Guest guest Posted September 4, 2000 Report Share Posted September 4, 2000 For sterilization I like bleach and boiling. I have a commercial dish washer in our house that I put my utensils etc through which is hot enough to count for boiling:) But boiling the utensils, bottles, etc., is really a must. First clean everything you will use with bleach water. Then rinse very very well, and then boil. Besides obvious health reasons, sterilizing is so important, because the littlest thing can really mess up the flavor. And having spent two years on a wine, and pull it out of the bottle to realize it tastes like rotten fruit is really disappointing. Here is my favorite recipe for fruit honey wine. 3 pound of honey. Natural, high quality is important. The fresher the better. If it still has wax, the wax will boil to the top and you can use it for something else. 1 gallon cold water to start. Don't use distilled water! You need all the minerals, etc in the water to get the wine to work. Overly chlorinated water won't work though. Lemon or orange rind. A little scrapping of this, lemon for dry wines, orange for sweet. (dry wine sits longer than sweet) Fruit and spices. this is the flavor part, and is optional. I like to add a bit of cinnamon and allspice to my plain wines. About an ounce to an ounce and a half of yeast. The kind of yeast has a bearing on flavor. You can buy wine yeasts, or you can use the cheap bread yeasts. A more folksy flavor is found in the bread yeasts, and the ferment quicker, but are less controlled. An elegant flavor comes from the wine yeasts, and they have a more controlled fermenting. Boil everything but yeast in a big pot (enamel is best, but no metal) for about thirty minutes. Scrape off any wax at the top. If you have a lot of wax, boil just honey and water first to get rid of the wax, then add the rest. When the fruit is white, and the honey completely dissolved, set aside to let cool. When it is pleasantly warm to the touch, not hot, not cold, dissolve the yeast in about half a cup of warm water. This makes the yeast mix in better in most cases. Then add the yeast to the mixture. Stir it up good. Cover with a towel, and forget about it for a couple weeks. After a month or so has passed it is ready to pour off. DON'T STIR. The gunk is on the bottom, the flavor and alcohol on the top. Pour off the top and leave the sediment in the bottom. Pour into another large container. Cover with a new towel and forget for another couple weeks. By now it should be okay to bottle. Pour off the top, leave the gunk into clean sterilized bottles. Cork loosely, just in case. After another couple weeks push the corks down. Three more months and they are ready for a racking. Pour off the top, leave the sediment, new clean bottles, cork tightly. Forget for as long as you can (six months). Rack one more time if they need it. Forget for another three months if you can stand it:). Then you have wonderful wine:) Dew Drop Blessings,Soseneda Si hoc legere scis ninium eruditionis habes.ICQ# 47264444MSN Messenger: SosenedaAIM: SosenedaA"Knowledge is power. Unless you forget where you put the adapter." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 5, 2000 Report Share Posted September 5, 2000 Sose, thanks for all the great info! it is much appreciated. we are all here to learn about how to use the goodies we are looking to buy ) and then when we learn new crafts together we can get the supplies in bilk and cheaper *LOL* we will have to do a craft swap one day, maybe for the holidays! example, we'll do buddies list and i'll send my buddy some incense or something and they can send me soap they make or the like, etc...... *smile* chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 5, 2000 Report Share Posted September 5, 2000 hey, i usually make my yule cards every year - and this year i will be selling some / or exchanging from my last print run. is this an ok forum to share such cards? anyone interested - i can send a visual. i hope to have time for soap this year (just so you know, my apartment is being renovated - its a bit of a mess at the moment)! andréa > ---------- > Ziggy > Reply the_oil_co-op > Monday, September 4, 2000 6:42 PM > the_oil_co-op > [the_oil_co-op] Re: Honey Wine > > > Sose, > thanks for all the great info! it is much appreciated. we are all > here to learn about how to use the goodies we are looking to buy ) > and then when we learn new crafts together we can get the supplies in > bilk and cheaper *LOL* > we will have to do a craft swap one day, maybe for the holidays! > example, we'll do buddies list and i'll send my buddy some incense or > something and they can send me soap they make or the like, etc...... > *smile* > chris > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.