Candy Cane wine Recipe

[twistedvine]

Went to Walmart today and they had 0 candy canes, same issue at the dollar store. Went to the local Goodwill resale store and bought every candy cane they had. Ended up with 240 candy canes for under $2.00.

 

[djrockinsteve]

Update on my candy cane experiments.

I rack after one week of clearing. There is still a bit left in the wine but it is very minute. The version made with candy canes is very good. Before I had a chance to explain to my wife what I wanted her to taste for she drank the entire first sample.

It taste like a dry white wine with an after taste of candy cane. It would be even better when sweetened but would have to be sweetened with candy canes to enhance the peppermint a bit more.

Version two (no c.c. but extract) very good peppermint taste up front with a white grape after taste. This would also be great when sweetened.

I'll let these two finish clearing, back sweeten and sample after bottled awhile. Then I can hopefully work on a big batch.

 

[UglyBhamGuy]

Dave, in addition to the banana soup I did use 11 cans of Welches white grap concentrate. I might have used more but I cleaned Walmart out of everything they had.

11 cans of white grape frozen concentrate AND banana soup?
You said you bought 30 boxes of candy canes, 276/12=23... are you saving the other 7 for a f-pack?

i got 20 boxes of the blueberry.
My wife did drink a glass of the peppermint, and that's a good sign.

 

[Runningwolf]

Yes I am saving the rest for a f-pac

 

[reefman]

Can someone explain the "Banana Soup", as I'm a newbie, and I searched for banana Soup, but found nothing. I think Julie said it's to make the wine thicker?
I'm an Engineer, and need more instructions...

Thanks,
Doug

 

[Runningwolf]

I'm an Engineer, and need more instructions...

Thanks,
Doug

I simply took 8#'s of banana's and cut off the tips. I then sliced up the banana's with skins on into quarters. I then proceeded to simmer the banana's for about an hour on the stove until all I had was a mushy soup. Being an engineer it is important to know to stir counter clockwise for the 2/3's of the time and then clockwise the other 1/3. Remove soup from stove and put through a strainer into a bowl and allow to cool before using.

 

[reefman]

Dan,
Did you use a calibrated spoon?

Stupid question, ...did you add water to the bananas, before simmering?

 

[Runningwolf]

...good question! I added several cups of water to get the simmering going. I ended up with just a bit more than a cup of soup in the bowl after straining.

 

[Tom]

Did you COUNT the stirs you did for the clockwise so you knew how many to do counter clockwise?

 

[Runningwolf]

Did you COUNT the stirs you did for the clockwise so you knew how many to do counter clockwise?

...easy there Tom. I did not want to insult reefman by spoon feeding him through this. I'm sure he's a clock watcher.

 

[reefman]

Actually, I created an Excel spreadsheet to calculate the number of stirs required.

Thanks for the water info. I have to stop by the Homebrew store today (before the big snow hits) and pickup yeast and yeast nutrients. I have everything else ready to go for my batch.

 

[Runningwolf]

LMAO, Keep us posted Doug on how it's going!

 

[BigBend]

Finally got around to starting my CC wine. 129 CC, 5# bananas, 5 cans white grape. Corts D B yeast. Smells very good and "Sounds" like a buket of Bees.

 

[djrockinsteve]

This was a wine that no one could guess what it was in the bucket. They came up with all kinds of ideas but didn't put the peppermint flavor into the thought process.

Keep us informed. I forgot to ask when we were chatting, did you freeze the candy canes to make the wrapper removal easier?

 

[UglyBhamGuy]

Finally got around to starting my CC wine. 129 CC, 5# bananas, 5 cans white grape. Corts D B yeast. Smells very good and "Sounds" like a buket of Bees.

Did you just add the bananas or did you soup them?

 

[UglyBhamGuy]

on a different note:

Do y'all think that 240 blueberry candy canes (20 boxes of 12) is enough for 5 gallons?
Do i need more?
Should i use less and save some for an f-pack or should i use them all and get more for an f-pack?

 

[djrockinsteve]

FYI, I believe I used 32 candy canes for my one gallon test. Currently clearing a bit more but at a test taste earlier this week it had a nice peppermint taste up front (not overpowering) then a nice grape flavor afterwards.

I'll post more as time moves on.

 

[BigBend]

Did you just add the bananas or did you soup them?

I made banana soup. Cooked down 5 pds of bananas with a little water, mashed with a potato masher and the strained thru a stainless steel kitchen strainer (wisked it thru, to force out more juice). I got 5 cups a brown yukky smelling banana juice. Boiled/cooked bananas smell gross!

 

[BigBend]

Just checked my bucket and it sounds like I have a bucket of Bumble Bee's. Fermenting like crazy and SG dropping fast. Went from 1.092 to 1.062 (@80 deg.) overnight.

 

[Runningwolf]

Just unwrapped 84 canes for an f-pack. Dang I hate unwrapping those things but using Steve's trick of freezing them first helps removing the paper. I will make the f pack today and add sometime this week.