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Friday 30 October 2009

Rowan Berry Wine

I have had this recipe for years in an old book, and have never had access to rowan berries to make it !

This year I am on a mission to hunt some down - but I'm unsuccessful as yet...

Homemade wine is always fun and well worth the effort.

So here is the recipe (imperial not US measurements)

Rowan Berry Wine

4 pints of Rowan Berries
1 gallon (8 pints) Water
3 lbs white Sugar
1 lb Wheat
2 heaped tablespoons Raisins
Wine Yeast & Yeast Nutrient

1. Boil the water and pour it as soon as you can over the rowan berries, boiling if possible.

2. Let the rowan berries and the water stand for 5 days, covered. Stir them and mash them daily.

3. After 5 days put the sugar, chopped raisins and wheat into a very large bowl or similar. Strain the rowan berry mixture over the ingredients in the bowl and discard the bits or rowan berry mash once strained.

4. Stir it well until the sugar is dissolved.

5. Put a sachet, or a level teaspoon of the wine yeast into a small glass with a small bit of warm water and a teaspoon of sugar. Stir. After 15 minutes it will be foaming.

6. Put the foaming yeast mix into the rowan berry mix in a large covered bowl or food grade plastic bucket. Stir it in.

7. Leave for 7 days covered very well.

8. Then strain the liquid into a glass demijohn (fermenting jar), fit an airlock and leave until fermentation is finished (no more bubbles) and the wine is clear.

9. Rack the wine off into a clean demijohn. (To rack off is to syphon it off of the residue left in the bottom of the jar into a clean jar.) Sometimes you need to do this more than once every couple of months, until its clean and clear.

10. Leave in storage for at least 3 months after last racking.

11. Then bottle your wine.

It's best kept at least a year before drinking, but people rarely wait that long !


1 comment:

  1. What do you mean by 1lb of wheat? Where would I get it? Gail

    ReplyDelete