Hello

[Tim_Crowhurst]

Something of a brewing newbie here. I made elderflower wine about fifteen years ago, and then didn't do anything more after that because I was at university and didn't have anywhere suitable for the DJs, so I forgot all about it.

For the last three years, my mum, aunt and I have been making jams, jellies and chutneys from fruit we collect in the hedgerows and get from my mum's garden and my allotment. The ones we make most often are apple & ginger and plum & brandy jams, bramble jelly, and plum chutney, and I also make sloe gin each year. Last autumn/winter I branched out a bit and did hawthorn blackthorn and spiced rosehip jellies, rosehip syrup, rosehip liqueur, seville orange marmalade and ginger marmalade for the first time, but even after all that still had quite a lot of sloes and a whole freezer drawer full of rosehips (my aunt was rather prolific in her rosehip collecting). I decided to use them up in wine since I also had about 8 kilos of sugar left over from making jams & jellies, and so began my new addiction.

My next wine-making project is rose-petal wine, using petals from a rose I gave to my mum for her 65th. It's a moss rose called Nuits de Young, and has an exceptionally strong and beautiful scent that I'm hoping will make for a great wine. The gorgeous deep maroon petals that should give it a really nice colour. I've had a search around online and heard quite a bit about the late-addition method, and will by trying that as I want to preserve as much of the scent and flavour as possible.

 

[chojo]

Hi tim welcome to the forum i'm new to the brewing world myself, it sure is an addictive hobby once you start. :thumb:

 

[PD]

welcome.
I'm a beer brewer but there are many wine makers on the forum to offer advice and tips. Unsure of anything just shout up.

 

[dennisking]

Hi and welcome.

 

[Tim_Crowhurst]

welcome.
I'm a beer brewer but there are many wine makers on the forum to offer advice and tips. Unsure of anything just shout up.

I suspect I'll end up brewing beer eventually. My mum loves stout, however she's gluten intolerant so she can't drink very often, so that's one thing I want to try doing. I've also heard of beer made from chestnuts (through a permaculture forum I'm on) which I'd like to have a go at making if I can find a recipe. Plus I want to try some things like replacing the hops with different herbs.

I tend not to stick with convention :mrgreen:

 

[Badger]

Welcome Mmmm elderflower wine! My friend used to have trouble carbing it up and ended up with more bottle bombs then he'd bargained for

If your rose petal wine works out I'd love a recipe?

 

[Tim_Crowhurst]

If your rose petal wine works out I'd love a recipe?

I'm still deciding on the recipe. I thought I'd found one, but it turns out it's based on a modified WOW, and for several reasons I want the wine to be a bit special so I'm back to researching options again. It's mainly because I want to give a couple of bottles to my brother and sister-in-law-to-be for their first anniversary, which will be in 17 months time. (They're getting married in October, and I'll be giving them some of the elderflower as their wedding gift, since mead is traditional for honeymoons.) Assuming mum's rose bush blooms in July that leaves 3 months for fermenting and clearing, and then 12 for maturation.

 

[oldbloke]

I've also heard of beer made from chestnuts

I'd be interested in any recipe you do find for that

 

[Tim_Crowhurst]

I've also heard of beer made from chestnuts

I'd be interested in any recipe you do find for that

Had a look around, and found this one (I'd post a link to where I found it, but the site won't let me, Grrr.)

Gluten Free Chestnut Beer

Basic Recipe

Supplies:

1. 7 gallon minimum pot
2. Large fine mesh grain bag
3. Small hop bags
4. Lallemand’s brewing yeasts – All their yeasts are certified GF
5. Fining agent
6. 6.5 and 6 gal carboys
7. Amylase and pectinase
8. 5 pounds dry roasted chestnut chips—Your choice of roast
9. 5 pounds corn sugar

Heat 5 gallons of water to about 160-170 degrees and add bag with chips to pot. Add pectinase and amylase per manufacture’s directions. Chestnuts are really a fruit and the pectinase will create a much clearer end product by dissolving suspended pectins. Add water needed to fill brewing pot. Allow to soak 12-24 hours [24 is better] to obtain maximum enzyme action. During soak, raise and lower grain bag a couple times an hour when possible to get maximum sugar extraction. At the end of the soak you should have a brix of 4-5%.

Remove the chip bag and allow to drain as much as possible back into pot. You will lose 3-4 quarts of fluid aborbed into chips. Add 5 pounds corn sugar and add water to bring volume back. The brix should be 11-12%

Bring wort to boil. Hops are up to brewer but I like Centinnials and Cascades. Add 2 ounces of hop in bag and boil for 30 minutes. Turn off heat and add 2 ounces of steeping hops for about 30 minutes or so. Chill wort as fast as possible with water coil cooler.

Transfer to 6.5 gal carboy along with yeast and airlock.

When fermentation is over, rack off into 2nd carboy along with fining agent. Airlock and allow settling to occur. Cold crashing really works well.

After clarification re-rack and add maltodextrin and heading powder. These will give the beer texture and “good mouth feel”.

You are now ready to bottle or keg. Use standard procedures for bottle carbonation.

I'm guessing you can replace the corn sugar with either sucrose or dextrose. If you try it, let me know how it turns out! N.b. it's from an American site, so those two carboys would be around 5 gallons by UK reckoning.

Incidentally, I just checked and the elderflower meddyglyn has started to clear :thumb:

 

[oldbloke]

I'll scale it down to an experimental gallon...

 

[joe1002]

Welcome to the forum :

 

[Twocson]

Welcome along :

 

[Brewbob]

Hi, I too have made a few chutneys, beetroot and piccalilli, they've turned out great, I like to spice up olives for a fraction of the price you pay in a deli, better too, I've made cheese once, just a simple paneer, but it made a good curry. I'm a dab hand at dips, guacamole, salsas, houmous. I've made some lovely, but dangerous sloe gin, and I've just got into beer making again with good results. Now I've just acquired 18 demijohns, so I'm looking into some interesting wine, mead and cider recipes. I too have a rose in the garden that flowers prolifically, if you find a good recipe let us know. If you look around the snug you'll find a lot of the guys are into sausage making too. Its a good varied forum, with some good advice.