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Other drinks

Blackberry brandy          High alcohol brews          Liqueurs Brandy/Real Brandy

Pete’s Traditional Lemonade       Experimental Zone        Alco-Pop Update       Alcoholic_Lemonade

Sangria

2 bottles of Red or white wine
1 orange
1 lemon
8oz sugar (227g)
Slice the orange and lemon thinly, and place half of each in two glass jugs, about 3 hours before the sangria will be required.
Add the wine to the fruit - one jug of white and one of red looks better according to the waitress in Majorca that spilled the beans on their national drink.
Taste before serving - if required, add a little sugar and stir well.
Add some ice cubes (purified water only)
Finally, enjoy at sunset with good friends & music.

(The waitress that passed on this info stressed not to then sing "ere we go, ere we go, ere we go")

For more details on Sangria have a look at the book link

The Sangria book

High alcohol home brew

You can now brew drinks as strong as 21% alcohol which has started the new drive for home brewed (no distilling) copies of spirits + mixer e.g. Rum & coke, Gin & tonic.
I have just brewed the Coffee Rum. Very nice too. I think it is fair to point out that whilst the kit is well instructed, it is more involved than lower alcohol kits such as wine and beer kits. I think this kit will appeal more to the brewer that has already brewed a kit or two rather than the novice. The end result is good and I am told by fellow brewers that the peach schnapps is the best of the bunch.

Liqueurs (fruit infused spirit drinks)

To make your own liqueurs is easy but note these are non brewing recipes. They involve infusing fruit with spirits such as brandy, whisky, gin, etc. Choose very sound and preferably ripe fruit so that you extract the maximum of mature juice.

Blackberry brandy

Ingredients
1 bottle of brandy
1 lb blackberries
2 cloves
small pieces cinnamon
3 oz. sugar

1) Lightly crush the blackberries.
2) Put enough of the blackberries into bottles to half fill each bottle.
3) Add the cloves and the cinnamon pieces and the sugar and fill the bottle with brandy.
4) Cover tightly and leave for 3-4 months, shaking (shake every day for first 2 weeks then once a month)
5) Strain into another bottle or strain as you pour the latter will add the interest of having the fruit in the bottle as you pour.

Real Brandy

1) Make wine of the type of brandy you want (Use grape for normal brandy)

Blackberry wine for Blackberry brandy, Peach wine ...

2) Distil the wine to make a stronger brew. (40% Alcohol)
This is where we stop as distilling is a skill of its own and if not done correctly can be very dangerous. The alcohol fumes can blow up home made stills and the end result if not done by an expert can be toxic.
Don't let me stop you of course. There are am sure plenty of sites that go further down this avenue.

Maybe one day I'll do some YoStill rather than just YoBrew.

I am considering this and the way forwards I think is to produce Vodka.
1) Brew an alcoholic brew as High as possible. 14% - 20%
2) Distil this using a pot still
3) Filter the result through an activated charcoal filter. End result is high alcohol without the impurities.
Add Peach or other flavours as you wish. I understand this is pretty much the way peach schnapps is made.

Pete’s Traditional Lemonade

Ideal for a hot summers day & contains none of the nasty artificial chemicals you find in drinks mainly aimed (sorry, marketed) at kids. I first made this in the mid 80’s so it is traditional, the recipe was given to me by an old friend & so should really be called Frank Hargreaves’ Traditional Lemonade, but it’s not!

As with all recipes it may be a good idea to record the quantities and method used in order to “fine-tune” your next batch (assuming you are not too disheartened or ill).

Ingredients
For each LARGE UN-WAXED lemon use 25g of sugar & 250ml water. (Extra sugar can always be added later if required – it’s easier than removing it!)

EASY Instructions
1)         Thoroughly scrub & wash the lemons, thinly slice them into a heat-resistant jug, the pips can be removed. Add the sugar & the boiling water; stir to help dissolve the sugar.
2)         When cool, pour into a serving jug & place in the fridge although it may be drunk whilst hot.
3)         The lemonade may be poured through a coarse sieve when served but the bits can make it more interesting, the slices of lemon can be added.

