Another new member

[fatbloke]

Hey forum,

Got referred here by TxBrew at the Home Brew forums.

Me? Early 40's. Truck driver by trade.

Mainly brewing mead, though looking to try some other stuff as the fruit ingredients become available (spotted an absolute **** load of elderberry bushes last year that are looking like favourite targets - plus some wild apple trees, that I tried last year ).

S'bout it really.

regards

John the fatbloke.

 

[smurfe]

Welcome to the forums. Elderberry wine is great. We have a few threads here with some good Elderberry info.

 

[Caplan]

Welcome aboard John!

 

[fatbloke]

Well, as I've recently been doing "local" work (deliveries of various stuff) I've been looking at the Elderberry trees/bushes. Most of them have dropped their flower now, and I notice that the reddish/purple colour is starting to move up the stems of the fruit - which, though still green, is starting to swell nicely.

I've also found a local PYO farm, that currently has Strawb's, Raspberries, Black, Red and White Currants available. The only downside is that if I want to try them all, I'm gonna have to move to fermenting in plastic buckets/2 Gallon batches, as the nice easy to use 1 gallon glass containers (a.k.a. "Demijon's") are about 4 quid a pop (that'd be about 7.50 $US) - hence will cost me a damn fortune!

Not only is the plastic cheaper, but I don't suppose it'll do the wine any harm - as I tend to finish the making part and then age it in bulk, only bottling just before I think it's ready (ha ha!, being a "tightwad", cheap "crimbo" presents for the family).

Though making mead is quite handy, as my partner Clare, then uses the old honey jars for making Jam, Jelly, Marmalade and Lemon "curd" (yum yum!).

regards

John the fatbloke

 

[lockwood1956]

Hi John
and welcome

just a word of caution on the Elderberries, you may want to re-think using them if they are next to a really busy road, as they may have picked up some of the emissions from passing traffic.

regards
Bob