Beer, Wine and Mead Makers Thread

[chicken stalker]

Hey you beer, wine and mead makers , lets share our experiences and recipes.

So I am fairly new at this. I have made one large batch of Red Ale and a large batch or Kiwi Pear Wine. Both came out really tasty but both were from kits. Now I want to venture out and try making really homemade hooch. Sooo...

A couple questions for all you wine makers.

1. Any orange wines or mead recipes.....I've got about 30 oranges to play with and lots of cranberries hhmmm something cranorange??
2. Can I use a larger secondary (5 gal) for a 3 or 4 gal batch?

 

[freemotion]

1. I have a new batch of orange/ginger mead bubbling away right now, used about 7-8 lbs of organic oranges and the zest. Looks and smells yummy. I simmered about a half pound of ginger with the zest for two hours, covered, juiced the rest of the oranges, used....um....10-12 lbs wildflower honey (raw) and enough sugar to get the sg up so the potential alcohol would be about 13-14%. Topped the whole thing with water and started it right in the carboy, leaving some space for bubbling up. I added more water after it calmed down in 2-3 days. Will rack at 3-4 weeks and again every 2-3 months until it clears, topping up with water.

2. No, you need to keep the secondary topped up, so that would be far too much air space at the top. Why bother with four gallons? It's not that much further to make it five, right?

 

[Up-the-Creek]

Right now I have a gallon of orange clove meade going,...smells quite nice... I just made a small batch it being my first time trying it,...meade that is. This is the link to where I got my recipe,....

http://www.stormthecastle.com/mead/mead-recipes.htm

 

[chicken stalker]

Right now I have a gallon of orange clove meade going,...smells quite nice... I just made a small batch it being my first time trying it,...meade that is. This is the link to where I got my recipe,....

http://www.stormthecastle.com/mead/mead-recipes.htm

Thant's the recipe I was checking out.

Can you triple (or more) recipes or is it like jam....destine for disaster because a gallon would be gone in a heart beat around here....I might get a glass or two out of it

BTW... Free- we need an updated photo of your wine/mead projects. I loved the first one, showed it off to many people for inspiration

 

[freemotion]

It is fairly forgiving, go ahead and increase or decrease the recipes to match the carboy you want to use and the ingredients you have on hand.

 

[Up-the-Creek]

Yea that was just a trial run for now,..1 gallon won't last long here either,.. Next time I'll make 5 gallon,...but not honey mead,..honey costs way too much and the honey harvest is too far off,...going grape next,...

 

[Wifezilla]

I have a small batch of old fashioned traditional mead with a few raisin and some tea tossed in for minerals and tannins. I also have some grape mead I have in bottles. A few 'asploded' but it was my fault. Too much honey added when bottling. I only wanted to add a little carbonation! LOL

I also have some hard cider bubbling away. Fun stuff

 

[TanksHill]

I am on my first brewing experience ever.

I am making 2 gallons of hard cider. We will see how it turns out. Right now it is just bubbling away.

Question.... Dark or no dark? I have heard it both ways. If it's supposed to stay in the dark then Why?

Thanks,

Gina

 

[Wifezilla]

I use dark tinted bottles or an out of the way closet to let stuff brew. Light can cause off colors.

 

[Up-the-Creek]

I have some home canned concord grape juice and it has a lot of pulp in it. My mother and I canned it,..heated the grapes, smashed them and then run them threw a food mill then canned the juice. Anyway,..I have quite a few quarts of this and was wondering if any of you experienced brewers could throw out some ideas of using it making a 5 gallon batch of wine. Mind you, no fancy ingredients,..Im on a tight budget. I usually use it for jelly,..but I could spare some for wine. Maybe mix some other juices with it,...oh and I think I would like a sweet wine,...that requires more sugar, right???