NOT QUITE SO EASY Instructions
Apparently boiling the lemon juice destroys the vitamin C.
1)         Thoroughly scrub & wash the lemons, grate them into a heat-resistant jug, carefully avoiding the pith. Halve & juice the lemons into a serving jug. Chop the lemons up & add them & the sugar to the heat-resistant jug & pour on the boiling water, stir to help dissolve the sugar.
2)         When cool, pour into the serving jug containing the juice & place in the fridge although it may be drunk whilst hot.
3)         The lemonade may be poured through a coarse sieve when served but the bits can make it more interesting.

Variations of this recipe include Grapefruitade (for each LARGE grapefruit use 25g of sugar & 500ml water) & Orangeade (same quantities as the Lemonade).

You may be wondering what Lemonade is doing on a web site dedicated to alcoholic drinks, it could be considered as a “nice change” to try drinking something non-alcoholic (I’m seriously considering trying coffee next year) or even prove useful for a kids drink. It could also be a base for making Alcoholic Lemonade.

The Experimental Zone


Firstly this is all experimental and clearly some of these experiments may not be wise or safe.

“Student brew” / “No kit Brew” (Extra strength Alco-Pop £3 for over 4 Litres ready in 1 week)
This has been designed for people that do not want a tone of brewing equipment but do want a limitless supply high power Alco-Pop / Cock Tails for parties. All the ingredients are available from Supermarkets & yeast from Wilkinson’s / home brew shop.

Required for this brew

o               5 Litre still mineral water (ASDA 99p)

o               1 Sachet containing wine yeast + yeast nutrients to make 4.5 Litres (approx 50p)
(Try Wilkinson’s or your local homebrew shop)

o               1 Kg white sugar (50p) (You will only need 1/2 of the bag unless you go on to animal strength Alco-Pop)

o               3 Oranges (24p) or (60 ml. lemon juice from concentrate make sure it does not have any preservatives)

o               Orange or similar concentrate to make up to 4.5 Litres (99p and upwards depending on your choice)

(I used Soda Stream Orange and Mango sachets at 33p each sachet make 1 Litre but cheaper options like orange concentrate or concentrated Ribena are easily found)

Total price £3.22
That is it! No other equipment required!

Instructions

o               Remove about 1/2 a litre of water from the mineral water container leaving 4.5 litres in the container. (This leaves enough space for the fermentation to take place)

o               Squeeze the oranges into a clean glass. You need to remove any pips or bits of skin. 

o               Pour the juice into the mineral water container.

o               Add the yeast to the surface of the liquid in the container. (You do not need to stir the yeast in just leave it to float on the surface. It will mix in its own time.)

o               Leave for a few minutes for the yeast to hydrate

o               Add 1/2 a bag of sugar (1/2 KG). A bit extra won't hurt, but it will take a bit longer to brew. 

o               Screw the cap on and agitate to get the sugar to dissolve. (Don't leave the cap on too long as the yeast is working and producing CO2 gas and you do not want the container to pop) 

o               Lightly put the cap on but NOT air tight. Squeeze the container to make sure it is not air tight. 
(If it is air tight it will blow up due to the gas produced by the yeast. You will have 4.5 Litres of sticky mess) In an ideal world you would have a fermentation lock to ensure that the fermentation is done with the air excluded but this is a no equipment brew)

o               Leave for 7 days to ferment & settle.

o               Optional step for Animal strength Alco-Pop (Add the rest of your sugar, agitate to dissolve, and leave for at least another 7 days)

o               When your brew has fully fermented and settled then gently pour the liquid into another vessel or vessels (glasses, cups...).(Avoid pouring the sediment)

o               Add your concentrate to the clear liquid in the vessel(s) and drink.

