Making at home: Wine, Ale and Mead

[spr1975wshs]

Hey all;

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, here's the thread on making your own fermented beverages at home.

1st up, the easiest, which is wine making.

The text is a handout I wrote for a class I used to teach.

Additives mentioned: The acid blend can be replaced by 3 T lemon juice and 1 t lemon extract (halve this for the 1/4 t addition). The grape tannin - 3 T strongly brewed hot tea. The commercial nutrient - 1 each (crushed) vitamin B-1, B-6 and Calcium-Magnesium-Zinc tablet. There is no replacement for the enzyme, which helps to clear the pectin proteins...the finished wine will be a little hazy. The gelatin is the same stuff you get at the grocery, as are the vitamin and mineral tablets.

THE 1-GALLON WINEMAKER

Written by Steven Robinson

A very basic set of instructions for the beginning home winemaker, using 11.5 oz cans of liquid or frozen juice concentrates. We're not looking at fine vintage wines as an end result, but will make nice, drinkable table wines. You have the goods if you've been making mead or beer. If not, very little equipment is actually needed.

Basic Equipment List: a 6-quart stainless or enameled pot, a plastic stirring spoon, 1 qt capacity measuring cup, set of kitchen measuring spoons, a 2 gal food grade plastic tub with snap lid drilled for a rubber stopper/airlock (primary fermenter), 2-1 gallon glass jugs (secondary fermenter) with 1 drilled rubber stopper to fit, airlock, 3" x 3/8" inside diameter clear aquarium water line, 2 cleaned/sanitized screw top plastic soda bottles with caps (2 L size work well). We will be using dried all-purpose wine yeast for all of the following. Unscented household bleach can be used as a sanitizer; be sure and rinse thoroughly.

Make sure that the juice you wish to use does not contain any preservative, such as sorbate or benzoate; the yeast won't work. Other additives, such as ascorbic or citric acid; will not adversely affect the fermentation.

Anything that contains sugars can be fermented into an alcoholic beverage. Some raw materials work better than others: grapes, apples, honey, malted barley, and the like. (The winemaker's motto: If it has sugar, it ferments!) We'll concentrate on grapes and other fruits herein.

Basic Process: Gather all equipment and ingredients per recipe. Sanitize the equipment and working area. Bring 1 qt of water to a boil, and then turn off the heat. Dissolve in the concentrate and any extra sugar source (be sure and rinse out the cans with hot water, sometimes the sugars will crystallize and settle out). Dissolve in any additives. Pour 1 qt very cold water into the primary fermenter and pour in the "juice." Top off to 1 gallon with more cold water. When the resulting fluid is no longer uncomfortably warm, pour in the yeast, which has been rehydrated for 15 miutes in warm water. Snap on the cover and set the water-filled airlock. Siphon the working wine off the debris after 1 week to the glass secondary; top off to 1-gallon with cool boiled tap water. Let the wine ferment until all activity ceases. Siphon to the second glass jug and then top off with sufficient boiled water in which 1/4 packet plain gelatin has been dissolved. Airlock and let rest 3 weeks to clear. Siphon into the two soda bottles and cap. Let age 2 to 3 months.

Basic Red or White Grape: 3 cans, 1 cup cane sugar, 1/2 teaspoon each acid blend and pectic enzyme, 1/4 teaspoon grape tannin, 1/3 teaspoon nutrient, 1 packet wine yeast, 1/4 packet plain gelatin

Basic Apple: 2 cans, 2 c cane sugar, 1/2 t ea acid and pectic, 1/4 t tannin, 1/3 t nutrient, 1 pkt wine yeast, 1/4 packet plain gelatin

Basic Cherry: 4 cans, 1/4 t acid, 1/2 t pectic, 1/3 t nutrient, 1 pkt wine yeast, 1/4 pkt plain gelatin

Basic Berry: 3 cans, 1/4 t acid, 1/2 t pectic, 1/3 t nutrient, 1 pkt wine yeast, 1/4 pkt plain gelatin

[keekee]

We do all of the above! Mead is super-easy too, although the wait is torture!

[glhs837]

Did about 4-6 2 1/2 gallon batches of homebrew in the Mr Beer kit last year, going to move up to five gallon batches this year, probably start around Jan, a few final pieces of the gear to acquire.

[spr1975wshs]

I am so looking forward to having a house again. Anita and I have been discussing building a brew room from scratch to better reflect the advances in our interests and skills.

[keekee]

Originally Posted by spr1975wshs

I am so looking forward to having a house again. Anita and I have been discussing building a brew room from scratch to better reflect the advances in our interests and skills.

What a great idea! We typically have 2-3 carboys on the kitchen counter and/or on top of the fridge. We have a storage room for bottle conditioning and supplies, but a room dedicated to brewing, maybe with a SST double sink, would be so nice! Hmmm... I might have to incorporate this into the basement refinishing project.

