Making top-quality wines is absurdly simple, but not quite so simple that some of us can be careless about it. Believe it or not, many of us are still following Granny’s fruit mixtures to ferment of their own accord, leaving bottles of fermenting wines corked loosely, while others are still preparing their fruits and other ingredients in which nine times out of ten produces cloudy, acid wines that more often than not find their way down the drain.
GENERAL METHOD: 1.You must crush the fruit in a polythene pail. Then add one quart of boiled water that has cooled. Mix it well. 2.Crush one Campden tablet and dissolve the powder in about half an egg cupful of warm water and then mix this with the fruit pulp. 3.Leave the mixture in a cool place for twenty-four hours. Stir it twice during that time. Then strain through fine muslin and press gently but not too hard. Discard the fresh fruit pulp. 4.Boil 1/3 of the sugar in half a gallon of water for one minute and allow to cool. Don’t forget to mix this with the juice and return the lot to the polythene pail. 5.Add the yeast and ferment for ten days. After this, pour the top wine into a gallon jar leaving as much of the lees behind as you can. 6.Boil another 1/3 of the sugar in half a pint of H2O for 1 min and when it is cool, add it to the rest. 7.Plug the neck of the jar with cotton wool or fit in a fermentation lock and ferment in a warm place for 14 days. 8.After this, boil the remaining sugar in the remaining half pint of water for 1 min and when cool add it to the rest. 9.Refit fermentation lock with fresh cotton wool and leave in a warm place until all fermentation has ceased. Grapefruit wine is an acid wine, but many people like it, especially where a pound of raisins or dates are fermented with the grapefruits. Use eight large grapefruits following the above recipe for orange wine. However, if you wish to add a pound of raisins or dates do so as soon as you have cut-up the grapefruits and ferment them with the rest for the first few days until straining time. Note: If raisins or dates are used, use half a pound less of sugar, because dried fruits contain approximately fifty percent sugar.
In the branch of winemaking, there is nothing you can do when natural enemies like acetic bacteria and wild yeasts occurred, however they must be prevented from happening. Clearly, you must destroy these enemies of winemaking before beginning and the best method to use is sulphiting. Obviously, sulphiting is what you need because this method is known to destroy the wild yeast and bacteria on the fruits without actually boiling and without heating the fruits at all; it needs very little heat to bring out the pectin.
ORANGE WINE. This is a delightful wine that develops a flavor that can readily be likened to an orange-flavored whisky. 12 large oranges, or their equivalent, 4 lb. sugar, oz. yeast, 1 gal. water, nutrient. 1. Drop the whole oranges into boiling water, and push each one under the surface. Then take them out and throw the water away. 2. Cut the oranges into small pieces and pour over them half a gallon of boiled water that has cooled. Cover well, and leave to soak for forty-eight hours, crushing and pressing the peel between the fingers to extract the oil which gives a very special flavour. 3. Boil half the sugar in a quart of water for two minutes and when cooled add this to the orange pulp. Then add the yeast and nutrient. Ferment this in a warm place for five days. 4. Crush, strain through fine muslin or other suitable material and wring out dry. Discard the pulp and return the fermenting liquor to the fermenting vessel, and allow to ferment for a further ten days. Carefully pour off into a gallon jar, leaving as much of the deposit behind as you can. Then boil the rest of the water and sugar together and when cool add to the rest. Then fit fermentation lock or cover as
CITRUS WHISKY RECIPE 4 oranges, 2 lemons, 2 seville oranges (or an extra ordinary orange and lemon), 4 oz. sugar, 1 bottle whisky. 1.Peel the fruits and remove all the white pith. Crush well and put the pulp in a four pound Kilner jar. Grate the rind of one orange (not a seville), avoiding any white pith, and add this to the pulp. Sprinkle in the sugar and pour on the whisky. Screw down tightly and put the jar in a cool dark place for a week-giving it a shake every day. 2.Strain into another jar and squeeze the screw down again tightly, and then put it away to clear. Pour or siphon the clear whisky into bottles, putting exactly half into each. Then fill the bottles to within an inch of where the corks will reach with boiled water that has cooled naturally. Cork hard, seal and keep for at least two months. CITRUS GIN RECIPE 6 oranges, 1 lemon, 2 seville oranges (or an extra ordinary orange and lemon), 5 oz. sugar, 1 bottle gin. Proceed as for orange whisky.
Ever consider making your own Homemade Wine? Did you know you can even use citrus fruits? Helen Wykes has been exploring different techniques in winemaking for years. Lemons, oranges and even grapefruits can be use to create into delicious wine, using recipes easy enough that they can be followed right in your kitchen. To learn more about making homemade wine, follow the link.