My Animal strength Alco-Pop has completed and I sampled it. Very tasty with the Orange and Mango concentrate from soda stream. The brew did take longer than I thought but that because it is over 15% Alcohol and it’s a bit cooler so the yeast worked a bit slower than usual. I have also just tried the less powerful version "Extra strength Alco-Pop" at 7% Alcohol and this was ready within 7 days. The end result from using natural lemons is a cloudy drink. Natural lemonade is also cloudy. I am going to try the above but substituting the lemons for concentrated lemon juice. This should end up with a clearer end product.

Please email me if you do follow this. I want to know how easy / hard it is and what can be improved and I guess more to the point was the final drink worth it. I have got my 4.5 Litres of Orange and Mango Animal strength Alco-Pop. This is pretty good at 14% alcohol for only £3.22. That should be enough for 18 Glasses of cocktails or 18 glasses of high strength Alco-Pop (still not fizzy).
That works out at 18p a glass.

If you want your Alco-Pop sparkling then you proceed as per "Extra strength Alco-Pop" at 7% Alcohol and transfer the brew after day 7 into 2 litre plastic lemonade / cola containers. These are made of a plastic called PET, which holds pressure very well. Do not fill the PET bottle completely leave about 1.5 inch head room. Add 1 level table spoon (15 ml) sugar to each 2 Litre PET bottle. Screw the cap on and leave at room temperature (17C - 24C). Leave for another 7 days and the brew should be sparkling and should have settled with a small sediment of yeast on the bottom. Transfer your PET bottle to the fridge and cool before you serve. To serve, pour or siphon off the brew leaving the sediment behind and then add the concentrate to your brew.

Alco-Pop update

By Grant from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Here in Canada you can't buy water by the 5 L. It is either 4 L. or 10 L. So I went for 10 L. Here is the recipe and the money in Canadian dollars. For British currency, just divide by 2.

   CA$2.25   10 L. water
        $1.58    2 - 5 gram packs EC-1118 Lalvin champagne yeast
        $0.67    1 tbsp (15 gram) yeast nutrient (Ammonium Sulphate, Diammonium Phosphate)
        $1.25    1 kilo white sugar
        $0.25    125 ml. lemon juice from concentrate
**********
   CA$6.00 Grand total

I have a 23 L. carboy (cleaned). I added the water. I then added the lemon juice, yeast nutrient and two packs of yeast. I waited 15 minutes. I then added the sugar, put the screw top on and mixed like crazy! Everything was well mixed. I put an air lock on it & put it in a nice warm spot.
    It's cold here in Canada at this time of year and the temperature in the house is 20 C. So for it to ferment & clear it took two weeks. The results? Excellent! Based on 17 grams of sugar X 1 litre = 1% alcohol, my batch turned out to be 5.8% alcohol. The hydrometer backed it up. Now I had a lot of choices in what powdered fruit mix or frozen concentrate to add to the wash. I bought two packs (Peach & Fruit punch) drink mix. At a cost of CA$2.00 each and each could make 6 L. - Lots!
    So the final points? I got 10 L. of good tasting alcoholic pop for a total cost of $10.00 Canadian. Five British pounds. If I had wanted to I could have used water from the tap. Water is great here in Canada. Not a lot of work and not a bad price, eh?

Worth mentioning:
(1) When I syphoned the mix into 2 litre pop bottles I made sure to leave room at the top for the powdered mix which would displace the liquid.
(2) DO NOT make over 10 L. at a time. The yeast just can't take it! If you plan to make 25 litres, use one of the new turbo yeasts. Here in Canada I can buy a pack that makes 25 litres + 6 kilo sugar = 14% alcohol in two days. CA$6.50 for the yeast and CA$7.50 for the sugar. Total CA$14.00
(3) At this time of year water from the taps has a ph of 8. If a person does not know what the ph of their water is, stick with lemon juice.

Alcoholic Lemonade

If a batch of Pete’s Traditional Lemonade was fermented with wine yeast & bottled with about 5g priming sugar per litre we would end up with a fizzy Lemonade around 5 or 6% alcohol. I have never tried this but we are in The Experimental Zone

 

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