Grapefruit Soda

01/06/2018

Grapefruit Soda is one of those classic beverages, tart, astringent and flavorful, When paired with cascade hops, this soda becomes something special. This recipe is still in the development stage. The flavors at this point are a but strong and could use some adjusting.

Makes one gallon

INGREDIENTS:

2 grapefruit, sectioned and well blended

2 tablespoons Cascade Hop pellets

Two quarts water

1/2 ounce grated ginger

1-3/4 cups of sugar

1/4 teaspoon ale yeast

Boil 2 quarts of water, sugar, ginger and hops. 

Simmer for twenty minutes, remove from heat and add the blended grapefruit. Cool mixture to 100 degrees f. I use a wort chiller to quickly bring down the temperature. Pour cooled mixture through a filter into a gallon glass container.  

Add water to one gallon, add yeast, shake well to aerate and bottle.

Place bottles in a warm area to condition and carbonate. After a day or so check carbonation, refrigerate the soda and enjoy. 

01/07/2018: It's been about 12 hours since bottling the soda and I can see healthy yeast activity. There is a creamy, foam ring around the neck of the bottle. I carefully released the swing-top lid from the bottle to check carbonation. sometimes there is a satisfying pop as the top is removed, however in this case a rush of bubbles from the bottom.

01/08/2018: the glass liter bottles have swing-top closures that allow me to easily check carbonation. Early this morning I moved the bottles to a cold back porch to slow fermentation. The bottles have sufficiently carbonated and are ready to drink.

First observation: good carbonation, not gushing, which is a relief. The color is a dirty pink, a result of the green hop pellets mixed with pink grapefruit. The flavors are bold and intriguing, the strong sharp grapefruit flavor pairs well with the citrusy bitterness of the hops. No perceptible ginger coming through, though not surprising given the intense flavors at play. I only used two very ripe juicy grapefruit, as opposed to three last time. A rich fruit flavor throughout. Some might be turned off by the color and sediment, but I don't mind as long as you pour carefully.

Beet Wine, An Unusual Treat

Back in 2015, after making many fruit wines, I decided to make something different. A vegetable wine made with beets. Vegetable wines can be delicious. I've made Parsnip and Carrot wines before with excellent results, but beets?

I planned to make beet wine well in advance. What better way to make the wine than to grow the beets in the garden. Beets are a root vegetable and are very earthy and juicy. The color is a rich, vibrant ruby red, almost electric.

I'm not particularly fond of beets. I don't dislike them, they're okay. I've eaten them in salad before, but I'm a winemaker and this wine needs to be made. I'm terrified that after all this work, I will have to drink this disgusting wine. Will it be drinkable at all?

Spring arrived and the seeds were sown in a raised bed near the back of the house. They grew surprisingly well and were harvested in the fall. The wine was made in November of 2015. Fermented and bottled in March of 2016, a relatively short period of time. Some wines take months to clear before they can be bottled. After bottling, a wine needs to rest for 6 months to well over a year. It's been a year and nine months and I decided on New Years day to open this one.

The color was indeed a beautiful ruby red. Think Dorothy's ruby slipper red. Not electric anymore, after so many months in the cellar. However, the smell was unmistakeable. Big and Beety is the best description I can give. You would never know it contained 14% alcohol because the flavor was dominated by the vegetable itself. A dense richness but now offset by subtle acidity from the acid blend and lemon juice that cut through the earthy beet. This is hearty, but oh so delicious.

I plan to have a party and share this with friends. Some will be saved for the next New Year celebration and we'll see how the wine has changed with the passing of time.

Barley Wine Bottling Day Update

December 29th, 2016

I like to make wine in small batches, especially ones that I have never made before.
You don't want to make a flavor and find out after a year of waiting, that the results are not worth drinking. Bad batches of wine do happen and that's expected, but sometimes the flavors are not strong enough or are too strong and just need a bit of tweaking to make them better. That's where blending comes into play. Especially so with this particular batch of Barley wine. Yes I've been tasting this all through the winemaking process, but this is a new recipe I am developing and the flavors are just not working.

Back in early May I made a gallon of Barley Wine for the first time. I had no idea if this would be any good or drinkable. Well it's bottling time and although I have sampled the wine throughout the process of making it, I'm now finding it rather bland. However, I am also bottling the Citrus wine at the same time, which also seems not quite up to par. The Citrus wine has a bit too much flavor. The zest from the lemons are too sharp and bitter. What it needs is something to smooth out the rough edges, which may smooth out over time if left in the bottle to condition.

I decided to sample the Barley wine with the Citrus wine together and see if a blend would work. Both wines are similar enough that they would complement each other, why not find out. After trying several combinations of each, I felt that a straight 50/50 mash-up was working. They are bottled and hopefully early next year we'll toast to something special.

