Dark Mint Wine

[machalel]

Yeah, I was bored... Saw some mint in the garden + 2 types of mint tea in the pantry = this!


Recipe: Dark Mint Wine
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 l
Estimated OG: 1.072 SG
Estimated Color: 10.9 EBC
Estimated ABV: 11.0%
Boil Time: 30 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name
0.25 kg Red Gum Honey (2.0 EBC)
0.75 kg Caramelised Sugar (10.0 EBC)
5.00 g Mint Leaves (infused in Smirnoff Vodka)
2.00 Cup Peppermint Tea
2.00 Cup Spearmint & Chamomile Tea (*inlucdes)
- *Blackberry Leaves
- *Linden
- *Lemongrass
0.50 g Citric Acid
2 g DAP
0.5 pkg W-Yeast 2046

 

[Zem]

Is the Caramelised sugar a standard beer ingredient? Did you make it?
Reading this immediately got me thinking about a mint brochet...

good luck, this sounds great. Where is Red Gum honey from?

 

[machalel]

Yeah it is, and I made it, but i'm not sure if I did it properly

IIRC The idea is to use the malliard (sp?) reaction to caramelise the sugar so that it generates some unfermentable sugars - keeping some sweetness in the final product (and giving some nice toffee type flavours).

Red Gum from my local supermarket (in Australia) ;D

 

[Chevette Girl]

That sounds pretty nifty, I may have to do my next batch of apple mint wine using honey... I wonder if adding mint to a brochet would make it taste like a humbug candy? Dammit, why do I keep ADDING to the list...

 

[machalel]

Just returning the favour ;D

 

[machalel]

This has been really slow to ferment. It's only in the last day or so that a mini-krausen has appeared (only around 2mm high). It still tastes quite sweet, but has a little bit of 'spritz' on the tongue.

 

[Zem]

Interesting you should mention that, I myself just went through a painfully slow sugar ferment as well. Even though it was only 10% pabv and I made an enormous EC-1118 starter, this took easily as long as a mead of much higher gravity. It left me wondering if nutrient balance is even more important in sugar wines than in meads or if I'd just screwed up on the starter.

Good news is it did finish (slowly but it did) and it came out ok, howerver I did add a lot more nutrient (not sure if it was necessary or not...)

best of luck, still following with interest

/wolfie

 

[machalel]

Interesting. Yeah it seems ti be taking ages, but I can't really check since I've somehow broken my hydrometer again (2nd in 3 months)...

 

[TAKeyser]

Interesting. Yeah it seems ti be taking ages, but I can't really check since I've somehow broken my hydrometer again (2nd in 3 months)...

How does everyone on this forum break so many Hydrometers? I'm still using the original one I purchased some 12 years or so ago.

 

[machalel]

No idea

The first one somehow lost a large chunk out of the bottom of it, even though it was never dropped or handled roughly. The second one had the top bit of thin glass crush between my finger and thumb! And no, I wasn't squeezing hard or anything...

 

[Sadie Lady]

How does everyone on this forum break so many Hydrometers? .

Dropped mine in the sink. That'll do it!

 

[Soyala_Amaya]

Dropped it in the sink, used it to push at fruit, watched it roll off the table...you have a magic hydrometer. Everyone else has merit badges after the third one dies. ;D

 

[fivecats]

How does everyone on this forum break so many Hydrometers? I'm still using the original one I purchased some 12 years or so ago.

I've wondered the same thing. I have the same one that was given to me 25 years ago. (It's been used more in the past week than in all of those 25 years combined, mind you.)

 

[delvorak]

I've wondered the same thing. I have the same one that was given to me 25 years ago. (It's been used more in the past week than in all of those 25 years combined, mind you.)

I bought my first, it snapped in half when I was carefully (but apparently not carefully enough) cleaning it with a rag. My father gave me my second, which had last been used in 1979 (2 years before I was born). This one is still going strong, and I'm very careful with it. Bought a third, expecting another breakage, and I no sooner got it in the door than it slipped out of the bag and hit the floor, shattering it into a million pieces. I'm sure that last one was just me being careless...

They apparently just made hydrometers better 20 years ago.... I'm hoping the 30 year old one that I have will last another 30 years...

Scott

 

[Zem]

I've just taken to owning 2 so I've got a backup when my hydrometer breaks. Come to think of it, it's been a while, I must be due....

 

[akueck]

My excuse is that the cat broke mine. Knocked it out of the drying rack. Come to think of it, that cat has broken two thermometers too (one mercury, boy that was fun to clean up).

 

[Chevette Girl]

How does everyone on this forum break so many Hydrometers?

I had "help"... My first one that came with my winemaking starter kit is the only one that has been broken, and it wasn't even by me, a friend attacked my untidy kitchen with a vengeance and she busted one of my liqueur glasses too, as well as putting a crack in my hydrometer test tube. After I told her to stay away from the wine corner. But the two older ones (probably 20+ years) I got from my friend's dad when he quit brewing are still fine, despite me being a total klutz and having bounced just about all the rest of my brewing equipment off the floor at least once (I now have shock-absorbing foam down in the brewing area, helps with the sore feets too)...

Although if people are pinching the tops off with bare hands, maybe they're making them out of thinner glass these days to save on money?

 

[machalel]

Racked this one today as the lees were building up and it was starting to clear. SG was 0.997, and so added sugar to bump the SG to 1.030 (a combined total of about 1.100)

Taste is a bit harsh, but not too bad. A bit floral, and the mint is very subtle, but that is not unexpected, as I haven't actually added the real mint yet! The only mint in it at the moment is from the tea. I think it is going to end up being quite delicate and not overpowering at all.