Sloe Gin day!

[falafael]

Decided to go Sloe berrie picking today, found a really good hedgerow next to a field, after 2 hours, had amassed just over 12 lb.

Here's what the hedgerow looked like!





More pics to follow!

Thanks

 

[falafael]

Decided to freeze the 11 lb i picked

 

[wurge]

Good work! I am on it this weekend! Are you finding them ripe enough? What are your plans fala?

 

[Padster]

I'm about to make my first ever sloe gin - can't decide whether to use "decent" gin or cheap gin as most recipes suggest.

Any advice?

 

[calumscott]

Cheap. You really won't be able to pick up any subtle differences in the gin...

 

[graysalchemy]

I bought a bottle of Oliver Cromwell London Dry Gin from Aldi well 2 actually only £9.65 a bottle.

It actually got given a silver medal in the International Spirits Challenge beating Hendricks and Bombay Sapphire and equalled Harrods London No 1 and The Worship Street Whistling Shop Cream Gin, which costs £55.95.

But to be honest i couldn't tell the difference. :lol: :lol:

 

[Padster]

Great, thanks! Think I might draw the line at Tesco Value Gin, though!!!

 

[Brewtrog]

Morrison's "The Best" gin is supposedly a very nice gin (the vodka I can say is very nice), and is around 42%abv, it's also reasonably priced, if not a bit on the cheap side for what it is. Beats Tesco's "mother's ruin", without paying through the nose for something you're about to flavour anyway.

 

[falafael]

I always use the shops own brands, or aldi's, in the end they cost less then a £10, and as pointed out, you wont taste the difference.
Yes the sloes were ripe as well, they have been soaked for 24 hours in water to remove any ' maggot/worms and the floating ones were discarded, they were then bagged into 1lb bags!

i will be doing the sloe gin in a week or two, as soon as i have got my cider sorted!
Pictures of course!

 

[Padster]

Two bottles of Oliver Cromwell London Gin bought from Aldi for less than £20! Thanks for the tip! Defrosting the sloes as we speak.

 

[falafael]

i always chuck mine in the gin frozeen, that way i dont lose any juice!

 

[Padster]

Ohh, didn't think of that! Oh well, it's done now! Will remember that for next time.

 

[graysalchemy]

I'm defrosting mine in the jar they are going in :lol: :lol:

I will let the kids weigh out the sugar and pour in the Gin and hey when they go into school they can say they mad damson gin.

 

[hypnoticmonkey]

I'm defrosting mine in the jar they are going in :lol: :lol:

I will let the kids weigh out the sugar and pour in the Gin and hey when they go into school they can say they mad damson gin.

My first foray into homebrew was actually at school when I chopped a load of apples up, shoved them in a 2l Evian bottle with some sugar, water, and yeast, left it about 4 days and then sold it at school as 'cider', while it was still fermenting away.

:sick: :sick: :sick:

Only 2 people bought. Both of them ended up bringing it back up again shortly after trying it.

I didn't make any further sales.

I blame the school. They taught us about fermentation in biology.

 

[IceColdRum]

Anyone got any links to recipe's?

 

[Tim_Crowhurst]

This is my method for sloe gin:

Put 500g (1Lb 2oz) frozen sloes and 250g (9oz) granulated sugar in a 1.8L clip-top jar (Ikea sells these - haven't found anywhere else the does them that size, but you can scale up or down easily enough as the proportions are basically 4:2:1 of booze:fruit:sugar, and only need to be approximate). Cover with 1L (1.7 pt) gin, then fill up with sloes until the liquor is about 5mm (1/5") below the mouth of the jar. Close and label the jar, shake daily for a fortnight, then leave in a cool dark place for at least two months, but preferably at least a year. The longer you leave it to steep the more almondy flavour you'll get from the stone.

You can use the same basic recipe and 4:2:1 quantities for blackberry whiskey (don't leave the berries in more than two months; Irish whiskey works better than Scotch whisky) plum brandy (the drained plums are great for jam or a boozy pudding) spiced apple vodka (bramley's, cox's, crab or cider apples, plus whole cinnamon sticks and cloves) rhubarb & custard liqueur (vodka, rhubarb and a split vanilla pod) or rosehip liqueur (dog-rose hips and vodka).

 

[IceColdRum]

Thanks :thumb:

 

[divingdavey]

Thanks Tim_Crowhurst.... I got plenty of Sloes last weekend and mixed then up with gin per your recipe. Do you then strain and bottle the gin or just decant it from the jar when you want it?

 

[Tim_Crowhurst]

I strain and bottle the gin, then use the sloes for other yumminess.

 

[calumscott]

I strain and bottle the gin, then use the sloes for other yumminess.

Other yumminess???