Joy of Home Wine Making (31 page)

1 gallon water

2½ lbs. sugar or 3 lbs. honey

juice and zest of 3 oranges

juice and zest of 2 large lemons or 4 tsps. acid blend

1 tsp. yeast nutrient

¼ tsp. tannin

1 Campden tablet, crushed (optional)

½ tsp. pectic enzyme

1 packet champagne or white wine yeast

10 bruised peppercorns (optional)

Potatoes appropriate for mashed potatoes or french fries are best. You can use potatoes that are sprouting if you break off the sprouts. The wine will be fine. Get rid of ANY green skin and discolored spots on the potatoes. DO NOT PEEL. Scrub well. Potatoes with red skins will give a nice “blush” color.

Slice the potatoes into the gallon of cool water, turn on the heat, and simmer till just tender, 30-45 minutes. DO NOT BOIL.

Remove the zest from the citrus fruit (no white pith), and squeeze the juice. Place the zest in a small nylon straining bag.

Strain the potatoes (and peppercorns) from the water. You can use the potatoes in a casserole if they were nice to begin with.

Remove about a quart of the water to add back later if you don’t have enough. It’s hard to say how much you will have lost in steam while cooking. Add the sugar or the honey, and simmer until the sugar is dissolved. If using honey, simmer 10-15 minutes, stirring, and skim any scum.

Pour the hot water into a sanitized primary fermenter over the zest. Add the fruit juices. (You can reserve a bit of the orange juice and extra potato water to start the yeast later, if you like.) Check to see if you have a gallon of must. If not, make it up with the reserved water. Add yeast nutrient, tannin, and acid blend if you didn’t use lemons. Cover, and attach an air lock. Let the must cool, then add the pectic enzyme. Twenty-four hours later, check the PA and add the yeast.

Stir daily. In two weeks or so, check the PA. Lift out the bag of zest and let it drain back into the container. Do not squeeze. Discard the zest. Let the wine settle, and rack it into a secondary fermenter. Bung and fit with an air lock. Rack as necessary in the next six months or so. Check the PA. When it ferments out, bottle it. I prefer this wine dry. You can sweeten the wine if you like before bottling by adding stabilizer and 2 to 4 ounces of sugar syrup per gallon. Keep for two years at least. Use it as a table or social wine. As you will see in the advanced section, this wine is very useful for blending.

RUBY SIPPER WINE

This wine is great fun. The color, alas, isn’t always stable; it sometimes fades to a deep tawny color. If you make pickled beets, and if you want a lighter wine, you can use the water in which
you cooked the beets. Otherwise, you can make a deeper, more flavorful wine by fermenting on the beets.

I like the taste of this wine a lot. Some people find it a bit earthy. Maybe I’m just charmed by the idea of using such a “backyard” vegetable for wine. It’s unexpected and beautiful, and reminds me of the Land of Oz in a way, hence the name. Cheers, Dorothy!

3 lbs. beet roots

1 gallon water

2½ lbs. sugar or 3 lbs. honey

10 bruised peppercorns (optional)

zest and juice of 3 oranges

juice and zest of 2 large lemons or 3 tsps. acid blend

¹
/
₈
tsp. tannin

1 tsp. yeast nutrient

1 Campden tablet, crushed (optional)

½ tsp. pectic enzyme

1 packet Montrachet or red wine yeast

Scrub the beets well, and cut off the tops and the root ends. Chop, slice or shred into the cool water, then heat. SIMMER, do not boil, for 45 minutes.

Remove the zest from the citrus fruit (no white pith), and squeeze the juice. Place the zest in a small nylon straining bag in the bottom of the primary fermenter.

Strain the beets (and peppercorns, if you used them) from the water. You can use the beets for food if you choose.

Remove about a quart of the water to add back later if you don’t have enough. It’s hard to say how much you will have lost in steam while cooking. Add the sugar or the honey, and simmer until the sugar is dissolved. If using honey, simmer 10-15 minutes, stirring, and skim any scum.

