2 Lbs of Yellow Crab Apples
1.5 Lbs of Red Crab Apples
1/2 Lb of Sloes (Optional replacement for the strawberry juice)
300 grams of Young’s Strawberry Juice (1/3rd of a Can)
(Or 1 1/2 Lbs of sliced fresh strawberries)
Handful of fresh Elderflower Heads
Cup of strong tea.
1 gallon water
1 crushed campden tablet
1 tsp pectic enzyme
2-3 Lbs of sugar
1 tsp Citric Acid
2 tsp of yeast nutrients
Ritchies Port Yeast
Read more: Wine Recipe: Crab Apple w Strawberry Juice & Elderflower (Port Style)
This a nice variation in colour for a honey mead recipe, the flavour is still honey based, but has a warmer colour and flavour that looks great in the bottle.
First things first: Honey has no natural nutrients so needs a lot of yeast nutrients.
Honey doesn't ferment as fast as sugar so a little more patience might be needed.
When I was a young teenager in the South West of England getting hold of scrumpy or Mead was the most enjoyable use for alcohol. Back then, scrumpy was rough, usually flavoured with dead rat and Mead Wine was thick, sweet and liqueur-like ... and they both worked well on the tongue and senses.
However, I've not been able to recreate either (yet), but this is a Honey Mead Recipe that works. - Strictly speaking, adding Blackberries makes this mead a Melomel.
3 Lbs of Honey (1362 gms)
4 pints of water, 2 boiled, 2 cold
1Lb of crushed Blackberries
Juice of one lemon or 1 tsp Citric Acid
A strong cup of tea for tannin
2-3 tsp of TronOzymol yeast nutrient
Gervin Wine Yeast #1 Strain GV1
When topping this Mead Wine up use a hydrometer. Only add as much honey water as you need to reach an SG that will drop around 95 points in total.
This red currant wine recipe is easy. It clears fast, matures quickly and tastes perfect. It's worth making as much as you can, red currant wines are thin without the red grape juice, but bright red and unmistakably fruity.
4 lb Red Currants
1 campden tablet
1 tsp Pectolase
1/2 litre of Red Aldi Rio D'Oro grape juice
2-3 Lbs of sugar
1 lemon
6 pints of Water
TronOzymol yeast nutrient
A good quality red wine yeast
4 Lbs of Sloes
300 grams of Young’s Strawberry Juice (1/3rd of a Can)
(Or 1 1/2 Lbs of sliced fresh strawberries)
Cup of strong tea
1 gallon water
1 crushed campden tablet
1 tsp pectic enzyme
2-3 Lbs of sugar
1 tsp Citric Acid
2 tsp of yeast nutrients
Ritchies Port Yeast
Read more: Wine Recipe: Sloe w Strawberry Juice (Port Style)
A blackcurrant wine recipe is not ribena for adults. If you have access to Blackcurrant bush you'll have already made ribena and jam so use this Blackcurrant Wine Recipe to turn these guys into something special.
4 Lbs of Blackcurrants
1 gallon water
1 crushed campden tablet
1 tsp pectic enzyme
1 tsp citric acid
2.5 Lbs of sugar
1 tsp of yeast nutrients
Bordeaux Yeast
Again, this blackcurrant wine recipe is more reliable if you don't put as much sugar in as I did the first time. The rule is really to only add as much sugar as you need to reach an SG of say 1.080 - 1.085 and that will almost guarantee a dry ferment at 12%.
