Sloe Gin

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JJW009
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Post by JJW009 »

Many thanks to KW for picking me a bag full of sloes. So, I was Googling for a recipe and I found a whole forum dedicated to the art:



http://www.sloe.biz/pip/



Cripes - I never realised it was so controversial!



I think I'm going with the H2G2 recipe though, it seems the most straight forward:



http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A709661



Here's a slightly worrying quote though:


August and September sloes look very tempting - but October and November sloes will be much better!


Since all my elderberries and rowan-berries have been eaten by thrushes, starlings and blackbirds already I have to say I don't dare wait any later!



I've been known to make alcohol from all kinds of things, with varying success as KW and a few brave others have lived to tell. My most successful are:



Elderflower Shampoo - nicely aromatic, quite sweet and very frothy.

Elderberry Port - a very deep red and warming brew.

Strong White Cider - These days its so cheap to buy it's just not worth the effort.

Sparkling Sake - unusual but potent. Needs at least 3 years to mature!

Ginger Beer - a classic if you like that kind of thing, and only takes 2-3 weeks.



So - any home brewers out there?




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belchingmatt
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Post by belchingmatt »

I've never tried any brewing. The only work I've done with alcohol at home is freeze distillation.



Place a bottle of spirits in the freezer -20?C or colder for best results.

When ice has formed pour out the liquid. A 40% spirit should now be about 70%

It all depends on how cold you can get it.



It's also quite amusing drinking it at that temerature, as although it is bloody cold, it still burns. <!--emo&:ph43r:--><img src='http://i2.ifrm.com/html/emoticons/ninja.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ninja.gif' /><!--endemo-->




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JJW009
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Post by JJW009 »

Polish Vodka at 98.6% is almost pure alcohol. It is hard to swallow since it absorbs through your mucus membranes before reaching your stomach.



It makes a nice trifle too <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://i2.ifrm.com/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->




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JJW009
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Post by JJW009 »

I knew there was a home-brew thread on here somewhere. I've been through every single page on the forum now, which took nearly two days and is why I've been resurrecting the dead a lot recently <!--emo&:lol:--><img src='http://i2.ifrm.com/html/emoticons/laugh.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='laugh.gif' /><!--endemo-->



I've tried a couple of kits from This Place but they cost ?10 for 6 bottles plus postage which makes it ?15 which is not far off what you pay in the shops! It was very good I thought, but given the risk you take of it all going horribly wrong I thought the cost was too high.



So... back to the hedge rows! I deliberately planted an Elder tree when I moved in here about a decade ago, and it's been covered in flowers and fruit for years but I've never taken advantage of it! This year I've made my first gallon of Elderflower. I just racked it off the lees, and it's doing OK. Currently 1040 so it's already about 8% but far too sweet to drink yet.



That's not the only one. I've also still got 1/2 bottle of Apricot left. Made with dried apricots, it's sweet and strong and very fruity. I'm hoping even Lady K might like it - definitely a girly drink! Shame I've drunk most of it already...



I also have some wine I started at the same time as the Elderflower made from Tesco red grape juice. Only thing is, the red juice is really pale - more like a ros?.



Finally; there's some made from raisins and the lees of the kit wine. This one I'm drinking now. Even though it's not clear, it is all fermented out. It's also a pale ros? colour, and it tastes like a ros? too; which does make sense.



I'm hoping they'll all be clear and drinkable by next month. Only problem is, I tend to drink them way before they're ready <!--emo&:lol:--><img src='http://i2.ifrm.com/html/emoticons/laugh.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='laugh.gif' /><!--endemo-->



I really wish you were allowed to distill. Silly FireWater would take up so much less space than all this wine <!--emo&<_<--><img src='http://i2.ifrm.com/html/emoticons/dry.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='dry.gif' /><!--endemo-->




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Post by paulpowers »

<img src='http://www.ibiblio.org/moonshine/images/recipe2.gif' border='0' alt='user posted image'>

A quote on moonshine
While quality control and sanitation are probably not of the utmost importance to many people who drink moonshine (after all, alcohol kills many bateria, right?), people are sometimes concerned about whether or not the moonshine they just bought is safe to drink. After all, people go blind from drinking bad moonshine, and it has also been known to cause neurological damage, including paralysis.




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JJW009
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Post by JJW009 »

The problem with that recipe is the corn meal. Because it hasn't been malted it contains pure starch, which tends to ferment into Methanol rather than Ethanol.



It is a lot cheaper than Malt though, which is why it's found in Moonshine and Tesco's Economy Whisky which is basically the same thing <!--emo&:lol:--><img src='http://i2.ifrm.com/html/emoticons/laugh.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='laugh.gif' /><!--endemo-->




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JJW009
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Post by JJW009 »

Well I'm really really sorry none of you guys got to taste my homebrew when you were round. I was trying to save a couple of bottles for the occasion; but desperation got the better of me!



I really enjoyed the bottles of Guinness that CM left behind; so I'm thinking of branching out. Plus - remember the rather attractive brass still I posted somewhere? Well,,, here's the more productive cheapo version:



http://www.stillshop.co.uk/



<!--emo&:blink:--><img src='http://i2.ifrm.com/html/emoticons/blink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='blink.gif' /><!--endemo-->



They even sell DIY Absinthe <!--emo&:o--><img src='http://i2.ifrm.com/html/emoticons/ohmy.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ohmy.gif' /><!--endemo-->



And I would never of known if it wasn't for Google Ads <!--emo&:lol:--><img src='http://i2.ifrm.com/html/emoticons/laugh.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='laugh.gif' /><!--endemo-->




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KindaWobbly
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Post by KindaWobbly »

Google Ads are great. You mention brewing your own stout, and what appears at the bottom of the page?



<img src='http://img74.imageshack.us/img74/1749/fatce0.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image'>



Genius!

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