Can't Beet Sugar!

[PolishWineP]

Bert is starting a batch of sugar beet wine. I am not fond of the smell of cooking sugar beets and have firmly suggeted that cooking them in the house is not something that would please me.

He's set up out in the shop for cooking purposes.

He assembled the usual cast of characters...

Sugar beets in water, ready to cook.

He fed the romantic fire that is heating the shop...

Then he fired up his burner in the shop. He got this for beer and it's great that it can do double duty. We can use it for many other things too. As Alton Brown says, "The only single use item you should have in your kitchen is the fire extinguisher! (No, we don't use the big burner in our kitchen.)

 

[JWMINNESOTA]

PWP, you empty the fire extinguisher, drill a hole, place a valve stem on it...fill with water, pressurize with air, and WALLAH , you've got the most powerful squirt gun on the block! Hope the wine turns out, sounds really ...interesting.

 

[grapeman]

I bet you don't need to add too much sugar starting with sugar beets. What flavors will you get from it? I see the white grape concentrate. That will help the body and add some flavors. Sounds interesting.

 

[kaluba]

is this gonna be for cooking or drinking. I see a lot of odd wines for cookingon different sites but they are not that common on this one. Jalepeno,potato,onion,etc.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Interesting....this is not your first batch is it????

 

[PolishWineP]

Yes, this is our first batch of sugar beet wine. I've made red beet wine, but never sugar beet wine. First he grew them, then he dug them, now he's fermenting them. Some year down the road he will drink them.

He's sort of following the recipe on page 5 of the purple Winemaker's Recipe Handbook.

 

[PolishWineP]

Out of 4 replies, 3 of you used the word interesting. I find that to be funny. Notice that no one said it sounds good?

 

[NorthernWinos]

And...you used Crystal Beet Sugar too...nice. Looks like you did a lot of peeling and chopping today.






Hope it turns out good...might pick up some of those strays from along side of the road next Sugar Beet season.

 

[jhawk]

Up here in Michigan sugar beets are used for deer bait in the hunting season.50lb bag cost 4 bucks. This fall sitting in the treestand I thought to myself I wonder what sugar beet wine taste like
..... interesting...hmmmmm... Please let us know the out come.

 

[PolishWineP]

Bert had peeled, cut and froze them at the end of beet season. Jhawk, lots of people up here use beets as deer bait. I don't really know why they have to bait as there's way too many deer here. It's like shooting into a barrel. And we don't really need to buy them, just stop along side the road at intersections. You're bound to find a few that fell off the truck, and I mean that literally!

 

[Waldo]

Wuz dat deerz or beetz whut dun fell offen dat dere truk princez?

 

[PolishWineP]

Hee hee!

Beets, Waldo, beets! And this princess didn't fall off the beet truck yesterday! (Although my kids think I did.)The beets he used he took, he didn't send me out with a box in the back of the car.

 

[PolishWineP]

The yeasties are doing their thing and the wine is cooking along. I walk in here and it smells like rising bread. Not a bad smell at all. Took a little photo for all of you...

 

[NorthernWinos]

Gee.....I was wondering if it would smell like the sugar factory.....

Did you put in all 4 of the WinExpert White Grape Concentrate bottles that you had in the first photo????

 

[PolishWineP]

Until fermentation took off it did smell that icky smell.

That's why the cooking was done in the shop.
Yes, all 4 bottles of concentrate went into the bucket. The recipe called for 3/4 of a pint per gallon. He's aiming for5 gallons.

 

[NorthernWinos]

It should be good with all that grape concentrate in there....a white wine..?...or...who can guess at this point.


Glad you are making this.....I always eyeball all those free-fall sugarbeets along side the roads an on the roads....so many it is almost hazardous at times.


Will follow this Post closely.

 

[PolishWineP]

It will be a white in the end. (Looks gray right now...

) Next fall put a box in your car so you can grab some beets during your travels!

 

[PolishWineP]

Bert found the SG at 1.022 so he racked it today. It's still gray. Looks like a pan of dirty dish water... He thinks the freezing process grayed the starch in the beets, like potatoes.