Gorse Wine

[user 44889]

I've just put it into the demijohn from the bucket. It's fermenting a bit slow.... Probably the extra sugar but bubbling away quite the thing still.

It had a bit too much extra sugar I think, can't remember the SG off the top of my head but wasn't the level of 17%abv potential. I topped up to the gallon with plain water to give it a better chance and reduce the final alcohol content a bit.

The little bit I got in my mouth while syphoning was rather tasty still (albeit sweet) so looking forward to it being finished. I'll not use finings with this one, so it will be a good few months before it's getting drunk. Probably Christmas time.

Meanwhile I transferred 5 gallons of superstrong pear cider into the pressure barrel (which I can't gas up yet) and bottled 5 gallons of sauvignon blanc kit wine. Can't remember which brand off hand. It tastes ok but has that nasty kit wine odour and aftertaste that disappears after a couple of months. Just as well I'm patient haha

Looking forward to your update when all done and how it tastes. Only 7 months to go lol. 17% ABV ... wow, that would be to strong for me, i aim for 12 to 13% but sometimes accidentally go a bit over.
Enjoy your Pear Cider and SB wine.

 

[Shirley Bassett]

Has anyone ever used Gorse Flowers in Turbo Cider?

I usually make around 20 litres as a batch, so was after an idea of quantity / weight of flowers required.

I usually put 10 good heads of Elderflowers in a 20 litre batch.

thanks

 

[gillonstewart]

17% ABV ... wow, that would be to strong for me

I didn't do the calculations to find out the potential ABV after diluting it down but it should bring it a lot closer to 12-13%. If it were a more robust wine I'd have left it but gorse is usually quite a delicately flavoured wine so I wouldn't want to overpower it with ethanol flavour.

That said, I'm inclined to experiment with at least one bottle and fortify it. At the moment I'm thinking licor 43 and vodka depending on how it finishes off.

 

[user 44889]

I didn't do the calculations to find out the potential ABV after diluting it down but it should bring it a lot closer to 12-13%. If it were a more robust wine I'd have left it but gorse is usually quite a delicately flavoured wine so I wouldn't want to overpower it with ethanol flavour.

That said, I'm inclined to experiment with at least one bottle and fortify it. At the moment I'm thinking licor 43 and vodka depending on how it finishes off.

Sounds like a plan, go for it. That will deffo bump up the ABV lol