Home brewing has come a long way from the days when charming elderly ladies would concoct lethal or explosive beverages from hedgerow or garden ingredients. These days, thousands of amateur wine and beer makers are engaged in this enjoyable and cost saving hobby, producing excellent results from a variety of fruits and other plant sources. This book is a round-the-year guide to wine and beer making, covering dry and sweet wines, beers, lagers, liqueurs, and fortified wines. In the introduction, the author explains the basic principles of the art and advises on health and safety and the choice, use, and care of equipment.
The main body of the text, illustrated with line drawings, is a season-by-season guide to ingredients and recipes for making wines and beers to suit all tastes.
There is a comprehensive index and appendices on measuring acid content, blending liqueurs, gravity readings, sugar content and potential alcohol, poisonous or unsuitable plants and a checklist of the common and scientific names of plants to be avoided.
Introduction
Winemaking: Basic Principles
Beer and Brewing
Spring
Silver Birch
Dried Peach and Apricot
Prune
Coltsfoot
Dandelion
Rhubarb
Gorse
Broom
Brown Ale
Honey
Buttercups
Honeysuckle
Mayflower
Dried Elderberry and Rose Hip Syrup
Dried Elderflowers
Lager
Summer
Roses
Grape Vine
Red Currants
Gooseberries
Herbs
Parsley
Rumtopf
Strawberries
Black Currants
Raspberries
Flower Wines
Salad Burnet
Apricots
Cherries
Peaches
Plums
Dewberries
Beetroot
Huckleberries
Bilberries
Bitter Beer
Autumn
Apples
Blackberries
Elderberries
Damsons
Sloes
Marrow
Christmas Ale
Medlar
Quince
Pear
Rose Hips
Fruit Juices
Liqueurs
Ginger Beer
Winter
Dates
Coconuts
Christmas Mull
Rumtopf
Carrots
Raisins
Tangerines, Mandarins, and Satsumas
Tea
Mulled Ale
Seville Oranges
Grapefruit
Parsnips
Exotic Fruits
Stout
Sparkling Wines
Appendix 1: Acidity Measurement (Titration)
Appendix 2: Gravity Readings, Sugar Content, and Potential Alcohol
Appendix 3: Blending Your Own Liqueurs
Appendix 4: How To Wire Sparkling Wine Stoppers
Appendix 5: Poisonous or Otherwise
Appendix 6: Unsuitable Plants for Winemaking
Index
Overview
Home brewing has come a long way from the days when charming elderly ladies would concoct lethal or explosive beverages from hedgerow or garden ingredients. These days, thousands of amateur wine and beer makers are engaged in this enjoyable and cost saving hobby, producing excellent results from a variety of fruits and other plant sources. This book is a round-the-year guide to wine and beer making, covering dry and sweet wines, beers, lagers, liqueurs, and fortified wines. In the introduction, the author ...