Camping brew - Getting sodded on home-brew wine

Submitted: Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 19:02
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Yikes! We've made a pile of wine we'll be taking on camping trips over winter.

Plum wine made from our orchard fruit - and we've just opened our first bottle since bottling a few weeks ago. It's VERY drinkable for such a..uhmmm... "young" wine :) It's very clear now - and all the clouding had dissappeared - a very nice rose colour.

Wow!!!! LOL!!! Jeez... it's got a KICK .... YeeHah!!!
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Reply By: Member - Omaroo (NSW) - Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 19:17

Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 19:17
Omaroo Plum Wine - Batch #0001


AnswerID: 165634

Reply By: Member-Neil & Margie-Cairns - Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 19:38

Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 19:38
G'day Omaroo ,,
good to hear your first drop went well , we have a bowen mango tree in the back yard , Margie made 2 brews last year , 1 she added some sugar too a few days before botteling , this made it just a little sparkling ,, was very easy to drink , but be very careful just how much sugar you put in at this stage ,, we are not to far from opening the first bottle of this years ,, can only hope its better ..

Looking at the pic you put up ,, i think you will enjoy it very much ,, all the best ,, Neil & Margie !!

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Follow Up By: Member - Omaroo (NSW) - Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 19:41

Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 19:41
Hey there Niel :)

Yup - this one is a little spritzy too!

Verrry noice!
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Reply By: Jimbo - Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 20:08

Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 20:08
Just how does one make one of these fine brews?

Is it an involved process?

I remember my Nanna used to talk about making beetroot wine. I must call her and ask, she's a spritely 93 and still as sharp as a $hithouse rat.
AnswerID: 165652

Follow Up By: Member - Willie , Epping .Syd. - Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 20:22

Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 20:22
And as cunning as a tack ?
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Follow Up By: Member - Omaroo (NSW) - Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 20:51

Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 20:51
Jimbo - it's VERY easy!!

Get yourself a 20 litre plastic keg with a big screw top. Stick an air-lock in it with a grommet (a few bucks at a home brew shop). Make sure it is clean by washing it out (no soap!!!) with clean water and home-brew-shop-steriliser powder.

Mulch up (no pips) about 4 kilos of ripe plums. Doesn't need to be mush - but rather hand squished. Get a couple of litres of REALLY warm water (but not boiling) on the stove and add 2 kilos of white sugar. Dissolve as much as you can and let cool. Add to the plums. Add enogh water to fill the 20 litre container to the 16 litre mark. Add a couple of teaspoons of baker's yeast. Good enough!

Sit aside for about a week. It'll go bloop-bloop-bloop for the entire period. Keep at around 26 degrees.

At the end of the blooping cycle (when it slows down appreciably) prepare another one litre batch of water with about a kilo of sugar. Add to the keg and let go for another 9 days.

Once it's all done, strain the mix off through muslin cloth into sterilised bottles and cork.

Nothing to it!!

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Follow Up By: Jimbo - Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 21:03

Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 21:03
Thanks Omaroo.

Willie, when I said she's as sharp as a Dunny Rat, I meant her mind. My old Nanna hasn't, and never has, got a nasty bone in her body. Poor wording on my part. She's a gem.
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Reply By: Member - Willie , Epping .Syd. - Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 20:27

Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 20:27
Chris ,
If I sent you $25 to pay a deposit for fishing on your river , could you post me a bottle ? I would love to try it ( you do not have a licence , so I could not buy it from you )
Maybe you could member message me if this is OK .
Thanks ,
Willie .
AnswerID: 165658

Follow Up By: Member - Omaroo (NSW) - Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 20:38

Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 20:38
Hey Willie! WhereaboutsareyouinthebigNSW? Stuff the dollars - we have to catch up and swig a few over a campfire!

It's not exactly Grange mind you - it's still a bit sweet and spritzy - which will go with age. Apart from that it drinks well cold - kind of like a Spatelese Riesling.

Oh well! It is very noice!
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Follow Up By: Member - Willie , Epping .Syd. - Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 20:47

Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 20:47
Chris ,

You will have to pack and post and I would not like to see you out of pocket . I would member message you with my address , but I cannot figure out how . That's the problem with being thick .

Can you message me , or tell me how to do it please .

Willie .
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Follow Up By: Member - Omaroo (NSW) - Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 21:26

Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 21:26
I've sent you a message Willie :) We'll arrange it somehow soon!

If you prefer, my email address is:

chris@omaroo.net

Cheers
Chris

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Reply By: Member - Prickle (SA) - Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 21:08

Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 21:08
I was once told that 2 much home made wine makes you go blind.

Years ago, 5 of us bloke had the chance to try someones home made fruit wines in Melb. This was in the days when the lights were switched off at 1 am.

Well a session we had.

