Hi all tried a bottle of this on special offer was quite nice wondered if anyone knew of a recipe.


Currently have Wurzels Orange, Cranberry and Red Grape and Blueberry and Red Grape. Don't know what we did different with the Wurzels this time but the SG was 1100 last time we struggled to get it up to 1085. The other two SG 1094

HOPE THIS HELPS -

5 gallons water
1-1 1/2 lbs. ginger root, coarsley chopped
17 cups sugar
4 lemons, sliced
3/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1 packet champagne yeast



Boil as much of the water as will fit in your largest pot.

Squeeze in lemons and add squeezed bits.

Add ginger root and cream of tartar.

Add as much sugar as you can if there's room.

Simmer gently for 20-30 minutes.

Put remaining sugar, if any, in 5 gallon plastic pail or similar.

Pour water mixture over.

Add remaining water to 5 gallons and cool to lukewarm.

Taste - this will approximate the taste of the finished product. If necessary add more ginger or ginger powder.

Dissolve yeast in a cup of the mixture, then stir it back in.
Cover and ferment for 7 days at 65-70°F.

Siphon into sterilised bottles (I use 2-litre pop bottles). Cap. Age upright for one week at 60-65°F then store in cool place at 60°F or less.

If necessary release pressure in bottles occasionally to prevent explosions! Take care when opening bottles - can be very lively!!

Drink as is (will be 5-7% alc. by volume). Is also very good, but deadly, mixer for gin on a hot summer's day.

where do you get cream of tartare from ?

From what i remember from my school days. home economics classes - Cream of Tartar is a natural, pure ingredient left behind after grape juice has fermented to wine.

just got this of the net - Cream of tartar is the common name for potassium hydrogen tartrate and also tartaric acid, an acid salt that has a number of uses in cooking. It is obtained when tartaric acid is half neutralized with potassium hydroxide, transforming it into a salt. Grapes are the only significant natural source of tartaric acid, and cream of tartar is obtained from sediment produced in the process of aging wine. It is found on the insides of the wine barrels and sometimes at the bottom of bottles of wine. It crystallizes out as a hard crust in the barrels.

The home baking section of your local supermarket.

Fantastic will be trying that if Mr Witch will release fermenting bucket although may just make a gallon as a trial yes Cream of Tarter is sold in Tesco in home baking section near Bicarb and baking powder.

Ther i go again she said where not what.

I enjoyed reading it anyway DS

I've done that recipe a couple of times (here's the first time), it's pretty good but really sticky, what you do have to watch out for is that it goes from weak to way too dry in the space of about a week, and you need to either drink all 40 pints in the space of a week, or stop fermentation when it's sliightly sweeter than you want it to end up. I used sodium metabisulphite to stop fermentation the second time, potassium sorbate's not the right tool for the job. Really good stuff!

Alternatively you could let it go up to 8-9%, which is almost sandpaper-dry, and sweeten, but the best flavour (in my opinion) is when it's about 5%. Careful with this bugger, it changes quickly, and good luck!

there you go again shes an he

Just wondering why potassium sorbate's not the right tool for the job? Made a batch of this a couple of days ago and want to stop it around 5% (which i reckon will be at about 1014). Was thinking a crushed campden tablet and some pottassium sorbate; any advice gratefully received.

The reason is that excess potassium sorbate produces off flavours, and it's less effective at low alcohol levels. You can see a table (for wine) at http://www.bcawa.ca/winemaking/sorbate.htm.

Campden tab on the other hand, should be a winner

Thanks leondz.

Would you recomend campden tablet + potasium sorbate, or just campden tablet? I thought i read somewhere that campden tablets alone don't effectively stop fermentation.

To give it the best chance, I'd put in 1tsp potassium sorbate and 1 crushed tablet, stir gently (without disturbing any crap at the bottom), leave for half a day and then rack it off. It's not a disaster if you wait 24 hours. Stopping fermentation is difficult and this yeast & recipe really go at it like the clappers so ymmv, if anyone else on the forum has a more precise method I'd be interested to hear!

To effectively stop an actively fermenting must, chill the must to below 5C, leave for a day or two and there should be a lot of sedimentation of the yeast, rack into a separate vessel and then add the campden and sorbate treatment, the crash cooling will cause a hell of a lot of the active yeast to fall out of suspension giving the chemicals more chance to be effective

After a week mine has only got to 1040, so seems to be going far too slowly. Temp in the room is fine, so not sure what's happening. Its still fizzing away, but don't really know what to do to get it going properly. Thinking of sticking some more yeast in, but have no champayne yeast. Anyone know (or have a theory) why this recipe uses champayne yeast? Reason i ask is becaues i'm thinking of just ading to Youngs general purpose yeast.