Peach Wine

I love peach wine. The last batch of peach wine I made was one of my favorites. Really good peach wine must be made with the ripest, juiciest fruit. Canned peaches? Don't bother.

My neighbors have a peach tree in their yard. I have to admit that their fruit looks spectacular this year. I'd love nothing better than to raid that tree and make a batch of wine. Even the squirrels are raiding the tree. I see them daily running back to my yard with a large peach in their mouth, savoring the sweet flavor. Half eaten peaches strewn all over like forgotten nuts.

Watching the squirrels raiding the tree has given me the urge to make another batch of Peach Wine. I will have to purchase my peaches, which is okay. I've been sampling peaches from my local grocer to test the quality. I'll do my best to find some really good fruit and hope for the best. In the end, that's all I can do. My plan is to buy enough fruit to make 3-gallons. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Thanksgiving Carrot Wine Recipe

Thanksgiving Carrot Wine 2015

November 26th, 2015

5-lbs. Carrots

1-Lemon

1-Orange

3-tsp. Acid Blend

1-Gallon Water

1-tsp. Yeast Nutrient

1/4 tsp. tannin

1-Campden Tablet

1/2 tsp. Pectic Enzyme

1 package Wine Yeast

Simmer carrots till tender and remove for another use (like making carrot casserole). To the water add sugar and disolve. Add liquid to primary fermenter and cool. When cooled, add the juices, acid blend, yeast nutrient, tannin and campden tablet. Top up to one gallon. 12 hours after the campden tablet add pectic enzyme. Twenty four hours after the Pectic enzyme add the yeast and begin fermentation.

The color of the must is like orange juice, a light orange color. It reminds me of the morning sun at breakfast time. This wine was a spur of the moment experiment. I didn't plan to make this. I looked at the water as the carrots were simmering in it and realized that this is exactly how I would make carrot wine. So why not add sugar, some lemon and orange juice and see what happens?

How often do you get the chance to boil five pounds of carrots? We just happened to be making our carrot casserole for thanksgiving dinner and the amounts were just right.

Rack after one week, four weeks, three months, then stabilize and bottle. Keep for at least six months before sampling. Flavor will improve in the bottle for at least a year. 

Carrot Wine, first tasting.

Last Thanksgiving I quickly made a carrot wine from the leftover water used to boil carrots for our Carrot Casserole. Vegetable wines are a mystery to me and I wanted to try making something different. I realized that wine could be made from this liquid having made parsnip wine in the same manner and thank goodness I did.

Last night I opened a bottle of my carrot wine and had a sample or two or three. It was delicious! I guess I don't have a good taste memory, because at the time of bottling, I'm sure I sampled some. It's a white wine, light, lemon color and very clear. The taste is similar to a Chardonnay, not at all like carrots, with good structure too. A bit on the sweet side, but not overly so.

I usually don't equate country wines with grape wines like Chardonnay. They are totally different beasts. Wine grapes contain all the necessary ingredients needed to make wine. The perfect package, each grape contains juice, acid, yeast and sugar. Carrots do contain sugar, but lack the other necessary components.

I'm going to make this one again and urge you to do so if you have the chance. I only made a gallon, (5 bottles) and I am sure to share some with friends. Carrots are sweet and savory and I think this wine has a good bit of both. Cheers.

I'll be sure to post the recipe so you can make some too.

Amylase

Having made wine for at least the last 12 years, I was surprised when I needed to purchase a new ingredient. My latest wine, a barley wine, called for the use of Amylase. I didn't know what it did exactly and had to look it up.

Amylase is used in the making of bread, cattle feed and laundry detergent. It's primary function is to break down starches into short chain sugars. There are different kinds of Amylase and they come from a variety of sources. One such variety, Alpha Amylase found in human saliva, called Ptyalin, is comprised of 511 amino acids and is secreted by the salivary glands during eating.

Another type of amylase, Beta Amylase is found in plants, mold, yeasts and bacteria. Beta Amylase is a primary component of Diastase which convert the starches of grains into sugars. Home brewers rely on this type of conversion in the mashing process to aid in sugar extraction.

Ancient cultures have used saliva to create fermented beverages for hundreds of years. In the Peruvian rain forest, locals make Mosato by chewing the root of the Yuca, fermenting the masticated juice into a refreshing alcoholic drink. Another drink called Chicha, is made by chewing corn.

So the use of Amylase in brewing goes back to ancient times. The discovery that saliva converts starches to sugars is a ingenious low-tech solution to making home made beverages from grains. Those same principles are used today in everyday products. Sure we could use saliva, but now we have other, more palatable ways of achieving the same results.