My First Beetroot Wine

[FatDad]

I made my first Beetroot wine today. When I heard of this I really fancied trying it. So here’s what I did.

Lovely Fresh British Beetroot​

Recipe

Ingredients

2 Kg Beetroot
5 Litres of Spring/Mineral Water
1.5 Kg sugar
1 tsp citric acid
1 tsp pectolase
Wine yeast
Yeast Nutrient- 1.5 tsp
Tannin- 1 cup of STRONG black tea (three bags)

1) Peel and slice beetroots (wearing some latex gloves here made clean up a lot easier)

Beetroot in the pan.​

2) Place into a pan and add 2.5 litres of the water and bring to boil.

Beetroot with water added.​

3) Boil until the beetroot is cooked - tender but not mushy

Boiled Beetroot fresh off the heat.​

4) Allow to cool

5) While beetroot and it's water is cooling in the pan, add three teabags into a mug and add boiling water to make a strong cup of tea. Set to one side to cool (leave the bags in the mug as it cools).

Three Bags, One Cup (good name for a video)​

6) When the beetroot is cooled add the liquid from the pan into a demijohn using a sieve and funnel (you do not add the beetroot to the demijohn, just the juice)

7) In a sanitised jam jar quarter filled with tepid water add the yeast, yeast nutrient and 2 teaspoons of sugar. Put the lid on the jar and shake it to mix the yeast. Leave to one side for 15 minutes in a warm spot.

8) Add the sugar to the demi john and shake really well until the sugar is completely dissolved into the beetroot juice.

9) Add the cold tea, citric acid and pectolase to the demijohn and fill with water to the three quarter mark. I’ve heard this stuff really can bubble up so I will top up the water once I am confident any bubbling up has ceased.

10) Check Original Gravity. (When checked mine it was off the scale so I'm calling it 1120 - potential final alcohol content of 14.5 - 15%+ - although all the water is not yet in of course)

11) Add the yeast solution from the jam jar into the demijohn.

12) Once all the ingredients are in the demijohn give it a final quick shake then add a bung and an airlock.

:) All done! :)​

That’s it.

I’m expecting to rack it a few times once the bubbles stop in the airlock to clear the wine before bottling.

I have heard that too much light can make this wine turn a nasty brown colour so I am going to be fermenting it inside a cupboard ( or you could wrap the demijohn in cardboard to keep out the light). I plan to bottle wine in green wine bottles once it is done clearing just in case.

As a side note: I am pretty sure I could have used the left over beetroot for pickling if I had some spare jars and vinegar. I’m going to look into this for next time. Shame to waste the lovely beetroot if it still has some goodness in it.

 

[goodolpete]

Hi.
Sounds good. One thing I do with veg wines
is take precautions against starch causing a
haze by either adding amylase or fermenting
a week with only half the sugar, then adding
the rest dissolved in a pint of water.

 

[FatDad]

Hi.
Sounds good. One thing I do with veg wines
is take precautions against starch causing a
haze by either adding amylase or fermenting
a week with only half the sugar, then adding
the rest dissolved in a pint of water.

Thanks for that, I'll see how this one clears.

Almost 12 hours on and not a bubble in the airlock yet. After making fruit punches maybe I am being a little too impatient.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Excellent post, looking forward to the review, how long are you planning to age it?

 

[FatDad]

Excellent post, looking forward to the review, how long are you planning to age it?

I plan to crack open first bottle Christmas 2016 along with first bottle of my first mead which is almost ready to rack for first time now. That's the plan anyway, as long as temptation is not too great before then.

 

[FatDad]

Beetroot wine now bottled and sealed. Came out at 10.5% but I suspect it may be a little bit more. Quite sweet already so should age pretty nicely. Clear as a bell and a nice colour too.

For anyone worried about starch haze, this was as as bright and as clear as a bell with no need to clearing of any kind.

 

[NCFCcrazy]

Looks great, I am interested in your label, how did you make it?? I have tried buying the self adhesive A4 paper but the ink runs due to condensation build up on the bottles (stored in the garage).

 

[FatDad]

Looks great, I am interested in your label, how did you make it?? I have tried buying the self adhesive A4 paper but the ink runs due to condensation build up on the bottles (stored in the garage).

Using an inkjet printer will usually result in the labels running as you mentioned. Using a gloss paper in a laser printer prevents the paper absorbing as much moisture and the toner in a laser printer is less likely to run (but sadly it can still do so).

 

[NCFCcrazy]

Thanks, it's only an ink jet I have, trying with matt paper which seems to work better, but nowhere near as good as yours.

 

[FatDad]

It's worth noting the labels are really for show only, they won't last as well as real wine labels and if they get wet soaked they may well be useless.

 

[Gorty]

Beetroot wine now bottled and sealed. Came out at 10.5% but I suspect it may be a little bit more. Quite sweet already so should age pretty nicely. Clear as a bell and a nice colour too.

Hi FatDad, Good to see you have bottled your beetroot wine in dark bottles, keep them in a dark place as the colour can fade and it becomes an unappertising dirty brown if it's kept in the light. CJJ Berry says that the high level of oxalic acid can cause kidney stones in some susceptible cases so don't drink too much of it!
I know drinking beetroot juice can result in pink water in the loo ...... let us know.

 

[FatDad]

Hi FatDad, Good to see you have bottled your beetroot wine in dark bottles, keep them in a dark place as the colour can fade and it becomes an unappertising dirty brown if it's kept in the light. CJJ Berry says that the high level of oxalic acid can cause kidney stones in some susceptible cases so don't drink too much of it!
I know drinking beetroot juice can result in pink water in the loo ...... let us know.

I have placed the beetroot wine into boxes but funnily enough I did notice that the two bottles I placed on my wine rack already seem to be losing their deep red colour slightly even though they sat quite happily in a clear demi john for several months, although 80% of that time was inside a dark cupboard.