Pour the hot water into a sanitized primary fermenter over the zest. Add the fruit juices. (You can reserve a bit of the orange juice and extra beet water to start the yeast later, if you like.) Check to see if you have a gallon of must. If not, make it up with the reserved water. Add yeast nutrient, tannin, and acid blend if you didn’t use lemons. Cover, and attach an air lock. Let the must cool, and add the Campden tablet, if you choose to use one. Twelve hours after the Campden tablet, add the pectic enzyme. If
you don’t use the tablet, merely wait until the must cools down to add the pectic enzyme. Twenty-four hours later, check the PA and add the yeast.

Stir daily. In two weeks or so, check the PA. Lift out the bag of zest and let it drain back into the container. Do not squeeze. Discard the zest. Let the wine settle, and rack it into a secondary fermenter. Bung and fit with an air lock. Rack as necessary in the next six months or so. Check the PA. When it ferments out, bottle it. I prefer this wine dry. You can sweeten the wine if you like before bottling by adding stabilizer and 2 to 4 ounces of sugar syrup per gallon. Keep for two years at least. This makes a nice social or table wine. I like it with beans or stew.

I see that there are golden beets in the seed catalogs these days. Now that should be interesting to try. Golden Sipper wine?

NOTE: As an alternative to this recipe you might want to treat beets as you would a fruit to get a deeper color. After simmering the beets, put them in a nylon straining bag with the zest, and proceed with the rest of the recipe.

VEGETABLE SOUP WINE

Sorry, but I had to do it. You can never tell about the color, but it’s always interesting. The shock value of the name alone makes it worth while.

2 lbs. carrots

2 lbs. potatoes

2 lbs. beets

1 gallon water

2½ lbs. sugar or 3 lbs. honey (I like dark honey with this)

zest and juice of 3 oranges

zest and juice of 2 lemons or 3 tsps. acid blend

¼ tsp. tannin

10 peppercorns (optional)

1 tsp. yeast nutrient

1 Campden tablet, crushed (optional)

½ tsp. pectic enzyme

1 packet Montrachet yeast

Scrub the vegetables well, cutting off the tops and the root ends. Chop, slice, or shred into the cool water, then heat. SIMMER, do not boil, for 45 minutes.

Remove the zest from the citrus fruit (no white pith), and squeeze the juice. Place the zest in a small nylon straining bag in the bottom of the primary fermenter.

Strain the vegetables (and peppercorns, if you used them) from the water. You can use the vegetables for food if you choose.

Remove about a quart of the water to add back later if you don’t have enough. It’s hard to say how much you will have lost in steam while cooking. Add the sugar or the honey, and simmer until the sugar is dissolved. If you’re using honey, simmer 10-15 minutes, stirring, and skim any scum.

Pour the hot water into a sanitized primary fermenter over the zest. Add the fruit juices. (You can reserve a bit of the orange juice and extra vegetable water to start the yeast later, if you like.) Check to see if you have a gallon of must. If not, make it up with the reserved water. Add yeast nutrient, tannin, and acid blend if you didn’t use lemons. Cover, and attach an air lock. Let the must cool, and add the Campden tablet, if you choose to use one. Twelve hours after the Campden tablet, add the pectic enzyme. If you don’t use the tablet, merely wait until the must cools down to add the pectic enzyme. Twenty-four hours later, check the PA and add the yeast.

Stir daily. In two weeks or so, check the PA. Lift out the bag of zest and let it drain back into the container. Do not squeeze. Discard the zest. Let the wine settle, and rack it into a secondary fermenter. Bung and fit with an air lock. Rack as necessary in the next six months or so. Check the PA. When it ferments out, bottle it. I prefer this wine dry. You can sweeten the wine if you like before bottling by adding stabilizer and 2 to 4 ounces of sugar syrup per gallon. It ages for the same amount of time as the other root vegetable wines. I’ve always been tempted to add a few onions and call it Vegetable Stew, but I have not had the courage.