#everybitcountschallenge Day 13, 13 August 2022 Blackberry Wine

 

It has been a lovely pottering day today, with me "bitting and bobbing" between several projects, including finishing off a few old projects had forgotten about.

However, the main project for Day 13 for me on the #everybitcountschallenge is Blackberry wine. I was hoping to have made this last night, but in the end decided as I was tired to leave it until today

This is the recipe I am following:

4lb of Blackberries

8 pints of  Boiling water

3lb sugar

Usual wine yeast starter for gallon of wine

Day One to Day Three

As long as you have picked any debris i.e. leaves out of the Blackberries there should be no need to wash them.  Place them into your sterilised fermenting bucket with 6 pints of boiling hot water, cover with lid and leave for three days, stirring a couple of times a day.

Day Four to Nine

On the fourth day, strain the Berries on to the sugar in a fermentation bucket and add the extra 2 pints of boiling water stir until the sugar has dissolved.  Leave about 30 minutes to cool a bit.  I always make my yeast up before starting the wine and get it going, add it to the bucket.  Cover with lid and leave for a further six days, stirring every day still.

Day Ten

Strain the must into a demijohn, top it up with cooled boiled water and then seal with the airlock/fermentation trap.  Leave to ferment until it has worked itself out.

Rack the wine off the "bottoms" the sediment at the bottom of the demijohn making sure that none of the sediment goes into the sterilised wine bottles, (you will need about 4 or 5 per gallon).  Seal with a soaked Cork stopper (I have a gadget for this), Add on bottle wrap to make it look professional and then label - very important.   Leave for about six weeks before tasting. 

We will see how this one pans out.  It will be something else for serving with a good hearty meal.

I am not a massive drinker.  I do like flavoured gins well watered down with Lemonade.  My Nan and my Mum though were really good winemakers.  I was not allowed any wine with my Sunday dinner until I was about 13 and then only one very small glass.  

Country wines are totally different to bought wines.  Yes they can be pokey, and can creep up on you, however, I just miss a drop of wine with a good hearty meal and I do not really go a bundle on a lot of the bought stuff.  Do not drink neat spirits, but I do like a little liqueur now and then.  So we shall see how we get on.  

Might make some traditional Ginger Beer soon.  My Dad banned me from making this at home when I was in my teens.  I had stored the last batch of the Ginger Beer in some Milk Crates high on the garage wall.  Dad was in the garage minding his own business and mending his motorbike when he got shot by the Ginger Beer going off bottle by bottle.  He was having to dodge the rubber bungs and the cascading Ginger Beer. In those days Cider used to be sold in really thick glass bottles with rubber bungs and we had reused those bottles for the Ginger Beer.  I should just mention that it was a hot day and where the bottles were mounted on the garage wall was in full sunlight, so it was the sun that did the damage.  However he banned me!

Have had a lovely pottering day today.  Now on to the next project.  There are loads waiting in the wings.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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