Recent content by Draedan

It wouldn't be a fair fight..... Many thanks for the idea of decanting pure alcohol, but I sadly must decline due to the fact ye olde monks would not have had that technological advantage themselves of refridgeration to make a sanitised beverage nor would the ancient liver cope with the miracle...

Reply to Tom Hi Tom OK, so I started with about 10 wine kits (small scale everytime) over of a period of a year, white wine, red wine, black cherry, elderflower etc. - following the instructions on the tin and using a heater mat throughout - these were OK, some had ended up too sweet (stuck...

Good afternoon all I am normally keen on collecting fresh fruit (wild if possible) for most of my fruit recipes but have a problem positively identifying a Sloe bush (Blackthorn). My worry is - and if you search the internet sites for it- the Deadly Nightshade aka - Belladonna, is...

Hi Leanne Glad you tried this one as it is one of my next trials to sample, just a quickie though - I know you said not to add the stalks, but if the thyme is flowering do you use the flowers aswell or just the leaves??? I imagine it uses a lot of thyme to make 1 pint up..... With...

Could you take 50mls of fermenting must at 1 week into fermentation to add as the starter yeast to the next must you are going to ferment, assuming you have a constant line of batches to ferment? Would be "better" than activating fresh yeast every time in a starter bottle one would assume....

Good point - I didn't look at it that way, I figured cereal wines should be the same as fruit wines - my mistake!

Hi Tom Seems you have answered many of my stupid questions tonight but I have a few biochemist friends 1 of whom specialised in yeast cultures, optimum temperatures as their major - he thinks with the yeasts he worked with none would survive over 60 Celcius even if only exposed to 1 minute of...

Many thanks I will get cracking on the possibilities of mushroom wine now......

Wheat wine (latest attempt):- 500g Wheat ; soaked for 1 day in 1 litre cold water, drained and added to bin. 1 litre hot water to sterilise wheat and dissolve 1kg sugar ; bottled water to bring upto 5 litres - allowed to cool to room temp. and sealed (next day) 5g Citric acid ; 5g nutrient...

Try this strain out:- Gervin GV4 High Alcohol White/purple label£1.05 (S. Cerevisiae French strain) Experiment have shown that with suitable additions of an appropriate nutrient to the must levels of alcohol in excess of 21% can be achieved using this yeast. It ferments fast, produces...

Good morrow colonial companions:sm I have a question regarding the "kill" temperature for wild yeasts, my recipes do not rely on using metabisulphates to kill the unwanted bacteria and yeast but I add hot water directly to the must at the start, allow to cool before using the yeast. So I...

Any takers for my unique sarcasm and misunderstood humour on this valient quest to find a valid 20% mead RECIPE - so we may yet fire those crossbow bolts from the walls of Chester with accuracy! (An English jest which only those North of the border would understand these days)....

Be it a pectin haze (highly unlikely) or a starch haze I cannot clear the finished "wine" to a respectable level, tried pectolase and amylase at differing amounts at alternate intervals of addition but this recipe troubles me. :slp Many thanks to my advisors across the pond!

Anyone out there know of a genuine recipe for bovine blood wine, please don't think because Im a Brit I've gone all native on the local mead or anything. We the peat-bog brewers are trying to settle a long standing discussion !!! Many thanks