While my storage project is on hold awaiting a replacement chassis, the weather is warming up and I’m keener by the day to get back in to brewing - and I should have started weeks ago.
Ginger Wine
My Ginger Wine is still a bit of a flop, I divided the batch into two 5L demijohns and poured a starter over the top - which helped but didn’t do anything amazing.
I received my Stainless Steel 2 micron Air Stone from Craft Brewer and have thrown it into one of the bottles - continuously aerating it while I restarted it. Again, less than thrilling results so far.
Out of desperation I tried some different yeast which looked like it faired a lot better - I’m wondering if the yeast I have on hand isn’t suitable.
Throughout all of this, I can’t help but realise I jumped into the wine wine and ginger wine a bit hap-hazardly - I need to be more scientific and make sure I actually measure my starting gravities, pH, etc…
Big Wash
Thanks to this year’s wine project, I now have some large fermenting vessels. I intend on using the one that’s free at the moment to do a big 100 Liter wash. This should give me plenty of spirit base to play with flavouring things naturally, it might be time to buy some more 5L demijohns and do a second 100L run also.
New Still
I’m desperately in need of something bigger and faster than my (borrowed) 4L Air Still. Currently it takes about an entire weekend to do a 25L wash… clearly not sustainable if I’ll be setting up a 100L wash.
I’ve had my eyes on the Still Spirits Turbo Still 500 for a while now, and am keen to get one this summer - but sadly it’s going to set me back about AUD$750.
So in a pathetic bid for money around the silly season, I’ve set up a donation button on my site. I don’t expect anyone actually reads my site, but on the offchance they do and want to support my dirty habit - now they can. As an added bonus for those people who clearly have too much money, I’ll try to brew anything they suggest with their donation (within reason) - and if I know you, you’ll get a bottle! Aren’t I nice?
Spirits for this season
So, some things I’m looking at making this season:
- Ginger Wine (finally)
- Limoncello
- Espresso Vodka
- Apple Schnapps
- Real Irish Cream
- Strawberry Liquer
Wine Update
I’m on a big push to get rid of my Cabernet Merlot from this year. It’s a bit dryer than I had hoped for, due to my failings in stopping the fermentation properly.
Nonetheless, the wine is still OK and I’ve got about 50L of the stuff left. Seriously, if you want some wine - please let me know. I need the vessel for other projects coming up!
I’ve recently invested in some corking gear, so can bottle wine properly. I’ve offloaded a case of wine so far, and have another ready to go to a thirsty home (are you thirsty? how about now?). This should also come in handy for corking bottles of liquer, etc as time goes on.
At this stage, if I haven’t gotten rid of the wine after new years, I’ll have to chuck it.
That’s all folks!
So that’s it for brewing at the moment, hopefully I’ll have another update soon after I go to Brewcraft to pick up some straining/filtering gear and some more yeast.
Happy drinking!