumption.

 

[user 23602]

Holy cow! 28%!

Thanks for coming back with updates.

Would you mind sharing what your final process and recipe was? Id quite like to make something similar in prep for some Xmas presents and general Xmas consumption.

Of course.

Sorry if this vague or even too much information at times, but if you have any questions, please ask. The ingredients and method ended up a bit different from what I had posted above, so I'll just go for it. I'll include as much information as possible, ie. brands, shops etc.

Firstly my wonderful Mum, made me a 2kg Christmas pudding. With that, I sliced it as best as I could into very slices. A better quality Christmas pudding will allow you to have thinner slices due to the retained moisture, so if you're buying one, go M&S or something known for good Christmas puddings.

I grated the skin of 6 Oranges and threw the zest and Christmas pudding slices into the fermenting bucket along with 4 tins of mixed cocktail fruit from Aldi, the ones with Cherries, Pears etc and I also chucked in the water that was in the tins.

I followed that with 1kg of white sugar, yes, just normal sugar and then 3l of boiling water. I stirred this gently until the Christmas pudding had pretty much dissolved. I added 3l of cool water in the fermenting bucket along with 1.75l of Don Simon Red Grape juice from Asda. I added 17g of Wilko Pectolase, I know it's a lot, but there was a lot to break down, plus 7g of VinClasse Sherry/Port Yeast and 7g of VinClasse High Alcohol Yeast.

This was all then left in the fermenting bucket for 5 days in my airing cupboard, which is usually 20-22 degrees and I would stir it before I left for work and when I got home from work, just to keep all the fruit and left over Christmas pudding moist.

Now comes the bit I found difficult! I then transferred all this into a fresh fermenting bucket, my one that has the bottling wand on it. You want to avoid anything other than liquid going in so, on top of the second fermenting bucket was a straining bag from Wilkos, 4 Muslin bags and I siphoned the fermenting bucket with the brew in from rubber tubbing and through a fine sieve. Do this slowly but do not remove the caught sediment from the muslin bags. Instead, once you have transferred, gently tie up the bags that have caught the sediment and gently squeeze to get some more liquid through. Before I sealed the new fermenting bucket and returned it to the airing cupboard, I added 250g of Maple Syrup from Aldi and stirred gently.

Over the course of 12 days, I added 10g of sugar daily and gave it a little stir, nothing mad. 2 days before bottling, I added 70cl of Napoleon Brandy from Aldi and left until bottling. When bottling, I simply chucked it into 330ml glass brown bottles and capped. I did fill one 550ml clear bottle so I can keep an eye on the colour and consistency etc. These were then all moved to my shed where its dark and cool and so they will until Christmas or I become curious, whichever comes first. I will throw up a picture later of the one in the clear bottle so you can see what it looks like.

 

[uDicko]

Spot on. Appreciate you taking the time to write this.

 

[Gerryjo]

Max for a dessert wine is 25% so your between wine and liquor territory.

 

[user 23602]

Spot on. Appreciate you taking the time to write this.

All good! Any questions, feel free to DM me.

 

[user 23602]

Max for a dessert wine is 25% so your between wine and liquor territory.

Is that a bad thing?

 

[uDicko]

Is that a bad thing?

If you think it's good... All is good.

 

[Gerryjo]

Is that a bad thing?

Most certainly not as I find it quite interesting actually and would surmise it would be rather comforting sat in front of a big open fire on a Christmas night with snow falling outside.

 

[user 23602]

Most certainly not as I find it quite interesting actually and would surmise it would be rather comforting sat in front of a big open fire on a Christmas night with snow falling outside.

Lol unlikely in Bristol! But that wouldn't be so bad I agree. And it does genuinely taste like liquid Christmas pudding @uDicko .

 

[uDicko]

Based on how much your peanut butter stout tasted like an alcoholic hersheys. I am quite inclined to make this.

Need something warming over Xmas

 

[-Bezza-]

I assume the 28% is after adding the brandy!? Sounds interesting but I'm not sure I'd be brave enough to attempt something like this. Sounds like a very involved process too. Good luck with it - if I find myself near Bristol around Christmas time, I'll let you know.

 

[user 23602]

Based on how much your peanut butter stout tasted like an alcoholic hersheys. I am quite inclined to make this.

Need something warming over Xmas

If you want, I'm happy to send you a couple of bottles, one to open and have a gander... The other to sit on until such time?

 

[user 23602]

I assume the 28% is after adding the brandy!? Sounds interesting but I'm not sure I'd be brave enough to attempt something like this. Sounds like a very involved process too. Good luck with it - if I find myself near Bristol around Christmas time, I'll let you know.

Oh yeah, was after adding the Brandy. And I'm not one to shy away from a visitor, especially if it involves a drink.

 

[user 23602]

@uDicko

 

[user 23602]

Based on how much your peanut butter stout tasted like an alcoholic hersheys.

I didn't see this! But thank you.

 

[Subtle Duck]

Sorry to resurrect this thread, but just got to the demijohn stage of your wine. Had a load of Christmas puddings left over at work so thought why not have a go? How did it end up? Had a few Swigs while transferring and it tastes awesome!

 

[Mr_S_Jerusalem]

Ooooh I’ve got a Christmas pudding saved to make a wine like this!