Sloe Wine?

The Homebrew Forum

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

wurge

Active Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2013
Messages
74
Reaction score
0
Location
East Sussex
Due to the glut of sloes my way, I am considering a sloe wine.

Does anyone have any tried and tested recipes? Thoughts, ideas? Success stories etc?

Many thanks!
 
Slightly discouraged from the lack of response, but I have found a reasonable looking recipe. Thanks
 
My Mum made it years ago, don't know the recipe but it was very good.

I'll see if she still has it...
 
Oh I did one of these two years ago - it was wonderful. I made up the recipe, but if it's anything like my others it would have been about 6kg of sugar for a 5 gallon bucket - I always add raisins and a banana too. Can't remember about the tannin - probably a mug of tea. It turned out around 15% - a bit higher than expected but not too sharp or too fruity.

It was the most amazing purpley/red clear jewel colour, and was the one that visitors wanted to take away a bottle of. DEFINITELY give it a go.
 
Athelstane said:
Oh I did one of these two years ago - it was wonderful. I made up the recipe, but if it's anything like my others it would have been about 6kg of sugar for a 5 gallon bucket - I always add raisins and a banana too. Can't remember about the tannin - probably a mug of tea. It turned out around 15% - a bit higher than expected but not too sharp or too fruity.

It was the most amazing purpley/red clear jewel colour, and was the one that visitors wanted to take away a bottle of. DEFINITELY give it a go.

You shouldn't need to add tannin given the amount naturally found in sloes. It's why they turn your mouth into the kalahari when you're foolish enough to eat one.

I recommend adding a couple of over-ripe bananas per gallon, including the skins. Just remember you'll need extra pectolase plus some amylase to deal with the pectin and starch, and will need to reduce the sugar slightly to compensate for the extra fermentables.

The only problem I've ever had with sloe wine is getting it to clear.
 
Excellent guys - thank you very much! If you could dig out that recipe I will certainly take note. So many sloes I might even do a 10gal batch... :D
 
I've not had a problem with the various things I've tried clearing - it MAY be because they're kept in the spare bedroom, which in Autumn/Winter has an ambient temperature of about 4-8 degrees.
 
I've recently moved into a new house with a cellar/below ground level bedroom, currently used for storage. I think I am going to clear a space in there specifically for clearing
 
Athelstane said:
I've not had a problem with the various things I've tried clearing - it MAY be because they're kept in the spare bedroom, which in Autumn/Winter has an ambient temperature of about 4-8 degrees.

It's been in the fridge for the last two months. I just took it out and added a second batch of kwik-clear. Hopefully that'll sort it. I've already tried bentonite, eggshells, pectolase and 6 months of patience.
 
*update*

I just checked the sloe wine and something is happening. A few hours ago there was only a thin film of sediment on the bottom of the DJ. There's now close to an inch :party:
 
I definitely did not bother. I THINK I just put them in the freezer for a few days, then poured boiling water over them so the skins burst. The stones are too large to be faffing about with.
 
Athelstane said:
I definitely did not bother. I THINK I just put them in the freezer for a few days, then poured boiling water over them so the skins burst. The stones are too large to be faffing about with.

I am so glad you said that. I didnt fancy trying to pick out the stones.
 
Back
Top