Tanglefoot brew-a-long

Following on from private messages between myself and crE we have decided to do a brew-a-long of parsnip wine, known in at least one region of the UK as tanglefoot. No fancy sherry making type methods, just a simple recipe from berry's book. The provisional date for starting this is Monday coming. Please join in if you feel inclined, and don't wait til monday if you wanna get cracking at the weekend.

The basic recipe follows (this for 2.5 gallons)

3 kilos parsnips
2 tablespoons citric acid
11 litres water
1.5 kilos sugar
Yeast, nutrient, pectic enzyme

edit : the sugar should read upto 1.5 kg per gallon, depending on how much sugar you get outta your parnsips, and how strong you want the wine to be!

Scrub and scrape parsnips, then slice and boil until tender BUT NOT MUSHY.
Strain through a coarse cloth into a fermenting bin (don't hurry, press or force it)
Add the sugar to the liquor and the citric acid. bring to the boil and simmer for 3/4 hour.
Return to the fermenting bin, add remaining water and yeast, nutrient and enzyme once the temp has dropped to 21'C.
Cover closely and keep warm for 10 stirring each day.
Strain into demijohns, fit airlocks and leave for 6 months in a cooler place (by which time it should be clearing).
Rack off the lees and condition for a further 6 months

This is a condensed form of berry's recipe for medium parsnip wine, from first steps in wine-making.

Hey percival,

Yes indeed I'll be brewing alongside you!

As usual, I have my nagging questions ready!! :rofl:

i've already got all my answers in a spreadsheet, i'll be rolling a dice to pick them ;-)

rofl, i like 13, and i keep thinking it myself! i reckon that if we are the only two doing this then 13 could be the reason why!

crE said:

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:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

:lol:

Haha yep percy I know what you mean. I may push myself to make 2 gallons, one for now, the other for 2010 :shock:

tanglefoot 2010: a brewing odyssey

Have a great brew day on monday :thumb:

i'm wondering whether to use a mix of acids, citric, malic and tartaric.

does anyone know whether this will improve the brew or simply speed up the fermentation a little?

A blend is normally preferred . . . watch the Tartaric though if too much carries through to the end product it will throw a deposit of tartrate crystals . . . hence the need for a decanter with fine old red wines . . . can't remember what the recommendation is though IIRC its something like 50:30:20 T:M:C but dont use that where the acid level is over 4.5ppt where you would want 50:30:20 T:M:C

Recommended reading - Progressive Winemaking by Acton And Duncan

Thanks aleman, i think the ratio you mention is similar to, or the same as, Berry. Tho he doesnt give much detail at all about what each acid does. He does mention the crystals too. Do you know what each acid lends to the end product?

and the book you recommend, i'll look it up on amazon.

I'm hijacking my own thread now lol

further thoughts on acid mix. As this is a pretty serious wait for the result wine, i reckon mine will be in a demijohn for the best part of a year. If so will these crystal likely form before i bottle. it'll be somewhere cold for the last few months which should help. will they all drop out pretty much simultaneously (thats usual with crystals, they tend to 'grow' happily once started. or are they a bit unusual and grow very slowly? Apart from having a deposit do they spoil the wine, seems not judging by your fine old wine comment, but i don't think parsnip will fit that description somehow!

looked up your book, no reviews, two copies, one new for £35 ish (yikes) the other 2nd hand for 75p!!!! tried a quick google but don't see any reviews there either. Is this a very serious brewers book, or is it also good for the casual hobbyist brewer?

percival said:

looked up your book, no reviews, two copies, one new for £35 ish (yikes) the other 2nd hand for 75p!!!! tried a quick google but don't see any reviews there either. Is this a very serious brewers book, or is it also good for the casual hobbyist brewer?

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If you have been making country wines for a while then it is a step up from Berry . . . and considerably more accurate . . . The recipes work for one thing . . . I'm not surprised that there are no reviews as it is from the same era as First steps, and for 75p its a good buy

A more recent book is Must by Gerry Fowles, again more in depth than Berry, but not a techno brew geek bible :lol:

Today is the day for the start of my 2010 odyssey.

I'm gonna tinker with the basic recipe a bit to try an enhance some of the qualities/textures and flavours i have heard/read about. A most common flavour i hear talked about is something akin to whisky! As a whisky fan, and one who enjoys single malts, i'll be trying to introduce just a little oiliness and a little fire, with some citrus zest and fresh root ginger. I'm a little sceptical about it tasting like whisky but hey there's so much variety among those single malts that i'm gonna try to have an open mind.

Some recipes say get parsnips after the first frost, some say february, some say young parsnips, some don't say anything specific. Found one neat olde recipe that used the method of floating the yeast using some dried burnt toast.

If there are any extremely patient folks out there who are willing and able to do the hardest part of brewing .... waiting ..... then roll up and prepare yourself for yummy smells in the kitchen while you scrape kilos of parnsips. or tune in again in a year (if we can find the thread again) to find out what's happened. Or drop in with your comments, helpful, unhelpful, friendly, pedantic, suppliers of curious facts, bantering, brew-along-ing, whatever. Talk about whisky v whiskey, how it can't possibly taste like a single malt without malt :rofl: , tanglefoot - beer or wine - which came first and how it cant really be tanglefoot (wine) if its not using hampshire parnsips or brewed in hamsphire with hamsphire water :lol: . or even just quietly observe while time does its business with little outside disturbance ...

percival said:

Found one neat olde recipe that used the method of floating the yeast using some dried burnt toast.

Click to expand...

What a brilliant idea, take some yeast that has been carefully prepared to be as pure and bacteria free as possible, and shove it onto a bacteria laden environment, rather than in the wort where it would actually do some good!

FFS

ah the clue would be in the word 'olde'. i dare say that yeasts of the quality that we use these days haven't always been around. i'd also guess that a piece of freshly burnt toast doesnt have that much live bacteria in it. but nevertheless i'm not going the floaty boaty yeast route. sounds fun but i never had a problem with yeast getting going (apart from some that was years out of date) or being in the right place (top/bottom) yet.

anyone thinking of doing this, please check the edit on the basic recipe otherwise you'll likely end up with a wine around 7-9% ABV

I'm gonna do this either saturday or sunday, I've obtained some yeast nutrient now! So its all go.

Although I still need a few hints.

I know ive asked before, and im a sucker for it.

But when you "strain", is it just a case of pouring the parsnips and water into the straining bag over the fermentation bin? I take it none of the parsnips actually make it into the FV?