[glhs837]

Right now considering a small fridge and an aquarium temp controller for fermentation temp control. Not sure if that will happen in time for the fist batch.

[spr1975wshs]

I have 6 5-gallon carboys and a 3-gallon "better bottle" jug in the self-store unit. 4 with mead (melomel actually), 2 with wine and the BB has another melomel.

One of them is called Swamp Mead 48, made with 4 different honeys, 8 different fruits and 3 different yeasts over a 4 year fermentation period. It was started in April 2001.

For the audience...Mead is a fermented beverage made from honey, water, yeast and nutrients. Melomel is a mead to which fruit or fruit juice has been substituted for part of the honey, up to 40% by weight of the fermentable sugars.

Basic Dry Mead

Ingredients: 12.5# light amber honey, 5 gallons bottled spring water (chill 3 gallons in refrigerator), juice and yellow zest of 5 medium size lemons, 1 c strongly brewed black tea, (5 each) 100 mg B-1 and B-6 tablets - crushed, (5) standard Calcium-Magnesium-Zinc tablets - crushed, 1 cup unfiltered apple juice (pasteurized with no preservatives), dried all-purpose wine or Champagne yeast.

Bring 2 gallons of water to a boil and remove from the heat. Dissolve in the honey and everything but the yeast and place the stockpot into a tub of ice to cool for 30 minutes. Then warm the apple juice a little above room temperature and sprinkle in the yeast. After another 15 minutes, put 2 gallons of the chilled water into the fermenter and pour in the honey water. Add more water to the 5 gallon mark. The fluid should not be much warmer than room temperature, pour in the yeast solution. Airlock and let bubble away until activity ceases. Siphon off the yeast layer into a second jug, cap and set the airlock, let sit for 6 months, making sure the airlock does not dry out. There should be no activity and the mead will be crystal clear. Should be nicely ready to drink.

The all purpose yeast will top out at 11 - 13% ABV and leave some residual sweetness. The Champagne yeast will top out at 14 - 16% ABV with little to no sweetness.

There are methods to push the envelope, which take a lot of time, sugar/nutrient additions and close attention to hydrometer readings. I've successfully produced 23% ABV using Premier Curvée yeast from Red Star.

[keekee]

Originally Posted by glhs837

Right now considering a small fridge and an aquarium temp controller for fermentation temp control. Not sure if that will happen in time for the fist batch.

We bought a scratch & dent fridge from Lowes, cut holes and installed taps, under the taps we mounted a catcher shelf with a tube that goes into a 2 liter bottle for drips. We now have a combination kegerator/beer fridge/extra freezer. It worked nicely! Oh, and I use the word "we" loosely. I did none of the work, and at first I opposed cutting holes in the new fridge... but I have to admit it's great setup!

We do everything at room temp and haven't had a bad batch yet. (Except lagers - they ferment in the fridge.)

My honey is the brewmaster - I'm the helper.

[spr1975wshs]

My first batch was made in July 1974, I was 17. My dad liked beer and I read the ingredients on the label, also found an old book about brewing at the library.

My original fermenter was a 6 gallon pail from Dunkin Donuts that originally contained frosting. I covered it with cheesecloth tied with a string to keep the flies out like my great uncle Signore Nicola did for his wine.

2 cans of Premier Blue Ribbon malt syrup (recipe was on the back of the label), 1/2 can table sugar dissolved into 2 gallons of boiling water. I added 4 ounces of dried dandelion root, because I'd read that hops added bitterness to beer, and I had no hops nor any idea of where to get them (got the malt and sugar at the A&P). Boiled for 30 minutes. I poured it into the pail over 2 gallons worth of ice cubes, straining out the dandelion via a colander, added water to the 5 gallon mark and sprinkled in 2 packets of Fleischmann's Active Dry Baking Yeast (also from the A&P). Let it go until completion.

Bottled it in 2 cases of long neck empties my dad got from Power's Tavern using cork lined caps I got from Miner's Hardware and a capper my mom bought at a garage sale for 75 cents (which I still use).

Waited the 2 weeks the malt label said.

Dad and I agreed it was the worst beer in the world, but he encouraged me to get better information and try again. He even found out about a home brew shop a couple of towns away and drove me there.

I got hops and real brewer's yeast for my second and subsequent batches, started using light brown sugar instead of white sugar...better result while still using the malt from A&P. Even better after I learned about closed fermentation with air locks and improved sanitation.

[edinsomd]

Or just go to the base exchange and score a couple six packs of Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA.

As I will do to prep for the Navy-Army game on Saturday. Along with a metric a$$ load of lumpia, of course.

Yum. Go Navy! *belch*