Mead: Raspberry Mead

So we had a great crop of Raspberries last summer and froze several pounds for future projects.  Then, I visited a local beekeeper and made a deal for several pounds of honey.  Time to make some raspberry mead.

Ingredients:

13 lb. Honey

10 lbs. Black and Red raspberries and some Blackberries

Campden Tablets

Potassium Sorbate

Oak chips

Xylitol 

acid blend

pectic enzyme

grape tannin

1 tsp yeast nutrient

Champagne yeast (Red Star)

I followed Jack Keller's recipe for fruit wines, except I substituted honey for the sugar.  Copied here:

Pick only ripe berries. Combine water and sugar and put on to boil, stirring occasionally. Wash and destem berries. Put in nylon straining bag, tie, put in botton of primary, and crush berries in bag. Pour boiling sugar-water over berries to set the color and extract the flavorful juice. Add acid blend, tannin and yeast nutrient. Allow to cool to 70 degrees F. and add crushed Campden tablet. Cover primary with plastic wrap secured with a large rubber band. Add pectic enzyme after 12 hours and wine yeast after additional 12 hours, resecuring plastic wrap each time. Stir daily for a week, replacing plastic wrap if it looks like it needs it. Remove nylon bag and allow to drip drain about an hour, keeping primary covered as before. Do not squeeze bag. Return drippings to primary and use bag of pulp for "second" wine if you made a double recipe (combine bags, but only make one gallon of "second" wine). Continue fermentation in primary another week, stirring daily. Rack to secondary, top up with water and fit airlock. 

After two weeks, I racked.  There was a lot of sediment and some berry seeds.  I added 1oz of oak chips in a muslin bag and left it in for one week.  I also added 2/3 cup xylitol for sweetness.

Finally, I added 2 campden tablets and 2 tsp of sorbate to stabilize and protect.  

After one week, the oak flavor was strong, but this was mostly gone after two months.

In January, I sampled.  It has a rose color and is very clear.  There is just a hint of raspberry scent and the "mead" flavor is not too strong.

Update (April, 2013)
Having enjoyed this mead on a few occasions now, I would make the following changes in the future.

 First, I would increase the pounds of raspberries to 12.  The raspberry flavor could be more pronounced and the mead is on the thin side currently.

Second, I would keep the oak chips in for two weeks.  The flavor was strong at first but was barely noticeable after a few months.  I'm scared of oak because I have heard it can overpower and ruin batches, but 1oz for 2 weeks sounds good.

Third, I visited a meadery in the finger lakes and learned that the brewer there makes the mead separate from the wine and then mixes them after fermentation to maintain flavor.  I would at least like to try this some time to see if it makes a noticeable difference.

Wine: Wild Grape Wine

Hiking near my house in Bellefonte, PA, I always see wild grapes hanging in the trees.  I pulled a bunch and tasted them.  The tannins are so strong that they made my mouth pucker and dry out instantly; however, they were also sweet so I decided to make some wine.

Once again, Jack Keller was my guru in this process.  Here is his recipe:


13 to 15 lbs ripe fall grapes
1/3 to 1/2 lb finely granulated sugar
1 crushed Campden tablet
3/4 tsp pectic enzyme
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 pkg Lalvin 71B-1122 yeast

Destem and crush the grapes and place in nylon straining bag. Tie bag closed and place in primary. Squeeze bag to extract enough juice to float a hydrometer in its test jar. Calculate sugar required to raise specific gravity to 1.088. Add sugar and stir well to dissolve it completely. Add finely crushed Campden tablet and stir in well. Cover primary with sanitized muslin and set aside 10 hours. Add pectic enzyme and stir well. Recover primary and set aside additional 10 hours. Add activated yeast, recover primary, and squeeze bag twice daily until active fermentation dies down (5-7 days). Remove nylon straining bag and drain, then press to extract all juice. Transfer juice to secondary, top up if required and fit airlock. Ferment 30 days, rack into clean secondary, top up, and refit airlock. Rack again after additional 30 days and stabilize wine. Sweeten to taste if desired and set aside 30 days, or forego sweetening, set aside 10-14 days, and rack into bottles. Age three to six months.

