Parsnip wine recipe please!!

[beechwood]

Anyone got a good recipe for parsnip wine?? I've just dug up the last 15kg of parsnips out of my garden and was wondering if I could make some wine with them. any ideas??

 

[oldbloke]

2013-03-08
Scrub 2kg parsnips, slice&boil until tender (30mins-ish);
Strain into another pan onto 1kg sugar, 1.5Tbsp citric, 0.5Tbsp tartaric, 250g chopped raisins: simmer 45 mins;
Add crushed Campden tablet, into fermenting bin, water to about 4litres, leave 1 day,
add nutrient, half sachet yeast (Gervin No1 B GV9) and pectolase
Stirred daily ~10 days,
2013-03-18
Sieved into demijohn
2013-05-11
Racked & stabilised. Quite sharp, prolly be OK
2013-05-31 Bottled.

OK nearly a year later it's quite good but not great.
You know when on your first taste you think "not sure about this" but by the end of the bottle you're happy enough? Like that.
Think next time sultanas instead of raisins
It's lacking something else though. Might cut back the acid slightly and use some AJ instead of some of the water
Maybe GV9 isn't the best yeast for it.

 

[tonyhibbett]

Mine was very good. The quality of the parsnips could be the issue. Mine were home grown, organic,and freshly dug after frost. I was so pleased with the crop, I grew some the following year and they were rubbish in comparison!

 

[oldbloke]

Mine was very good. The quality of the parsnips could be the issue.

Recipe?

 

[tonyhibbett]

Just the standard 'First Steps' one. I also incorporated a kilo of parsnips in a 'Graves' recipe, along with a litre each of grape juice and pineapple juice,plus tartaric acid glycerine and honey. It was good to drink after just a month. It turned out medium sweet and more like Sauternes than Graves, but still very good stuff. Pineapple juice seems to throw off a lot of sediment, so I only got 5 bottles.

 

[tonyhibbett]

The 'Graves' was better than the plain parsnip wine, although more expensive to make. To reduce cost, I used just 2 jars of 'value' honey and made up the rest with sugar. Nonetheless, the honey flavour came through. It was a happy accident that it turned out semi sweet. The sweetness of roast parsnip is divine! Taking the sweetness out of the parsnip means a long wait, but eventually gives a dry sherry like wine, best suited as an aperatif.

 

[Tim_Crowhurst]

The quality of the parsnips could be the issue. Mine were home grown, organic,and freshly dug after frost.

The shape of the parsnips will give you a good idea as to the quality. In general, thinner roots have a better flavour, with more sugar and less starch. The flavour also changes within the root itself: close to the top there's more starch, and the proportion of sugar increases as you go down the root. If you end up with a crop of very large roots, your best option is to cut off the top 3" or so and use only the lower part for wine.

 

[tonyhibbett]

Interesting. Also it is claimed that the flavour improves with a touch of frost.

 

[Tim_Crowhurst]

A hard frost does. It starts the process that changes the starch into sugars.

 

[tonyhibbett]

No hard frosts as yet in the London area, so presumably you could enhance them by sticking them in the freezer overnight?

 

[Tim_Crowhurst]

I'd be stunned if you'd had even a hint of frost in London yet. Bedford averages 3-4C colder, and we've had only one very light frost this winter.

I'm not sure if freezing will have the same effect as a hard frost, but it will break down some of the cell walls, which is desirable.

 

[beechwood]

I've just purchased 'first steps in wine making' and there's a good looking recipe in there, maybe i'll give it ago.

 

[oldbloke]

CJJB tends to be a bit heavy on the sugar. Run a reality check calculation on the back of an old envelope before taking his word as gospel.

 

[tonyhibbett]

As I stated earlier, you get better results if you combine parsnips with other ingredients

 

[beechwood]

ok sure will do.....thanks

 

[Jonny69]

Here you go: viewtopic.php?f=41&t=36847