Posted on 08/27/2022 6:29:31 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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Wow that is outstanding! Very impressed with your process. We gave done capicolas more than a few times. Had to buy a meat slicer so we could slice it really thin. Worth it! I am going to save your technique as I have been wanting to try something like that with beef.
Looks great! We need a smoker. I love smoked fish pate. :)
After yesterday’s canning marathon, I am totally goofing off, today.
And, it’s raining - which never hurts! :)
Poorboy’s Apple Wine (This can be done with any 100% fruit juice. I just use apple juice because it’s cheapest and I don’t mind the taste)
6 - 64 fl oz bottles of apple juice (100% juice or juice from concentrate - no preservatives, corn syrup or HFCS - added ascorbic or citric acid is ok because they’re naturally found in fruits)
1 clean, empty 64 fl oz bottle
Pour off from each bottle as much as you can fit into a 1 cup glass/Pyrex measuring cup(approx 9.1 fl oz and pour into the empty bottle
This will give you 7 bottles with about the same head space 9.1x6=54.6 poured into empty | 64-9.1=54.9 is how much is left in new bottles after pouring off 9.1.
Add 1 cup sugar to each bottle, cap it and shake until sugar is dissolved. Usually requires a second shaking.
Add 1/2 tsp of Fleischmann’s Active Yeast(red packet or jar) - cap it and give it a quick shake
Store in cool dark place for a minimum of two weeks WITH CAPS LOOSENED. The caps should be just loose enough to wiggle them a little and/or squeeze air out of the bottle. If the cap is too tight, pressure will build up and the cap will blow off violently and spew juice/wine everywhere. I always check the bottles in a few hours to make sure they’re not bulging and I’ll check them again a few hours after that, especially if I had to loosen any caps.
The pouring off of approx 9.1 fl oz and ending up with the same head space in all 7 bottles is a practice makes perfect thing. I get pretty close these days. There’s a little ridge on most of the rim on the inside of my Pyrex measuring cup and if I fill it until it’s just at the bottom of the ridge, it’s perfect.
Solids/sludge will settle to the bottom so careful movements and careful pouring are required. You’ll end up with 3/4 inch remaining in the bottle to avoid the sludge. That stuff can be tossed.
Once a bottle is in the fridge and cold, the cap can be tightened. The fridge is also how you “cold crash” it to stop fermentation which is useful to prevent it from getting stronger or stopping it when the taste is right for you.
Dollar General sells their store brand of apple juice for $2.95 per 64 fl oz bottle. You end up with 3.5 gallons of wine with an ABV of 10-11% for around $20.
3.5 gallons is 448 fl oz for $20
A 30 pack of Natural Light is around $20, is 360 fl oz and 1/3 of the ABV
Cheap beer is 3-4 times the price of the wine by ABV per fl oz. In layman’s terms, it’s a cheap buzz.
Since the wine is fairly strong, it can be mixed with any clear carbonated drink to make DIY wine coolers. You could also mix it with caffeine containing sodas to make your own alcohol zoom zoom drink. A poor man’s Red Bull type drink.
I just pour some in a half pint canning jar that’s jammed into a coozie and drink both beer and wine at the same time, alternating sips.
Thanks! I’ve done it a few times over the years, after beng frustrated about not being able to find pastrami here.
I was following a very good, down to earth, chef online, and she posted both the corned beef, and pastrami recipes I use.
http://blackgirlchefswhites.com/wordpress/2011/04/07/homemade-pastrami/
We use our weber grill as a smoker. A narrow ring of charcoal about 2/3 of the way around the grill. About 2 coals thick. Make sure they are all overlapping like dominoes. Soak some hickory chips for an hour or so. Lay over the coals. Just light one end. No fluid on all the charcoal. It will take hours to burn around and if yours has a temperature gauge all the better. 200 or thereabouts. And put in a metal loaf pan with water off to the side or below.
One of my best imprinted memories I have is when you are done with a big load of canning, you are relaxing/half passing out, and listening to the lids seal one at a time. What a great feeling.
How could you do that with cherry juice? So the end wine was sweet not dry?
Unfortunately, discontinued. We bought ours at Costco about 30 years ago, and it is still doing great.
https://www.thespruceeats.com/brinkmann-smoken-pit-professional-smoker-336193
At two weeks, the apple wine has some sweetness. Tastes almost like a mild screwdriver and has about the same color. It's still pretty cloudy by then. It takes months to go clear and then it is dry.
