View Full Version : Bushcraft Booze
Paganwolf
07-10-2004, 13:03
Has anyone here just out of interest ever made an alchohlic beverage from wild plants/sap/berrys ect :?: recipes and what it came out like please guys n girls :wink: (oh and i am available for any taste testing you may require :lol: )
Keith_Beef
07-10-2004, 13:29
Has anyone here just out of interest ever made an alchohlic beverage from wild plants/sap/berrys ect :?: recipes and what it came out like please guys n girls :wink: (oh and i am available for any taste testing you may require :lol: )
I used to make plenty of berry wines, but always with added sugar and yeast.
The problem is, that even a decent strain of yeast converts sugar to around 50% CO2 and 50% alcohol (by weight). Meaning that if your fruit is about 10% sugar, you'll get 5% alcohol (by weight). This is not enough to prevent other wild strains of yeast from getting in and converting your precious alcohol into more CO2 andwater, or to vinegar.
If you want to stay with just natural ingredients, without adding commercial sugar, you might have to try growing some of your own grapes, and concentrating the sugar by drying them, or by reducing the must by boiling.
Keith.
we used to make elderflower wine. very nice inddeed but the book is back in sheffield.
wine making yeast is slower to repoduce then bread yeast so the alcohol will start off developing a bit slower but bread yeast will die from the toxins. I'll did out my biology research for the amount of sugar and alcohol that works best
I've also made a load of 'wild' wines - apple, pear (was too dry and revolting), raspberry, elder flower (refermented and was a bit of a wedding night killer for friend!) and berry, mead, dandelion wine, birch sap wine.
I used to make hedgerow port too - elderberry, hawthorn, rosehip and damson. I added a little tincture of capsicum just to add a little warmth.
Must start doing it again. I've just harvested my grapes and got 1 gallon of great tasting juice that should (fingers crossed) make some great wine...
I've made beer from wild hops and wines and liquers from assorted berries.
With the help of a friend and some creative plumbing I found out what um, 'essence' of blackberries, wild plums and rowan are like.
I've got a blackberry fermenting at the moment that's made from the juice alone, it's come out very sharp indeed ( but not vinegar ), I think it needs feeding with a little honey to encourage the yeast to metabolise some of the acid.
If you want a real bushcraft one, try a variant on a technique used in quite a few areas where wild melons and squashes are found.
Idealy leave the fruit attatched to the plant, push a stick in close to when the stem joins the fruit and mash it around to pulp the insides. Bury the fruit for a couple of weeks, dig it up and drink the result.
I've never been tempted.
Realgar
I've make proper srumpy - nowt but apple juice (20lb apples per gallon!) and wild yeast. More or less drinkable.
think I'm going to do a batch with beer yeast and 1 with wine yeast this year
Ah real scrumpy! Far superior to that :***: you get in pubs...
Takes me back to my youth.
where do you get wild yeast?
made a load of elder berrie wine year befor last.. finnished it this summer!!
the last bottle was a little sedimentie but appart from that is was a sucess!! and the first goo too! will certainly try it again soon!
A mate of mine at college in South Africa grew up on a farm in the middle of the busveld. He used to collect fruit etc when we had supper at the boarding school. Bananas, pineapples, apples, grapes and oranges hacked with a bushknife (panga) and added to a mixture of water and sugar + a small amount of yeast. No recipe, everything was just by "eye measurement" and "I think that we need just a little bit of that too, and perhaps a bit of that as well...". Everything was mixed in a 10 liter bucket with lid.
In the end after several days it became quite potent stuff, and more than once the lid blew off the bucket leaving a strange funny smell all over the dormitries at the boarding house - and everybody had a very hard time trying to convince the housemaster that the smell actually came from the outside.... :roll:
We all got quite good at bushcraft skills like stalking when trying to sneak past housemasters house and his :***: barking dogs at night to go to the koppie (rocky hill) for a rave :o):
where do you get wild yeast?.....
You can make it from the white "film" covering the berries on juniper "trees" / bush. I've also read somewhere that the white powdery coating found on the trunks of Aspen trees can be processed into some kind of yeast.
I think that there is a chapter on this in the "Woodsmoke" book by Richard Jamison.... :?:
A friend of mine makes nettle beers - and it has the same effect as those three legged stools!
Great Pebble
07-10-2004, 17:16
My Dad has a massive amount of wine/beer making kit. Was really the top of the line when he got it, cost a fortune.
Hasn't been touched in about 15 years and I keep meaning to drop hints about it.
Wild yeasts are also found in plenty on apples - a couple of crab apples will get things fizzing. The most reliable ( as in doesn't result in green fur ) has got to be elderflowers. If you want a definetly safe source buy yourself a decent bottle of geuze or lambic and use it to start the brew - it's a spontaneously fermented beer.
