Bushcraft Booze

[match]

My favourite wild drink of the moment is Noyau - which is a liqueur made from Beech leaves! You basically pick a bagful of beech leaves from the tree in spring when they're small and green, and pack them down in a large jar/bowl. Then you cover the leaves with gin and leave to sit for about 2 weeks. Once the liquid has gone a nice greeny-brown colour, you strain it off, and add sugar - 1/2 lb of sugar dissolved in 1/4 pint water for every 750ml bottle of gin used (sorry, I can't be bothereed to work that out more exactly!)

Tastes fantastic - kind of nutty, almost like a sweet sake - very very lethal though ):

I can also recommend elderflower wine, spiced elderbery port, gorseflower wine, meads, metheglins, ciders and other similar drinks - if anyone is interested I'll post some recipes... :?:

 

[tomtom]

Im interested... always wondered what exactly is in mead.. honey isnt it?

 

[jakunen]

Yeah, mead is 'honey wine'.

Most of the stuff you get in the shops these days is dessert mead, not drinking wine. The best I've found is Stones Elizabethan or Lurgershalls. Great stuff.

Mead is very easy to make. Think I made 5 gallons two years ago and about a gallon last year. I use a slightly modified Elizabethan recipe and then split it for ordinary mead, metheglin and melomel.

Hmm, really fancy a drink now...

 

[tomtom]

its 10.30am :rolmao:

 

[jakunen]

its 10.30am :rolmao:

Hey! Teh sun's over the yard-arm somewhere! :trink26:

 

[Andy]

its 10.30am :rolmao:

thats the time when you need the hair of the dog that bit you

 

[Realgar]

Hey! Teh sun's over the yard-arm somewhere! :trink26:

that's the first time I've seen anyone outside my own family use that one - Navy in your bloodline? I didn't go for the family trait of joining the navy ( I have more sense than to get shot at or work on supertankers ) but I am partial to a glass of Pussers on a winter night.

 

[jakunen]

One of my ancestors was a Naval Surgeon yes.

That's why one of my favourite drinks is a Southampton.

 

[Kim]

What's a Southampton, apart from the place I went to College? :shock:

 

[jakunen]

A large port! TADAAAAAA!


(I was beginning to wonder if anyone would ask!)

 

[Lithril]

K for that one you're not getting your Tent back....talking about home brews, think this evening I'll crack open that sloe gin I made last year.

 

[Kim]

think this evening I'll crack open that sloe gin I made last year.

Ok, very jealous now. Sat at work with a cup of yogi tea! Doesn't quite have the same ring somehow does it...? :shock:

Port eh Jakunen...mmm, we like.

 

[Paganwolf]

Well I got my first 2 litres of Sloe Gin on the go, rum topft next, sorting my stuff out for my nettle beer :shock: Happy days :biggthump

 

[Keith_Beef]

Well i can tell you elderberries are good for beginers! very easy to do!

Be careful with elderberries... the skins contains a lot of tannin. In my experience, if you make a wine from just elderberries, you'll need to keep it for at least twelve months in the bottle before it's drinkable.

You can attenute the tanin by boiling the berries for around ten minutes. this also has the effect of killing any wild yeasts on the berry skins.

But some of my favourite home made wines were always mixed ingredients.

Elderberry, blackberry and rosehip.
Blackberry, redcurrant and strawberry.
Rhubarb, elderflower and redcurrant (watch out for malo-lactic fermentation!)

Getting a bit exotic,
Ugli fruit, carrot and banana.



Keith.

 

[tomtom]

Be careful with elderberries... the skins contains a lot of tannin. In my experience, if you make a wine from just elderberries, you'll need to keep it for at least twelve months in the bottle before it's drinkable.

i followed a books instructions and it said i needed it to be in the demijon(sp) for 6 months and then spend a further 6 months in bottles :?:

 

[Neil1]

Paganwolf,
Try Roger Philips "Wild Food", there are some really good recipes (alcholic & gastronomic) contianed in the pages.
Neil

 

[jakunen]

K for that one you're not getting your Tent back....talking about home brews, think this evening I'll crack open that sloe gin I made last year.

Aw, come on! It wasn't that bad...

 

[Keith_Beef]

i followed a books instructions and it said i needed it to be in the demijon(sp) for 6 months and then spend a further 6 months in bottles :?:

The time in the demijohn is just fermentation time (conversion of sugars to alcohol) and settling time (letting the dead yeast settle to the bottom).

Some wines will not settle to clear; this can be due to pectin (typical problem with pectin-rich fruits such as apples and especially plums). You can add an enzyme called pectolase to your must, if you want.

I think (though I'm not certain) that fermentation of pectin can lead to methanol in your wine. This shouldn't be dangerous, but if you distill the wine, this could be concentrated to a dangerous level...

Fermentation time depends on the amount of sugar and the speed of the yeast, which is dependent on the temperature.

In the sumer months, or with the demijohn in a warm place (airing cupboard is a favourite), fermentation can be over in as little as a week.

Then, you should move the demijohn to a cool place, like the cellar. The lower temperature encourages particles to fall out of suspension, so the liquid clears more quickly.

Syphon the clear liquid off into a clean demijohn, leaving the sediment behind.

This is the moment you realise you should have made up six demijohns (six gallons), because you lose some from each... From six full ones, you would have five full ones. From just one full demijohn, you now have a not quite full one, with a nasty amount of air in the top. :/

Settling for a second time is sometimes recommended, before syphoning into bottles.

Aging is the time spent in bottle; my banana wine used to age for six months. Elderberry from 12 to 36 months.


Keith.

 

[dtalbot]

Aging is the time spent in bottle; my banana wine used to age for six months. Elderberry from 12 to 36 months.


Keith.

Yep,
Found some long forgotten 1999 elderberry a few weeks ago and that was very nice!
David

 

[Paganwolf]

Banana wine!!! oooh now that sounds nice :biggthump