My Grandfathers Recipe notebook

[RITiger1060]

Great find. I'm interested in see more keep them coming. Thanks.

 

[Paultakespics]

Maize Wine

1 pint crushed Maize
2 lb chopped raisins
2 1/4 lb sugar
1 gallon water
rind and juice of 2 large lemons
nutrient
Tokay Yeast

put the crushed maize in a mashing vessel together with the chopped raisins, lemon rinds and sugar. pour on the boiling water and stir thoroughly. when cool add the lemon juice, nutrient and yeast. ferment and serve as a sweetish wine.


Sultana Wine

5 Lb chopped sultanas
5 very ripe bananas
2 lb sugar
1 gallon water
rind and juice of 1 large grapefruit
campden tablet
pectozyme
nutrient
sherry yeast

pour boiling water onto the chopped sultanas, mashed bananas and grapefruit rind. when cool add the campden tablet and pectozyme together with the grapefruit juice, nutrient and yeast. ferment on the pulp for 4 days pressing down the cap each day. then strain and press dry. stir in the sugar and continue the fermentation as long as possible. remember to use a plug of cotton wool instead of an airlock and to keep the jars not quite full. this wine will need several rackings and should be matured for at least one year.

 

[Brewtrog]

This is the perfect find. Look forward to trying some of these. The brandy wine especially, seeing as I was planning on trying something with spuds. Thanks. Even though the onion one is supposed to be awful, do you mind chucking it up, I wouldn't mind doing it to say I have. Cheers. :

 

[Paultakespics]

will type em all up either tonight or over next day or two, depending on how it goes...

heres the next instalment.

Beetroot Wine

5 lb beetroot
6oz raisins
10 cloves
3 1/4 lb sugar
1/2 oz crushed ginger
1 gallon of water
1/2 oz citric acid
campden tablet
pectozyme
nutrient
madeira yeast

scrub the beetroot to get rid of any trace of earth. mince, grate or dice the beetroot, add the cloves and ginger and the boil in the water until the beetroot is just tender. stir in 2lb sugar and the chopped raisins. when cool add the acid, nutrient and yeast and pectozyme. ferment for 5 days and strain then add another 1/2lb sugar and continue fermentation by adding 4oz doses as S.G falls below 1.010 and leave for 3 years to mature.


Apple Wine

10-14lb different varietys of windfall apples, sweet and sour
1 1/2 - 2 1/2 lb of sugar togive S.G of 1.080
4 oz raisins or sultanas
7 pints of water
nutrient
pectozyme
campden tablet
yeast (as you like)

wash the apples and remove any bad portions. put the water into your mashing vessel, together with a crushed campden tablet and a teaspoon of pectozyme. crush the apples a few at a time by putting in a plastic bag and hitting them with a mallet or rolling pin. as they are crushed, add them to the water and they will not go brown. cover and soak for 3 days,strain and press dry the fruit cake. check the S.G and add the chopped raisins and sugar as required depending on sweetness of the apples. ferment as you normally would for choice of yeast.

 

[Paultakespics]

Small Beer

few doz nettle tops
1 or 2 oz dandelion leaves
1oz root ginger
1 lb demerara sugar
1/2 oz bakers yeast


bruise the ginger, tie in a muslin bag and put in 1 gallon cold water. add the herbs, bring to the boil and boil for 30 min, while hot strain on to the sugar and stir well. when cool, add the yeast floating on a piece of toast. leave to stand overnight. bottle next day in corked bottles. drink in 4 or 5 days.

 

[Jonny69]

Wow, this is a goldmine, thanks for posting it up! I'm also loving the brandy wine - if it wasn't for the sugar, it's almost a wartime recipe!

The sultana wine recipe looks interesting. I've made a parsnip wine with an over-ripe banana in the ingredients to add a sort of Sauternes (dessert wine) flavour. In practice I found the banana was teeming with its own yeast and it kicked off by itself, so I never added any extra yeast. The finished wine is maybe about 12%, complex and sweet, and I love it. 5 bananas is a lot though, I'd like to try that out and find out what it does.

 

[BIGJIM72]

I made up a sultana wine as one of my first attempts at wine making. After a year in the bottle tasted somewhere along the lines of a white port or madeira.

 

[LeithR]

One comment on Rhubarb Wine which I have made a few times. If, at the end of fermentation you decide t use a clearing agent, the effect is quite startling in that it takes all the colour out of the wine, it looks just like water. A drop or 2 of cochineal will give it back some colour.

Its a pity this happens as Rhubarb wine has a nice Rose hue to it.

 

[Moley]

One comment on Rhubarb Wine which I have made a few times. If, at the end of fermentation you decide to use a clearing agent, the effect is quite startling in that it takes all the colour out of the wine, it looks just like water.

I don't think that's anything to do with the use of finings, but rack it carefully with no splashing (to prevent oxidation) and don't use a Campden tablet.

CTs do have a slight bleaching effect and will certainly strip the delicate pink out of a rhubarb wine.

Good tip on the cochineal :thumb:
Even Wurzel has admitted to restoring colour in red wines prior to entering them in competitions :whistle:

 

[screamlead]

CT's took out all the colour from my fresh pressed pomegranete juice too.