February is not my favourite month. I don't think it falls within my top ten. The only good things about it are Valentine's Day (which is overrated), Shrove Tuesday (and we usually forget to have pancakes) and Prune & Parsnip Wine. Otherwise it is cold and wet and dark. Yesterday was particularly poor. It pissed it down all day. I had been looking forward to a quiet weekend in which I could do helpful things in the garden. It has certainly been quiet and actually I got into the garden today (4th February) and started clearing our patch of grass land (a failed experiment which mostly produced buttercups).
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| The base ingredients |
Today, though, has been a perfect day to begin my Prune & Parsnip wine - a day when I haven't needed to be anywhere or do anything. I started off by dicing 4 lbs of parsnips (being extra careful not to sever my fingers) and boiling these in 16 (UK) pints of water. I did this in two halves and each half got 30 minutes of simmering, once the water containing the parsnips had come to the boil.
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| Half the parsnips chopped up and in the pan |
While the first lot was on the hob, I chopped up 1 lb of prunes and put these in the bucket with 5 lbs 9 oz sugar.
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| All the prunes and sugar |
Once the parsnips had received their allotted boiling time, I poured the water into the bucket, catching the parsnips in a colander. These were put in the bin - I suggested them as a pizza topping but Claire was not keen.
I added the yeast and a bit more than a teaspoon each of nutrient and pectolase the following morning (Monday). Whilst the wine was in its bucket the aroma was pure parsnip - not something I remember from previous batches. I stirred it once or twice a day and put the wine into its two demijohns on Friday evening, 9th February. To avoid liquid frothing through the air trap and all over the kitchen, I left a large gap in each demijohn, storing excess wine in a bottle. Saturday morning I started the topping up process, which will probably take a few days.
This is, by far and away, the brownest of all my wines.
If you want to see how this wine turned out, click
here.
So your wine came out dry
ReplyDeleteSo your wine came out dry
ReplyDeleteWhat type of yeast did you use
ReplyDeleteHello Rusty - I will come back to you on the type of yeast, as my records are at home and I am at work. It might have been a champagne yeast. As regards dryness - I would say 'yes' but not super-dry. It is between a medium dry and a dry, if that makes sense. There is a definite sherry taste to it.
Delete