Wheat Wine

[kutya]

I live in an area that is surrounded by wheat fields, anyone ever make wheat wine???? I would love to see a recipe for this... Or maybe someone tell me not to waste my time.

 

[masta]

Recipes and advice from Jack:


http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques79.asp

 

[dfwwino]

C.J.J. Berry's First Steps in Winemaking has a recipe as well as the Winemaker's Recipe Handbook.The recipes call for soaking the wheat for 24 hours and then mincing or crushing and placing it in the fermenter, with hot water. I wonder what result would occur if you mashed the wheat like a brewer and then added the ingrediants and fermented. Edited by: dfwwino

 

[Big Port]

DFW,



I have wondered the same thing, I would think that you would end up with the same result? Sounds like it may be worth a try.

 

[dfwwino]

Big Port,


I think the result would be similar, but the mashing method would convert produce some sugars from the wheat and reduce the amount of table sugar to add to the must, and also add more body than merely steeping the wheat grain. Maybe when I'm bored later this fall I'll do a side-by-side experiment. After reading Jack Keller's recipe, this wheat wine will require some aging though.

 

[Big Port]

I think I will pick up a few pounds of wheat next time I'm at my local brew shop and give this a shot.

 

[kutya]

Thanks all. I am going to give it a try. I think I will mince the wheat. The whole waiting 1-2 years is not giving me much motivation.... I think Jack takes the whole "Drink no wine before it's time" a little to far... LOL....

 

[dfwwino]

Kutya,


I know what you mean by waiting one to two years. But I must say that once I got to the point where my winemaking exceeded consumption, I noticed significant improvements in taste with long term aging. I now try to reserve at least 5 bottles from every batch to age over many years. I think a wine aged 5 years is just fabulous. Besides, as you drink that aged wine, it brings back faded memories of what it was like to make the wine and the events in your life when that wine was made. Edited by: dfwwino