The only change I had to make was that I did not find 13 pounds of grapes so I had to added more sugar to bring the specific gravity up to 1.080.

Update (September 2012)
I racked a second time into a gallon jug and a growler.  It had a nice pink color and was mostly clear.  I added 4 oak chips to the growler and having tasted both, I would definitely oak in the future.

Added campden tablet + potassium sorbate to both.

Update (10/28/12)

Bottling day

Oaked
Pleasant, thin taste.  Nice blush color.

Unoaked

Thin, lighter, not as good, but no off flavors

Update (April 2013)
I just took a bottle to Andy's house for a party.  A guest I didn't know mentioned she really enjoyed it and didn't know I made it.  I'll take that as high complement.  I would definitely oak this wine in the future and I would add more if I can find them (where there is a will...).

Cider: Cider from scratch

Post in Progress

8/26/12

Home pressed Cider

See Apple butter cider file for details

Ph: 3.2

OG: 1.032

1 Bushel = 2.3 gallons with mush

Added 5lbs honey and other suggested ingredients (2/3 tsp acid bled).  Filled to 5.5 gallons.

New PH: 3.4

OG:1.060

Bubbling in less than 12 hours

9/2/12

Racked

Cloudy

SG: 1.000

9/26/12

Clear and tasty.  A bit yeast-mead ish. 

Added ½ gallon of home made cider with press, added:

            -4.5 teaspoons potassium sorbate

            -4 campden tablets (crushed)

Somewhere in here I added 6-8 cinnamon sticks.  I didn’t boil, I just added with the campden and PS.  I would use less next time. 

10/14/12

Bottling

Very clear

Ph: 3.6

Not too sweet.  Hint of Cinnamin.  Very tasty.

SO2= 30

Added ½ teaspoon acid blend

And 1/3 teaspoon wine tannins

½ cup sugar

1 cup apple cider

Slammer Cider

Pressed a mix of Game Land Apples and made 10 gallons of cider

Decided to not add any campden before yeast

Added pectin enzyme and 1.3 tablespoons of nutrient

Used one packet of fruit wine yeast (red star)

9/24/12

Bubbling already

10/1/12

Racked

Lots of sediment

Acidic, but only 3.6ph…volatile acids? Hope not

Added water to both to top off

Added sumac water to one.  Boiled Sumac in water, added ice, racked on top

10/28/12

Sumac Cider

No noticeable sumac color

SG: less than 1

Weak flavor

Added three cinnamon sticks, 1 clove, and 1 cup xylitol

Non-Sumac

More acidic

Same color

Also at Sg: 1 or lower

Added three cinnamon sticks, 1 clove, and 1 cup xylitol

Added concentrate at bottling with another ½ cup of xylitol for sweetness.

11/4/12

Bottled with Andy.

The sumac smelled like Uric acid…or urine.   We’ll see if that settles out after bottle conditioning.  Andy said the taste was good though. 

Used a can of apple juice concentrate for priming. 

Cinnamon flavor was very week.  Haven’t tried a bottle though. 

I don’t remember how much xylitol I added for sweetener, but I did add more before bottling.  I also added more red zinger tea.  

Wine: Raspberry Wine

In addition to making raspberry mead, I tried my hand at a raspberry wine following Jack Keller's recipe (he's an excellent resource).  Here's his recipe:


BLACK RASPBERRY WINE

3-4 lbs fresh black raspberries (6 total when doubled)
2-1/4 lbs finely granulated sugar
1/2 tsp acid blend
1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
1/8 tsp grape tannin
7 pints water
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 crushed Campden tablet
Lalvin RC-212 wine yeast

