Homebrew Wednesday #8: Pineapple Wine

Back in October I was at work and one of my CT's was asking me about my brewing adventures. Of course I was more than happy to fill her in on the variety of wines and beers I had already brewed and wanted to brew in the future. She suggested pineapple.

I agreed.

I found the perfect juice at Jason's, an upscale supermarket in the basement of Chung You Department Store. It came in juice boxes of one liter each, just what I needed, so I grabbed four of 'em and high tailed it back to my place. The boxes reminded me of the BIOES juice that I'd used before and I guess I should have checked for fruit pulp/silt after my adventures with my mango wine. I would reccommend doing this if you are brewing with 100% juice as this could mean there is still some particulate matter in the container.

The recipe:

  • 4L Prince Pineapple Juice
  • 1 cup white table sugar
  • 1.5 sachet of Lalvin EC-1118 yeast
Read More

Homebrew Wednesday #6: The Mango (mis?)Adventure

I spent a day a few weeks ago home sick with a cold and after spending pretty much the entire day in front of the computer, in bed, or on the couch, I wanted to do something. I'd taken a packet of my champagne yeast out of the fridge a few days before, so I thought I'd use it.

My last two batches of wine had been relatively common juices, apple and an apple-peach-passionfruit blend, and I was always on the hunt for something new. Hence, why I was walking through the juice aisle at Carrefoure, again, and I happened to see BIOES 100% Mango Juice. Carrying enough back to make a batch wouldn't be easy as I have no storage space on my motorcycle, but then I'd never seen mango before and I thought I should get it in case it disappeared.

I probably stood in that aisle for a full five minutes debating on whether I should buy it or not. In the end, my curiosity won out and I grabbed four 1 liter boxes of the stuff and jammed them in my bag.

Read More

Homebrew Wednesday #3: Weisswine Batch 2

While enjoying my Coopers IPA I got the itch to brew something, again. I was already stocked up on beer so I thought I'd make some more Weisswine, and experiment a bit more this time.

Sue and I made a trip to Costco and I bought 14 liters of juice to ferment into alcohol-filled-tasty-goodness; 8 liters of Treetop apple juice and about 7 liters of Kirkland apple peach passionfruit. I grabbed the apple because I'd wanted to make something hard-apple since I saw a recipe for Apfelwein floating around on a few forums. Once I saw the APPF juice Sue said that it sounded tasty as well, so I bought both.

The recipe:

Hard Apple

  • 4 liters of Treetop apple juice
  • 2 cups white table sugar
  • 1 cup boiled raisin nutrients
  • 1/2 sachet Lalvin EC-1118 yeast

APPF

  • 2.87 liters of apple peach passionfruit juice
  • 700 ml of Treetop apple juice
  • 1 cup boiled raisin nutrients
  • the other 1/2 of a sachet of Lalvin EC-1118 yeast

I went with different juices for these because the BIOES juice I used last time was ok, but not that great, and these are sold in bulk. I also wanted to make something that actually tasted good. I added a bunch of sugar to each one to up my ABV, but I varied the amount slightly to see how it affects the taste. More importantly, this time I had proper yeast! Bread yeast did the trick just fine last time but a lot of the off flavors and dryness were probably primarily due to that as well as the high fermentation temperature. Bread yeast is not made for making booze.

Read More

Home Brew Wednesday #2: Inmate Wine

Happy home brew Wednesday. Let's get right into it, eh?

After I'd brewed two beers with my Coopers Kit, I felt hungry for some more brewing experiences, and did some homework. That, friends, is how I stumbled upon Inmate Brew.

Inmate Brew itself is notorious throughout countless correctional institutions across the United States, and abroad I'm sure. It is also called pruno, which is not what I made, as that is made with bread as a yeast substitute or relies on rotting fruit for fermentation. Yum. Obviously I have a touch more freedom with my materials as I'm not a convicted felon doing five-to-ten in Leavenworth.

At least, not yet.

Tehee!

Read More