A new batch of ingredients and equipment arrived today courtesy of the Mentor! We have enough kit now for our next three brews and some tools he has specially designed and built.

He got us a different brand of spray malt – “Hambleton Bard” which he recommends using together with the Muntons to give more body to the beer. As usual his instruction do not match the instructions on the kits, but we’ve got enough stuff now to start experimenting!

Now… having been away in Germany, and leaving the ginger unattended, I was pleased to come home to find the Ginger on fire. Wopped my head inside the bucket for a good noseful, and it certainly put me in a happy place, and singed most of the hairs up my nose. Got it all in the demijohn and now I sit and wait…

Finally got round to bottling the banana wine thats been knocking around in a demijohn for goodness knows how long. Fendog was unavailable to help with the siphoning as he was getting his nostrils plucked. As a result, I disturbed the impressive sediment and the last bottle looks like a milkshake.

The others look great but I unfortunately I forgot to taste some. Will just have to wait and see.

This is the recipe I used:

2kg over-ripe bananas
4.5l water
1.1kg granulated sugar
250ml white grape juice concetrate
2 lemon (juice + grated rind)
1tsp pectolase
1tsp yeast
1tsp yeast nutrient
1tsp tannin

The recipe was from Turner & Turner (except I used grape concentrate instead of raisins) but it wasn’t clear if you were meant to peel the bananas or not. I peeled but I reckon that might have been wrong.

Its a fun recipe to make – I’ve never boiled a banana before. They look like a pan full of floating white turds, but they smell a lot better. In fact the whole house smelt of bananas for days (which does not happen when you boil a pan of turds, believe me).

To while away the evenings at New Word Alive, I also took a bottle of my untried parsnip wine. Whilst the less discerning went off to hear some naff christian band each night, the rest of us piled into our chalet to crack open the homebrew.

Was quite surprised when I opened the parsnip wine though - it had gone fizzy! That wasn’t supposed to happened. Proabably due to a malolactic fermentation -if you are a bit lax with sterilisation, a second fermentation can take place in the bottle and carbonate it. Can cause all sorts of problems but occassionally it can lead to some very pleasant result. And that was certainly the case this time – everyone loved it! Result.

A nice sparkling white (well, kind of orangey in colour…)

Each year I get a glut of raspberries on my allotment – far too many to eat. At the end of last summer I was struggling to get down their to pick them often enough and by the time I did, most were past their best. It was a shame to waste them so I made a experimental liqueur with them.

This week I took a bottle to New Word Alive to try it for the first time. It looked and smelt great! Really deep red and very raspberry-y (is that a word?).  

Having nothing better to drink it out of, we lined up all the chalet’s egg-cups, poured a round, and knocked them back….

Whoa!!!! This stuff rocks like a bad-boy!!

No. Not together. That would be worse than dodgy. Wacked the mint in the demijohn today, and continue to be suspicious of it. However, did get the ginger on the go today, and this I am excited about. It’s going to be a fortified wine using brandy as the fortifier. It’s supposed to be a real winter warmer. Here’s my recipe:

Ingredients:
4.5 litres (8 pints) water
1.4 kg (3 lb) sugar
One lemon – zest and juice
1 tsp fresh yeast
110g (4 oz) raisins: stoned and chopped
40g (1½ oz) ginger, peeled and bruised
150 ml (5 fl oz) brandy

Method:
Add the water, sugar, lemon zest and bruised ginger to a very clean saucepan. Bring to the boil, simmer for 1 hour. Remove any scum and transfer to a large bowl. When it is luke-warm, add the yeast and leave transfer to a brew bucket.

Next day, strain the lemon juice and add to the mix along with the chopped raisins.

Stir the wine every day for 14 days. Add the brandy. Stop the vessel down by degrees and in a few weeks it will be ready to bottle.

I’ve been excited about doing a mint wine for some time now, although response to this has been mixed. Finally got started, but immediately felt this may be an error. Still, you’ve got to try these things, even if it does end up tasting like mouthwash as most suspect.