Some people will add sugar back to a longer fermented wine. I don't know the process but there are plenty of youtube videos out there of people making wine from store bought juice. Probably add it while it's warm, shake it and then stick it in the fridge to settle and stop fermentation.
Exported the notes I took which has several links as a pdf file. https://permasteader.route66custom.com/cloud/index.php/s/yFjnDjwNWmmEXHy
I'm using the zero equipment method. I do have one airlock like the one on the left that will fit the 64oz bottles but since I'm running 7 at a time, I'd need 6 more. The more proper way is to use 5 gallon carboys but I don't have a lot of room here so the bottles work best.
My neighbor makes grape wine, I think from frozen concentrate. Most times I've tried it, I didn't like it but last time it was pretty good. He said it was 5 months old and had been siphoned from one carboy to another, minus sludge, three times. That's how you get a nice clear wine. His process is similar to the four part video series in my notes under Nice Wine. That guy bottles it up in real wine bottles with the plastic things down over the top of the bottle to make them look more like store bought. Bottling is actually called racking. I guess because the bottles would go on the wine rack in the wine cellar?
I took those notes as notes for me so if there's anything you don't understand, let me know. After a good length of time, sometimes I don't even understand my notes. LOL
You were the one to ask. My dad made cherry wine from a pie cherry tree in our backyard in Chicago. He bottled it in the old coke bottles with a screw cap. It still had a little sediment at the bottom. The color was intense as was the aroma and the flavor amazing. Sweet not dry and very fruity. We were the only ones who drank it besides him and when we drive to Chicago to visit wd would come home with a six pack or two. I have always wanted to try making some although I am a teetotaller now. It was not very alcoholic. Thanks for all the info. Maybe I’ll try some one day. He had no fancy equipment just some big jugs maybe a hose out the top.
Jack Keller used to have a website which I have bookmarked but he passed away and no one maintained it.
This is the pdf that home brewers put together based on the contents of his website; https://swguildpa.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Jack-Keller-Complete-Requested-Recipes-Collection.pdf Try page 226.
Huge set of wine recipes using store bought fruit products, fresh fruits, wild fruits and more.
After searching for "homemade fruit wine jack keller", I found the link to the pdf here, https://forgedmettlefarm.com/2021/07/12/read-this-looking-for-jack-kellers-wine-recipes/
Guess I'll have to download the pdf and add to my cloud. If I still had a monochrome laser jet printer, I'd print out the 326 pages. My neighbor would love it. He has a little homemade wine recipe book that I guess is pretty popular. I'll have to look at it next time I'm over there. For all I know, it could be by Jack Keller.
He had no fancy equipment just some big jugs maybe a hose out the top.
Check out the airlock on the right. That U shaped dip would have water or wine in it to make the airlock. It works the same the odor trap pipe under a sink. The liquid prevents non-pressurized air from passing but in the case of an airlock for fermenting, pressure can escape by bubbling it's way through the liquid but no wild yeasts in the air we breathe are going to drift into the jug.
Your dad could have done the same with tubing jammed through a rubber bottle stopper and by having a dip in the tubing with liquid in the dip.
Less yeast or more sugar would make a wine sweeter and less potent. Taking it early makes it less potent, less dry and more flavorful but in my case, more flavor means more yeast flavor for that one week old stuff. At two weeks it's decent and probably closer to three weeks for no off flavor and still not dry I don't think. I've had maybe 2-3 glasses of wine in my life until I started making it so I don't know what's what as far as taste, aroma, body bla bla.
Make that page 327 - Cherry Wine [Sweet] (4)
Thats all very helpful thanks much. I will check out those recipes. I know it will be dimple. Dad and Grandpa made wine all their adult lives.
The extreme weather this summer has made it hard on the tomato plants. Between people stealing the ripe tomatoes, soil problems, extreme weather (like I said) and blossom end rot, there have been no edible tomatoes this summer. The plant has been pulled up and thrown away. In it’s place lettuce seeds have been started, as well as peas. The blossom end rot problem had been solved by adding calcium to the soil. And spraying the tomato leaves with a calcium spray. That was an inexpensive fix. Antacid tablets are water soluable. I have plenty of them for my digestive problems. On the plus side, coleus, dianthus, caladiums, and petunias have done extremely well. Snapdragons are starting to bloom again as temperatures and humidity levels have been dropping. Looking forward to my fall crops.
Dimple???? Oy I meant simple.
Dimple???? Oy I meant simple.
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