The harvest has begun (Read 350 times)

[euforia]

Southern Ontario is to Canada what Alabama is to the states. I like to keep it classy and strain my grapes with panty hose.

[swampy]

Make Wine, Preserves, Jelly?

[euforia]

About 20 bottles of wine.

Going to have to have a party next summer. Got another 15 bottles of dandelion wine fermenting. And going to attempt pumpkin whisky this fall.

[swampy]

The whiskey sounds like fun.. Wooks home brews beer and cider.

And when I was a young 'un I used to make a great brown ale.

My best though was a Barley Wine 11% with a Louisiana Strawberry infusion with honey. Took a year to age and was dry and full bodied.

Damn good beer..

[thewookster]

Yep starting my batch of homebrew next week at some point.

Going to try something different *eeeek*

[euforia]

lol. damn. We need to start a swap a bottle program. Getting mighty thirsty.

[thewookster]

I have purchased a crate of apples and a crate of pears. Going to do the pulping tomorrow morning to get it done and dusted.

Then send off the pulp to feed the pigs down the road as they enjoyed last years batch of pulp

[terrorj]

Why you all spend sow much time on making your own drink?
When i go to the shop then for 1 euro i got 1litre of beer.

[thewookster]

It's interesting really.

Plus you can get it tasting just right to your own preference. Last year I made a batch of pear cider and it was proper lush.

I didn't carbonate it, I just poured into a pint glass and topped it up with ice and I drank that all over xmas.

I am going to carbonate the pear cider this time as the missus likes pear cider but she likes it sweet and fizzy so going to do that this time.

But the apple stays still because that's how I like it

[euforia]

1 euro for 1 litre?! Drinking is expensive in Canada. Makes me miss the states. Cheap 6pack is almost 15$.

I got everything I needed for making wine for 40$ and it makes great gifts. Plus my house has a grape vine.

Maybe next year I'll have to try pear cider, I do have a pear tree.

[thewookster]

Toffee Apple Pear Cider. Mate forwarded me this recipe from a homebrew forum to try. I'm going to try it but instead of using Apple Juice and Tinned pears. I'm going to pulp apples and pears.

Give me a few weeks and I will post some result. Details below.

Recipe Type: Extract
Yeast: Montrachet
Yeast Starter: No
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter: No
Batch Size (Gallons): 1
Original Gravity: 1.060
Final Gravity: 1.010
Boiling Time (Minutes): 5
Color: Caramel
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 14 days @ room temp
Tasting Notes: Slightly sweet, rich apple/pear taste with Caramel/Biscuit/Toffee aftertaste

This is a cider based on the Brother's Toffee Apple that I've grown to love so much.
It's especially suited to the autumn, particularly during halloween or round a bonfire, but goes well in the summer too.
You can also heat it gently on the hob to warm the cockles after a hard day in the winter. Add a little lemon, orange and ginger, and you've got a great cold cure.
It's easy and inexpensive to make, so give it a go!

4L 100% Organic Apple Juice
500g Honey
1 pack yeast of your choice. Popular choices are Montrachet, Champagne, Safale S-04 and Nottingham.
1 14oz tin Pear Halves
1tsp Yeast Nutrient
1 Vanilla Pod or Vanilla Extract

Approx 1.060 OG
Approx 1.010 FG

First, collect empty bottles, preferably green pints - enough for the entire batch.

Heat the honey in a relatively large saucepan, just on the edge of boiling (but not boiling) until it's dark in colour, and the smell resembles candy floss/marshmallows - around 20 mins.

Don't be afraid here - it won't burn the pan and stays very liquid, but it will froth up quite a lot.

Blend the pears using a food processer. If the pears come in flavored water or syrup, just chuck it all in, providing there's no preservatives. If they come in plain water, drain them first.

When Honey is successfully "burnt," take off the heat and allow to cool. Add 1 carton of Apple Juice and the pears, and stir thoroughly until all honey is dissolved and mixture is consistent. Blending in the Apple Juice and Pears while the honey is still hot will result in a cloudy "Scrumpy" type cider that will never settle. The choice is yours!

Add this mixture to a sterilized demi-john, top up with water or apple juice if need be, check gravity, and when cool enough add yeast and nutrient, and seal with airlock.

Add corn sugar/glucose or honey if you want it stronger. Allow to ferment completely.

When fermentation is complete, check FG. The honey is likely to have created some non-fermentables - mine finished just below 1.010.

Rack into an identical secondary vessel passing through a muslin bag. The ingredients create a lot of gunk, so doing this increases your yield.

Wrap Vanilla in a small muslin bag, and suspend in the cider using fishing line. Check taste every few days until you're happy - the cider should be close to settled by the time it has taken the taste. Alternatively, skip this stage and add vanilla extract when priming.

When taste is to your liking and cider has settled, bottle into pint bottles, adding 1/2tsp priming sugar per bottle.

Bottle condition for 3 weeks before drinking. Store in the fridge and drink cool without ice.

[jorinde]

That sounds so delicious. I'm coming over when it's done!

[gauntletman]

Aug 28, 2012 15:25:57 GMT -6 terrorj said:

Why you all spend sow much time on making your own drink?
When i go to the shop then for 1 euro i got 1litre of beer.

First reason is it's fun!
Second reason is you can't find anything at the shop. My dad and grandpa make their own brandy, usually of mirabelle plum or pear. It's not that expensive, even after taxes, and it tastes really good, way better than what you find in the shops (it wouldn't be the same if they made whisky though, since there are really great whiskies out there even if sometime expensive, but looks like no industrial distillery considers fruit liquor a serious business).

(your cider recipe looks nice Wooks)