Pick only dark, ripe berries. Combine water and sugar and put on to boil, stirring occasionally until sugar is completely dissolved. Wash and destem berries. Put in nylon straining bag, tie, put in botton of primary, and crush berries in bag. Pour boiling sugar-water over berries to set the color and extract the flavorful juice. Add acid blend, tannin and yeast nutrient. Allow to cool to 70 degrees F. and add one crushed Campden tablet. Cover primary with plastic wrap secured with a large rubber band. Twelve hours later add pectic enzyme and after an additional 12 hours add activated wine yeast. Recover the primary. Stir daily for a week, replacing plastic wrap if it looks like it needs it. Remove nylon bag and allow to drip drain about an hour, keeping primary covered as before. Do not squeeze bag. Return drippings to primary and discard pulp (or use to make a "second" wine). Transfer to secondary and fit airlock. Use a dark secondary or wrap with brown paper (from paper bag) to preserve color. Rack into clean secondary after two months. Refit airlock and rack again after additional 2 months. Wait another month, stabilize, wait additional month, Rack and sweeten if desired. Wait two weeks to ensure refermentation does not begin and bottle into dark glass. Drink after six months. This is an excellent wine, but don't rush it! You must ferment the full 6 months and age another six.

I doubled his recipe because I had enough raspberries.  I also froze the berries before use.  I have heard that the berries burst when frozen and this helps get the color and sugar out of the berries.  Seemed to help.

Update (July 13th, 2012)

Stirred almost daily.  Set muslin bags over to drip out for the next hour. 

Racked to 2 four-liter glass jugs.
I forgot to get a hydrometer reading throughout this process.

(September, 2012)
Racked.  There were a lot of lees and there is a bit of a rubber smell.  There is full body and the flavor is pleasant, but I don't think I could identify it as raspberry.  

(October, 2012).

I oaked with 1oz of oak chips.  There seems to be more raspberry flavor.

Ph: 4.0.  Need to add acid before bottling

Added 1 campden and ½ teaspoon of potassium sorbate in each to stabilize and protect.

I also tried an experiment by adding chocolate shavings to one gallon.  

(October 14th, 2012)

Bottling day

Oaked Chocolate 

Ph. 3.6 or higher (hard to read)

SO2=35 (I got a tester to check)

Add 7 tablespoons of sugar (still low sugar)

Oaked Raspberry without Chocolate

18 tablespoons sugar for 2 gallons

SO2= 38

Update (April 2013)
I haven't touched this wine since November, 2012.  I tried a bottle without chocolate then and it was ok.

That said, opening a bottle now...wow.  This is proof that wine changes and can improve over time.  It's stunningly good, if I do say so myself and I just did.  Also, the raspberry flavor is so much more powerful and present.  I don't think you could mistake this for anything else now.  Jack (I've used so many of his recipes I feel like I know him) ends his recipe by saying, "This is an excellent wine, but don't rush it! You must ferment the full 6 months and age another six."  He is absolutely right.  It is a very different and very much better wine for the waiting.  The only place I disagree with Jack, respectfully, is that this should be served chilled.  I serve it like I serve reds, cellar temperature (55 degrees).

Wyczer: Wine, Cider, Mead

Post In process:

4/15/12

Welch wine/cider/mead

Boiled 2 cans of Great value apple juice

2 cans Welch grape juice

with water in brewing kettle

24 oz of honey

Separate pot

Add 1 pom juice

3 lbs raisin water (blender)

3.5 teaspoons nutrient

½ teaspoon pectic enzyme

Total juices

6 apple juice

7 welch grape

96 oz of pom juice

og: 1.076 at 88 degrees

4/22/12

sp:  66 degrees = .998

Ideas to try?:

If the wine is sour, it could mean that all the available sugar has been fermented into alcohol. The next step is to stabilize the wine by adding campden tablets (1 tablet per gallon) AND potassium sorbate (1/2 teaspoon per gallon)- this combination will stop any further fermentation from occurring. 

5/1/12

SP: .998

Ph: 3.6

Added 5 campden tablets and 2.5 teaspoons potassium sorbate to a glass of wine, stirred and readded.  Transferred to new carboy.  Lots of sediment (lees)

Currently:

Pink and slightly cloudy

Very fruity bouquet.  Some depth in the scent below the powerful fruit smell.