There's a pear tree near me that has huge quanities of fruit - all sour/bitter, I reckon it would make a good perry. Has anyone tried?
Realgar
I've just harvested my grapes and got 1 gallon of great tasting juice that should (fingers crossed) make some great wine...
Hmm, just make sure you store some away for next June when we all (hopefully) get to go on a big adventure with Gary!
Hey all :wave:
Sloe gin/vodka is the closest I get. But boy did we have fun going out and getting all the sloes, so much so that we ended up with too many sloes for the amount of gin/vodka we could afford to buy... :roll:
Hellz
Wine on dandelion are supposed to be really good, never tried it myself but have heard of many people that have tried it.
My gilrfriends parents have some wine they have made out of black currant and it has been stored for 12 years, and lucky me has tasted it and it´s really good.
I've got a elder tree growing over my fence with plenty of elderberries on it, off to the shed scotty :naughty:
Hmm, just make sure you store some away for next June when we all (hopefully) get to go on a big adventure with Gary!
Don't worry, I'll be laying a few bottle down and even making some more mead...
I've got a elder tree growing over my fence with plenty of elderberries on it, off to the shed scotty :naughty:
Well i can tell you elderberries are good for beginers! very easy to do!
Paganwolf
08-10-2004, 10:12
Nice to see im not the only druncard it all sounds good im gonna do some sloe gin this weekend and ive got plans for nettle beer next year :biggthump
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 :o):
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... :?:
Im interested... always wondered what exactly is in mead.. honey isnt it?
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...
its 10.30am :rolmao:
Hey! Teh sun's over the yard-arm somewhere! :trink26:
its 10.30am :rolmao:
thats the time when you need the hair of the dog that bit you
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.
One of my ancestors was a Naval Surgeon yes.
That's why one of my favourite drinks is a Southampton.
What's a Southampton, apart from the place I went to College? :shock:
A large port! TADAAAAAA!
(I was beginning to wonder if anyone would ask!)
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.
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. :wink:
Paganwolf
09-10-2004, 20:37
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 :naughty: :biggthump
Keith_Beef
10-10-2004, 22:16
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.
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 :?:
Paganwolf,
Try Roger Philips "Wild Food", there are some really good recipes (alcholic & gastronomic) contianed in the pages.
Neil
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...:lol:
Keith_Beef
11-10-2004, 12:09
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.
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
11-10-2004, 13:01
Banana wine!!! oooh now that sounds nice :biggthump
Paganwolf
11-10-2004, 13:04
Paganwolf,
Try Roger Philips "Wild Food", there are some really good recipes (alcholic & gastronomic) contianed in the pages.
Neil
I've got it matie i was lookin for out of the ordinary stuff (like banana wine!!)and your right its a good book, his mushroom book is pukka too.. :wink:
Seeing as everyone is talking about elderberry wine, I thought I'd post my Spiced Elderberry wine recipe - its extremely good, but as with all elderberry wines needs at least a year to age before it loses its harshness. Its half-way between a port and a very fruity wine, and is very good at Christmas/New Year festivities!
Spiced Elderberry Wine
---------------------------------
2 pounds elderberries, stripped from the stalks
2 1/2 pounds sugar
1.25 gallons water
1 lemon
1 orange
1-inch lump root ginger
2-inch cinnamon stick
5 cloves
yeast, demijohns, brewing stuff etc etc
Boil the berries, water, spices and chopped cirtus fruit together for 20-30 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the sugar, stirring well. When all the sugar is dissolved, strain off the liquid and leave to cool to body heat.
Proceed as for any wine recipe. (i.e Add yeast, put in demijohns, wait until fermentation finishes, rack into new demijohns, leave to settle for 1-2 weeks, add campden etc etc, then bottle). Leave to mature in bottles for at least 1 year! Best after 2-3 years...
Further recipes etc if anyone wants... :-)
Have some of the posts from this topic disappeared?
Not from what I can see :-?
Ed
Ed - you're right it me losing it.
The post I was looking for is the "beer from the woods" one in the general topics.
similar vein to this one -
Keith_Beef
11-10-2004, 22:46
Banana wine!!! oooh now that sounds nice :biggthump
Very tasty; golden colour; lovely plumage.
But it seems to be a quite potent soporific; one friend in particular would nod off after little more than a glass and a half. And I'm quite certain that it wasn't the 14% alcohol that was doing for him.
KKK
Just bottled my first batch of Noyau :) .