One guy, after too much fell asleep in the chair he was sitting, a couple of hours later the rest of us went to bed.

This other guy wakes up about an hour later and could not see a thing. He seriously thought that cos of all the HB wine he had gone blind.

LOL
Russ


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AnswerID: 165672

Follow Up By: Member - Omaroo (NSW) - Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 21:10

Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 21:10
Right now - I know how he feels!!

:)
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Follow Up By: revhead307 - Saturday, Apr 08, 2006 at 00:03

Saturday, Apr 08, 2006 at 00:03
fermenting fruits ends up with a higher % of methyl alcohol (the bad stuff) than fermenting grains etc. ethol is the good stuff.

hence contributing to worse hangovers etc. Cant vouch for blindness, but thats always been rumoured from drinking straight meths, attacks the optic nerve or some such.

Good to see homebrewing is alive and well. been making beer,dark ales, ginger beer and cider for 2.5 years (not long compared to the staunch brewers) but long enough to enjoy the rewards and notice the improvement in my beers over time.

Have made some killer tropical death (sunshine punch, fermented...ends up like over alcoholic sparkling grapefruit juice..) packs a kick like a mule.

wine...now thats something i've yet to try...

Rev
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Follow Up By: Member - Omaroo (NSW) - Saturday, Apr 08, 2006 at 08:39

Saturday, Apr 08, 2006 at 08:39
Well... it's morning now and after a lot of home-brew alco-juice last night I thought that I'd be suffering horribly this morning.

Apart from a slightly dry mouth (should have drunk more water before crashing) I feel absolutely fine :) No headache at all... for a change!

We'll see how I am this arvo.....
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Reply By: Member - Prickle (SA) - Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 21:19

Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 21:19
Enjoy.

I am enjoying a quiet port after riding 45 km on the push bike from Rowland s Flat to Kapunda (Barossa Valley) today. Was a great ride, but I am a bit knackered, port (Grape) , to bed, to listen to the footy.

Regards
Russ


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AnswerID: 165675

Follow Up By: Member - Omaroo (NSW) - Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 21:21

Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 21:21
I think that if I were to do the same, I'd end up sleeping on my face.
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Reply By: Bullwinkle - Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 21:28

Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 21:28
Omaroo; Does it need to be plums? Can you substitute that quantity with any fruit ( ie, mango, watermelon etc. ) Sounds bloody good and we're not always close to the bottle-o for supplies!
AnswerID: 165679

Follow Up By: Member - Omaroo (NSW) - Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 21:32

Friday, Apr 07, 2006 at 21:32
Sure Mr Bullwinkle :)

Any fruit with high sugars are oK.

We've used plums, pears, red apples, peach and...... Ribena!

So... try mangos, kiwi fruit, water melon or whatever you want. As long as it is naturally sweet.

It's all good - my folks even tried "grass" wine about 30 years ago and I still remenber it. Not bad at all..... ;)
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Follow Up By: Mike Harding - Saturday, Apr 08, 2006 at 09:18

Saturday, Apr 08, 2006 at 09:18
A _long_ time ago my ex. and I use to make wine from almost anything: tea leaves, rose petals, nettles etc as well as the usual fruits. The secret is not to rush things and to ensure temperatures are stable during the fermenting process. I remember one we did (rosehip maybe?) which was bloody awful when we opened the first bottle about 6 months after bottling so we put the remaining bottles at the back of the cupboard and forgot them. About one year later we remembered the rosehip wine and dared to try another bottle - absolutely beautiful!

Another time we bought a few bottles of expensive wine and a few bottles of cheap wine from two adjacent vineyards in southern France. The expensive wine was very nice and the cheap stuff was not bad. By the time we had driven them 1600km north a couple of days later the expensive wine was best used over chips and the cheap wine was excellent,
some wines just don’t travel well.

It's funny stuff is wine :)

Mike Harding
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FollowupID: 420649

Reply By: lau - Saturday, Apr 08, 2006 at 03:59

Saturday, Apr 08, 2006 at 03:59
Omaroo,
you haven't tasted any home made wine until you've tasted mulberry wine
beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeautiful
lau
AnswerID: 165744

Follow Up By: Member - Omaroo (NSW) - Saturday, Apr 08, 2006 at 08:36

Saturday, Apr 08, 2006 at 08:36
Mmmmmm.... mulberry wine........ :)

Yep - got to put that on the agenda!
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FollowupID: 420639

Reply By: GREENDOG - Saturday, Apr 08, 2006 at 18:10

Saturday, Apr 08, 2006 at 18:10
MMmmmm sounds good would'nt mind if you could send a bottle or two over here nothin better then sittin around a camp fire with a wine.cheer's GREENDOG
AnswerID: 165819

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