Hello from sunny Scotland!

[Mckevvy]

:drink: Hi everyone, I'm Kev an experienced winemaker of more that 20 years. What do I like about winemaking? Well, apart from the creative side and the enjoyment of actually producing something from nature with your own hands, there's always the end result (hic!).
Good or bad wines - it doesn't matter. My philosophy is as long as you learn from any mistakes then that's how progress is made.
It's just coming up to the fruit season here in East Central Scotland and I'm very lucky to live in large fruit area of NE Fife and Tayside. Berries will out in abundance and after the rains of the last few weeks and the heatwave of the last few days it should be bumper crops all round.
I've just started a gallon of strawerry wine a few days ago and have now strained the berries, stirred in the sugar and waiting patiently for about a week to decant it into a demijohn.

I don't think I can wait 3 months for it to mature though....the smell is soooo good!


Kev :drunk:

 

[Mark1964]

Hi Kev welcome to the forum :thumb:

 

[ScottM]

Hi there, I recently joined myself :

 

[calumscott]

I'm very lucky to live in large fruit area of NE Fife and Tayside. Berries will out in abundance and after the rains of the last few weeks and the heatwave of the last few days it should be bumper crops all round.

You are indeed very lucky! That's my homeland (Perth born and bred) and really there is no better soft fruit grown anywhere in the world.

Welcome!

 

[Mckevvy]

I'm very lucky to live in large fruit area of NE Fife and Tayside. Berries will out in abundance and after the rains of the last few weeks and the heatwave of the last few days it should be bumper crops all round.

You are indeed very lucky! That's my homeland (Perth born and bred) and really there is no better soft fruit grown anywhere in the world.

Welcome!

Cheers guys :drink: What's everyone got on the go just now?

I absolutely agree Calum - the Perth/Tayside/NE Fife area is just incredible for berries!

McKevvy :

 

[Dieseljockey]

Welcome to the forum.. :thumb:

If you've been making wines for the last 20 years, what about some recipes??? :pray:
I'd like the strawberry one, just getting back into wines, been brewing beer for years so thought I take a punt at wines for the memsahib and myself. Just got 25 liters of rhubarb going last week.

 

[calumscott]

I absolutely agree Calum - the Perth/Tayside/NE Fife area is just incredible for berries!

McKevvy :

I worked on a couple of berry farms in the holidays. Leslies out the back of Scone (I understand he's in the clink for fraud?) and one out the A92, I forget the name... Tofthill maybe?

I just can't get berries like they were back then... polytunnels have made them all taste bland and naff. I yearn for a good outdoor strawberry grown actually in the ground.

 

[Mckevvy]

Welcome to the forum.. :thumb:

If you've been making wines for the last 20 years, what about some recipes??? :pray:
I'd like the strawberry one, just getting back into wines, been brewing beer for years so thought I take a punt at wines for the memsahib and myself. Just got 25 liters of rhubarb going last week.

5 gallons of rhubarb? Woooo...that'll suck your cheeks in for sure!

Ok, here's the strawberry recipe for one gallon. It's straight out of the Boots book but I've added more sugar and although Boots say to ferment it to medium I prefer all my wines dry.

You'll need;

1.35 Kgs fresh strawbs
1 bottle or tin (250 gms) of red conc. grape juice.
900 gms (2lb) sugar
3.4 litres (6 pints) of water
2.5 ml (1/2 tsp) citric acid
2.5 ml (1/2 tsp) tannin
Pectic enzyme
Campden tablets
Nutrient
Bordeaux yeast

Hull, wash and crush the strawbs. Drop them at once into a fermenting bin containing the water, acid, pectic enzyme and one crushed campden tablet. (stir it all up). Cover and leave for 24 hours.
Stir in the conc grape juice [1], tannin, activated yeast and nutrient. Cover and ferment on the pulp for three days keeping the fruit submerged.
Strain out, press dry and discard the pulp and stir in the sugar. Pour the must into a jar, top up, fit an airlock and ferment out to dryness.
Move the jar to a cold place for 2 days then rack the wine into a clean jar. Top up, add 1 crushed campden tablet, bung tight, label and store until the wine is bright.
Rack again and store for 6 months before sweetening with 2 saccharin tablets per bottle and serving cold as a rose wine.

[1] I only use half the amount of conc grape juice nowadays due to the sharp rise in price over the recent years.

I prefer all my wines dry and omit the saccharine.

Enjoy! :drink:

McKevvy

 

[Mckevvy]

I absolutely agree Calum - the Perth/Tayside/NE Fife area is just incredible for berries!

McKevvy :

I worked on a couple of berry farms in the holidays. Leslies out the back of Scone (I understand he's in the clink for fraud?) and one out the A92, I forget the name... Tofthill maybe?

I just can't get berries like they were back then... polytunnels have made them all taste bland and naff. I yearn for a good outdoor strawberry grown actually in the ground.

I'm not familiar with Leslies but I am familiar with Tofthill on the A90. It's owned by Stewarts of Speyside. I'm an HGV1 driver and will very soon be carrying TONNES of berries from there.
I've never tastes polytunnel berries but I see the rows and rows of tunnels along the A90. I've always picked my strawbs where the've been out in the open.

 

[calumscott]

I worked on a couple of berry farms in the holidays. Leslies out the back of Scone (I understand he's in the clink for fraud?) and one out the A92, I forget the name... Tofthill maybe?

I just can't get berries like they were back then... polytunnels have made them all taste bland and naff. I yearn for a good outdoor strawberry grown actually in the ground.

I'm not familiar with Leslies but I am familiar with Tofthill on the A90. It's owned by Stewarts of Speyside. I'm an HGV1 driver and will very soon be carrying TONNES of berries from there.
I've never tastes polytunnel berries but I see the rows and rows of tunnels along the A90. I've always picked my strawbs where the've been out in the open.

A90 - that's the one I used to cycle there from Perth! Not sure how I lived to tell the tale...

We've got CAMRA... Now we need CAMPS - Campaign for Proper Strawberries!!!

Oooh, and a nice wheat beer to wash 'em down... : :drink:

 

[Mckevvy]

I worked on a couple of berry farms in the holidays. Leslies out the back of Scone (I understand he's in the clink for fraud?) and one out the A92, I forget the name... Tofthill maybe?

I just can't get berries like they were back then... polytunnels have made them all taste bland and naff. I yearn for a good outdoor strawberry grown actually in the ground.

I'm not familiar with Leslies but I am familiar with Tofthill on the A90. It's owned by Stewarts of Speyside. I'm an HGV1 driver and will very soon be carrying TONNES of berries from there.
I've never tastes polytunnel berries but I see the rows and rows of tunnels along the A90. I've always picked my strawbs where the've been out in the open.

A90 - that's the one I used to cycle there from Perth! Not sure how I lived to tell the tale...

We've got CAMRA... Now we need CAMPS - Campaign for Proper Strawberries!!!

Oooh, and a nice wheat beer to wash 'em down... : :drink:

You'd be a brave man to cycle that road now given the high volume of traffic on it - or either off your nut.

A couple of years ago we had really high winds - all the trucks in scotland stopped it was so bad. All those poly tunnels were wrecked too.

McKevvy