For those who don't know it's a beech leaf liquor. I've been meaning to do it for years but always get caught up in other things and miss the young beech leaves. This year I was ready with my two bottles of gin. The beech leaves have been steeping in the booze for three weeks and I strained them off and added the sugar syrup this morning. I was following Roger Philips' recipe (I think it's Richard Mabey's really) but I didn't have any brandy so I used spiced rum :p . It's a little early in the day to test it but I dipped my finger in and it tastes lovely :D .
Fenlander
05-06-2005, 09:01
Just bottled my first batch of Noyau :) .
For those who don't know it's a beech leaf liquor. I've been meaning to do it for years but always get caught up in other things and miss the young beech leaves. This year I was ready with my two bottles of gin. The beech leaves have been steeping in the booze for three weeks and I strained them off and added the sugar syrup this morning. I was following Roger Philips' recipe (I think it's Richard Mabey's really) but I didn't have any brandy so I used spiced rum :p . It's a little early in the day to test it but I dipped my finger in and it tastes lovely :D .
I made some Noyau a few years back using brandy :D its incredibly sweet, but very very potent ;)
I made some Noyau a few years back using brandy :D its incredibly sweet, but very very potent ;)
So is it best to let it mature?
demographic
18-06-2005, 21:15
Not all growing wild in the UK but when I was a nipper my mother used to make wine from:
Elderberries
Elderflowers
Rowanberries
Damsons
Gooseberries
Raspberries
Blackcurrants
Gorse flowers
Most of which grew in the garden or on our land :)
Just sipping some of last years sloe and damson (with a few elderberrys as well) vodka, the bit left over then we filled the bottels. Very tasty, and it'll keep getting better for at least another year!
missy mycelium
22-06-2005, 13:32
All hail to beech leaf noyau! It's great stuff. Must try to make more than 4 bottles next year though as once it's opened, that's it. It's great to give friends a gift of your home made liquor. Just made some elderflower wine at the weekend, never made it before so hope it turns out ok. I've already got dandilion flower wine on the clear so by christmas it should be near to drinkable. Busy, busy, busy! So much to forage and so little time.
Yep - been drinking this year's batch of beech leaf gin, along with finishing off last years blackberry vodka!
My current creation is absinthe, which I make occasionally when I get enough pressure from my friends (who then don't ask again for a few years until the memories of the embarrasments and hangovers have faded :o) Only really viable if you have access to very strong alcohol (80%+) to get the active ingredients out of the wormwood - easy enough to obtain in a lot of French/Belgian/German supermarkets at 95%+ though!
Will be making all sorts of elderflower products soon (flowers are nearly ready up here in Edinburgh) - I tend to pick a lot of flowers and dry them when its sunny, as they store and retain their flavour for up to a year - and a tbsp of flowers in a litre of water with some sugar added makes an instant cordial. Elderflower champagne is always quick and tasty to make though!
All hail to beech leaf noyau! It's great stuff. Must try to make more than 4 bottles next year though as once it's opened, that's it. It's great to give friends a gift of your home made liquor. Just made some elderflower wine at the weekend, never made it before so hope it turns out ok. I've already got dandilion flower wine on the clear so by christmas it should be near to drinkable. Busy, busy, busy! So much to forage and so little time.
You must have a sweet tooth, I find it incredibly sweet. I may have to save it 'til next year then make another batch but instead of adding sugar just mix it with this years.
Be wary of Bush Booze!!
I had a mate who made a Still out of a Fire Extinguisher!
we drank about 1 part Fire Water to 20 Parts SCREECH!! (horrible foul tasting orange powdered drink found in UK army 24 hour ration packs).
I ended up in the 3rd Battalion,Paras, Guard house for 21 days :D
Rhapsody
23-06-2005, 22:01
I'd love to make a bevvy from wild things, but there's little of any usefulness my way apart from birch, and I think I missed the best sap-gathering period already. The nearest I've ever come was when I brewed that batch of mead! I didn't make it from wild things but it certainly made me into a wild thing!
Anyone tried Heather Ale?
There is a bottled version in the shops 'Fraoch' which is rather good.
last year I had a go at some of roger phillips recipes - nettle beer, elderberry wine and broom flower wine, I occasionally have pine needle tea, which really does'nt count unless you put whiskey in it - hiccup.
Beer Monster
29-06-2005, 12:43
I'm making some bog myrtle vodka. It's my first attempt so we'll see how it goes. Very simple really, just soak some bog myrtle in vodka (commercially bought ..... though I suppose you could make your own!) for about a month (or longer). Turns a lovely golden brown colour and smells fantastic! I think I first discovered it while reading the Collins Gem "Food for Free" ....... my reasoning is that if I drink enough of it maybe it'll keep the midges away! :D
I think it's quite popular in Scandinavia? Found this webpage (http://www.fursund.dk/page252.asp) as well that suggest St. John’s Wort, Crowberry and Blackberries.