As for the colouring effects of beetroot on urine I named the wine 'Old Bladder Stainer' so I'm covered if it happens :)

PS I see you are making Banana wine - this is a wine I really fancy trying. Do you have a good recipe?

 

[Gorty]

As for the colouring effects of beetroot on urine I named the wine 'Old Bladder Stainer' so I'm covered if it happens :)

PS I see you are making Banana wine - this is a wine I really fancy trying. Do you have a good recipe?

This is a CJJ Berry recipe :

2 kilos bananas - peeled
1/4 kilo banana skins
100 ml grape concentrate
1 lemon
1 orange
1.5 kilos sugar
4.5 litres water
yeast and nutrient
Amylozyme


"Use black or spotted bananas, whatever you can scrounge. Place bananas and fruit peel into a cloth bag and put the bag, tied up, into a large saucepan or boiler with the water. Bring to the boil, then gently simmer for half an hour. Pour the hot liquor over the sugar and fruit juice, and when the cloth bag has cooled squeeze it with the hands to extract as much liquor as possible. When all the liquor is lukewarm 21 degrees C add the amylozyme and, 24 hours later, the yeast. Cover closely. Leave it in a warm place for a week, stirring daily, then pour into a glass jar and move to a cooler place; it will be a thick-looking mess, like a lot of soapsuds. Keep the jar closed with a piece of cellophane and a rubber band, or stopper it with cotton wool (so that it can easily be cleaned in case of foaming over), and in a couple of months it will have a large sediment at the bottom. Siphon off, then add the grape concentrate. Fit an airlock and siphon of again after four months; by then it will have started to clear. Leave a further six months before sampling. It improves the longer you keep it."

I started mine 11/3/15 it's stopped fermenting at about 1.0000 a little sweeter than I usually like it but if I remember back to when my Mum made it it was a good desert wine. It's now a beautiful golden colour and waiting to be racked again before the 'Big Sleep' waiting for the maturing time, I know Mum left hers for years and it was always like nectar!

 

[FatDad]

This is a CJJ Berry recipe :

2 kilos bananas - peeled
1/4 kilo banana skins
100 ml grape concentrate
1 lemon
1 orange
1.5 kilos sugar
4.5 litres water
yeast and nutrient
Amylozyme


"Use black or spotted bananas, whatever you can scrounge. Place bananas and fruit peel into a cloth bag and put the bag, tied up, into a large saucepan or boiler with the water. Bring to the boil, then gently simmer for half an hour. Pour the hot liquor over the sugar and fruit juice, and when the cloth bag has cooled squeeze it with the hands to extract as much liquor as possible. When all the liquor is lukewarm 21 degrees C add the amylozyme and, 24 hours later, the yeast. Cover closely. Leave it in a warm place for a week, stirring daily, then pour into a glass jar and move to a cooler place; it will be a thick-looking mess, like a lot of soapsuds. Keep the jar closed with a piece of cellophane and a rubber band, or stopper it with cotton wool (so that it can easily be cleaned in case of foaming over), and in a couple of months it will have a large sediment at the bottom. Siphon off, then add the grape concentrate. Fit an airlock and siphon of again after four months; by then it will have started to clear. Leave a further six months before sampling. It improves the longer you keep it."

I started mine 11/3/15 it's stopped fermenting at about 1.0000 a little sweeter than I usually like it but if I remember back to when my Mum made it it was a good desert wine. It's now a beautiful golden colour and waiting to be racked again before the 'Big Sleep' waiting for the maturing time, I know Mum left hers for years and it was always like nectar!

Thanks so much for that - much appreciated. :)

 

[cheapbrew]

I've always left the skin on for banana wine, just chop into slices and I don't use grape concentrate.


some more banana wine recipes here.
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=60055

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?p=538606#post538606

 

[NCFCcrazy]

I've always left the skin on for banana wine, just chop into slices and I don't use grape concentrate.


some more banana wine recipes here.
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=60055

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?p=538606#post538606

Does it actually taste of banana?

 

[cheapbrew]

It depends, if you boil then you lose some flavour, keep temp lower and allow enzymes to convert starch to sugars then you get a bit of banana taste, and if you like dry wine it wont taste as much as a sweeter wine, but a banana is added to lots of wine recipes to give body, so using lots of em gives a well bodied wine, but it needs maturing 6 months min, and best after a year or two or three.

 

[FatDad]

I've always left the skin on for banana wine, just chop into slices and I don't use grape concentrate.


some more banana wine recipes here.
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=60055

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?p=538606#post538606

Thanks for that. I also avoid grape concentrate where possible because I think the price is a complete rip off. I'm sure it must take as lot of grapes to make the concentrate to it still rankles.

 

[Roddy]

What does beetroot wine taste like fatdad, beetroot ?

 

[FatDad]

What does beetroot wine taste like fatdad, beetroot ?

Drinking my homemade Beetroot wine today.

I was concerned that it seemed to change colour in the bottle but once I opened it it is a very pleasing ruby rose' colour as can be seen in the image, even my wife said it was nice (reminded her of a sherry) - ideal in the summer slightly chilled or as a dessert wine I think as it is sweet. Really nice drink and I suspect it is stronger then the estimated 10.5% judging by losing the feeling in my teeth!

It doesn't really taste of beetroot at all but it does have a pleasant taste and no real alcoholic bite to it. It has a heavy feel to it and it takes a while to drink a bottle but I would certainly make it again without making any changes.

I also had some of my mead yesterday and that was a nice drink too even though it it still very young it's ready to drink now (When I bottled it in January it wasn't really ready for drinking and I wasn't sure it would work out ok).

This home wine making lark is really paying dividends now.