Rhubarb Wine

Rained today for the 1st time in weeks but only in the morning and fairly lightly. I did some weeding and the ground was bone-dry underneath.

Picked some more rhubarb with the intention of making rhubarb wine. From the recipes it seems I don't have enough to make a 1 gallon batch so I scaled back to about a third. Next year when I have 2 plants to harvest, I should be able to make up a proper batch.

I looked at my Quince trees on the way up. A couple of weeks ago the one tree was in bloom and I could see tiny fruit develop. Now, nothing. Like they all fell off or something.

On the other hand all the apple trees are bearing fruit and so is my pear tree. It didn't blossom last year so looking forward to fresh pears. The walnut tree is fruiting too so I have to remember when to harvest them for pickled walnuts. Best thing I made last years so I'll have the lot pickled this year!

How to Malt Barley

A useful video as I have some barley corn to sow this year and, hopefully, get a decent crop at the end of the year. If it works I'll be making my own beer from scratch. Probably taste awful though!

A useful link about growing your own hops.

Did a bit of research. Had I ordered the same beer kits in the UK and have them delivered to my old address the total would have been only £7 less than what I paid to have them delivered here from Belgium!

Next year I'll order half again the number of kits which should make it even more economic. (Just in case the homebrew from scratch doesn't work ;)

Brew Day

Made up the 1st brew. Forgot how heavy 5 gallons of water is!

The only thing I did different to the instructions was making up the yeast before putting it in the "wort". Apparently the yeast works better if you put it in some warm water about half an hour before putting it in.

Cider

I don't think I mentioned that the apple juice was a different colour and smelled different to the 1st batch I did. The apples looked different too. This means I can get a different variety to the ones I already have by having some of the local trees. I'll need three.

Today I re-racked the cider into a new demijohn. Well, not new exactly but a different one that I'd sterilised. I strained it though some nylon netting which I've brought over with the intention of using as "cheeses" in an apple press. Got about a double fistful of pulp out of it.

Of course, siphoning does mean you get a mouthful of whatever your siphoning but at least this was Cider rather than, say, petrol! This batch tasted rather sweeter and less dry than my previous batch.

Should be ready in about a fortnight.

Oh yes, before I forget. Today was a bank holiday and anniversary of 1956. I think it was this time last year I accidentally took my parents to the middle of a riot, as you do.

Stout again

Sampled some of the stout and it was incredibly sweet. I'll take another reading to check but its undrinkable at the moment.

Stout

Today I was trying to go to Szentgotthard but as it was time to check on the state of my beer I dropped the hydrometer in the fermenter. Spot on 1000 so time to rack it off. Filled the barrel and one bottle which I give to one of the locals on Friday.

Cider

Today I sampled the cider.

It was drinkable but not one of the best I've tasted. It was extremely Tannic, to the extent it was very hard to tell if it was sweet or dry. Next year I think I'll ferment the juices separately and then blend them together. I'll need more airlocks and demijons.

Not sure how strong it was but I had a filthy headache in the morning.

Kalium

Went to the shop early and got 2 loaves of bread to last the weekend. i always seem to run out Sunday. While I was there discovered some "Kalium diszulfit". Now Kalium is the Latin name which is used to give the chemical symbol for Potassium (K). So this was in fact Potassium DiSuplhite, which is an acceptable substitute for Camden tablets. Here, home brewing isn't a hobby for the slightly odd but something virtually every household indulges in.

Won't be using it so much this year, as the fruit season is well nigh finished but will be using next year when I hop to be producing a lot more Cider... or vinegar... or chucking dirty water away.

I've also found a supplier of apple trees which, while a bit more expensive than the local ones, has the advantage of being able to pick the characteristics of the fruit I want and in this case I'd like more sour ones. I'll order some for October and plant 3 near the ones I have.

Next year I also hope to have a beehive and bees to help with the pollination.

Scytyhed 2 more rows before getting ready for my weekly trip to Kormend. I've now roughly hacked out a box shape which I hope to clear this weekend. I also gave the Knotweed another squirt for luck.


As with all the best English blogs in Halogy, heres my scythe.

Was very tempted in Kormend to get a bottle of Port but decided to get a bottle of wine instead!

My 1st Cider Batch

My 1st Cider Batch
Originally uploaded by A John Walters

The bottles and demijons were delivered today. By the same chap. He seemed to be wondering what I was up to but Ihad no idea what he said!

The bottles looked either secondhand or have been stored in and old shed for a while as they were covered in dust. So I washed them all out and then sterelised the demijons.

Once I'd rinsed them out I racked off the cider. Since I was using a siphon I caught a mouthful of the stiff and its seems prety drinkable now! Defintely not apple juice now.

Cleaned out the fermatation vessal (posh word for a large bucket) and put my stout kit to work. I'll be able to mix my own poor mans black velvet in a few weeks!

Apples

Missed the early cool part so caught up on some of the indoors jobs I've left.

Loaded up my bucket with apples. Theres only a few left now so I'll probably check them when I go past and eat them on the move. I'll be trying my hand at apple crumble as I can freeze that.

Cider

I harvested most of the apples before I went to Budapest but hadn't done anything else with them. The idea was to get a fruit crusher and then use a fruit press to extract the juice.

Didn't seem like that many so I got out my electric juicer and started with that. I filled the bucket with water so the apples got most of the major crap washed off them without the wild yeasts being cleaned off too. I chopped them into manageable bit with the cleaver. There were a few more apples than I thought so next year a fruit crusher will be acquired.

Got about 5-10L of juice in my fermentation vessel so I sealed the lid and put an airlock in it. Apparently the wild yeasts take a few weeks to get going. This is a bit of an experiment as ideally I should have dosed it with sulphur and used wine yeast, especially as I'm a beginner! Well, we'll see.

I'll probably get some demijohns in a week or so and rack off the juice in to them to carry on fermenting so I can free up the fermentation vessel for beer. I've also located an Austrian firm that does UK beer kits... and wine kits... and bread kits... and stills!