The apple harvest is finally over and finished with. The result of 90lbs of apples has been transformed into 80 pints of scrumpy cider and 30 bottles of Apple Wine. We are looking forward to lots of lovely appley drinks next year.
The last of the buckets of apples that have been soaking in water to make apple juice, has now been set to ferment. Out of the three huge bags of apples we were kindly given we have been able to make 25 bottles of Apple Wine and 10 gallons of Apple Cider.
We have also just bottled another 30 bottles of Rosé Wine.
The rush of the autumn harvest is definitely a long way behind us now.
… And none ready to drink.
We are still swamped down with apple products here at Daisy Cottage. We have 30 bottles of Apple Wine just about cleared and ready for bottling.
We are also are in the middle of bottling 5 gallons of cider. And we have another 5 gallons of soaking and waiting to be fermented. But it is unlikely these will be drinkable right now, so more and more stuff to stash in the cellar and patiently wait for.
It is a releif that we have some Rosé Wine fermenting which should be ready in a few weeks. So we do actually have something to drink.
James and Maddie
Another weekend and there is still lots to here at Daisy Cottage…
Today it was bottling all the wines and chilli ginger beer which have cleared. The Elderberry and Bramble wines are now sitting in the cellar and will be ready in another year. The Elderberry wine was tasted and it tasted pretty good now (if a little green).
James and Maddie
It has been a while since there has been an update so here goes…
Apple Wine The apple wine which was made at the end of the September has finished fermenting and has been bottled into demijohns and has been popped into the cellar and left to clear.
Apple Cider Thanks to Bob T we had a delivery of yet more apples (and I believe there is more to come) so we currently have 30lbs of apples soaking in 4 gallons of water in the cellar which should be ready for pressing this weekend. That may take some time.
Alcoholic Chilli Ginger Beer We have been making chilli ginger beer. The recipe is pretty easy, 10 pints of water, root ginger and chilli to taste and add sugar and yeast. The more sugar the stronger the alcohol. This is currently fermenting in the cellar.
Autumn Fruit Wines The Elderberries and Blackberries that we picked had been left in sugar and water to make syrup for wine making, after a few weeks we pressed the syrup giving us a gallon of elderberry syrup and a gallon of blackberry and elderberry syrup. We added yeast to these and they have been happily fermenting with a heating band around them in the kitchen.
It being autumn and all the apple harvest commenced, which means lots and lots of work here at Daisy Cottage.
Yesterday we were coring cutting up and boiling 20lbs of apples. Boiling them for 10 – 15 minutes and straining the juice for making Apple Wine. This job took around 4 hours all in all. The you just add sugar and yeast and wait.
We also started some Elderberry Wine and some Blackberry Wine fermenting. And all of the other jobs on our list were taken care of.
So it’s a well deserved rest now here at Daisy Cottage.
James and Maddie
The work schedule for the weekend ahead…
This hobby is turning into a small scale industry. And this is before we start to think about painting the cellar and putting up the racks.
On a lighter note we have had lots of feedback from people who have been given sample bottles, the general consensus is that it is quite strong and we have had no complaints about the taste, just some of the bottles contain some sediment but I think we can live with that for now.
James and Maddie
The comes the tedious (yet relaxing and therapeutic in a mindless acitvity type of way) job of getting all those little elderberris off the stalks. And the same has to be done with the brambles, then we can start the wine making.
James and Maddie
A second batch of rose-hip wine was started today. Here is the plan we used.
Start with a good recipe book,which has a rose-hip wine recipe, this always helps.
Take 4 pounds of recently picked ripe Rosehips (or picked a few days ago and fresh out the freezer in our case.
Get someone to top and tail them for you, you don’t need the leaves.
Chop them, mash them or if you are lazy magimix them into a rough pulp.
Place into a large container along with 1 gallon of hot water, 3lb of sugar and the juice of a lemon.
Leave it for an hour to cool, then add 1/2 ounce of brewers yeast. Place the lid on and leave in a warm place for 10 says stirring daily.
Whent he 10 days are up strain the pulp out and place the liquid into a demijohn with a bubbler.
Wait for the liquid to stop bubbling and then it is ready to be bottled and left in the cellar to be drunk in 6 months time.
James and Maddie x
The good old British summer seems to have stopped all the blackberries ripening. So it seems that unless we can get some serious sun in the next couple of weeks there will be no blackberries to pick.
So we are getting on with bottling the pear wine and should be starting fermenting the rose-hips we have been collecting.
Looks like the late summer, early autumn harvest isn’t going to go as well as expected.
James and Maddie
The Daisy Cottage Wine and Ale Co. 