Slight sting to the taste.   Some body.  Pretty acidity, despite low acid.  And pretty thin. 

6/7/12

racked onto 1 tsp potassium Sorbate in water solution

Bottled

Mold in the air lock…use vodka in future long term storage.

Thin, light taste. Not sweet.  Pink hue, a bit cloudy.

Pleasant when chilled.

March - Dandelion and wild onions

So I went out with Andy in search for the chaga fungal growth on  a line of birch trees that grew up on the top ridge that was logged years ago.  There were a great deal of black birch that were thin and tightly packed.  I'm pretty sure there was a great deal of chaga also, but it was thin and what looked like large deposits turned out to be wood growths with a bit of chaga on the outside.  I'll explain about the chaga in another post (especially if I find a good batch).  

Today's post is about wild onions and dandelion greens.  

Andy had dandelions growing in a garden plot he has generally let go.  They were big and early, so I picked them and made a salad at his house with balsamic dressing.  It was my first dandelion salad.  They are very tasty, if a bit bitter.  

According to the USDA, dandelion greens rank in the top 4 green vegetables.  According to these data, dandelions are nature's richest green vegetable source of beta-carotene (higher than carrots!), from which Vitamin A is created, and the third richest source of Vitamin A of all foods, after cod-liver oil and beef liver! They also are particularly rich in fiber, potassium, iron, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and the B vitamins, thiamine and riboflavin, and are a good source of protein.  

Andy also pointed out some wild onions along the way.  I've picked the "chives" of these before and chewed on them, but I had never dug out the bulbs before.  Andy and I chewed on them and they were a bit spicy, very garlic-y, and they stuck with you in the mouth for a long time (several hours).  It reminded me of the students in New York State that would get sent home for eating wild leeks (I'm still dying to get a hold of those btw).  

So I ended up having wild onions and dandelions to make dinner with.  Amanda picked up some salmon fillets and asparagus (haven't found a wild patch yet...).  I found a recipe at the following site:

http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/513231

I modified it to only use wild onions for the spring onions it called for and used dandelion greens for the spinach in the original recipe.  I also added soy sauce.  

Wow.  This recipe is a keeper.  It was amazing.  Might not be the best for a data cause the wild onion lingers, but otherwise, I don't think I have ever tasted anything like it.  

Recipe:

• 2 large new potatoes, scrubbed.  We left the skin on and just mashed that right in.
• freshly ground salt and black pepper
• Milk to mash
• 40 g butter
• 8-14 wild onion shoots with bulbs
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 salmon, about 125g each, skinned
• 2 tbsp Cooking Sherry
• 3/5 cup half and half (to all the exact measurement chefs...sorry if this drives you nutz...it's an estimate!)
• Handful of cleaned Dandelion greens

Method

1. Boil the potatoes in a saucepan of lightly salted water for about 12 minutes until just tender. Drain well and return to the pan to dry off a little over the lingering heat.

 Using a fork, mash the potatoes, gradually working in as much milk as you need until you have a smooth puree.

3. Meanwhile, heat 20g of butter in a frying pan. Add the wild onions and fry, stirring now and then, for 1-2 minutes. Beat the wild onions into the potato, season well and keep warm.

4. Heat the remaining butter with the olive oil in a large frying pan, add a tbsp of soy sauce and more wild onions.

5. Season the salmon with freshly ground pepper. Add to the pan and fry for about 2 minutes on each side, or longer for thicker-cut fillets, until just firm.

6. Remove the salmon from the pan and keep warm. Add the sherry and allow to bubble for 1-2 minutes, then add the cream and cook for about 2 minutes until reduced by about a third.

7. Season the cream sauce with salt and freshly ground pepper, then add the shredded dandelion greens and cook for a few seconds until wilted.

8. To serve, spoon the mashed potato mixture onto the centre of two warmed serving plates. Place a fish fillet on top and spoon over the wild garlic sauce.

9. Enjoy!!!