Recent content by Richard Jones

Quick update October (about 3 months in): Because of the pith it's still incredibly bitter. I've also lost probably 1/3rd of the volume because what drops out doesn't cake well so it requires careful and frequent racking. Not a success! Haven't thrown it down the drain yet.

I'm on to the second racking already to try and get it off the remaining orange bits. The taste is still bitter from the pith, but maybe not quite so bitter as last week? It's also starting to taste more like marmalade. It's as unpleasant as you can imagine. I'm an eternal optimist though...

This isn't quite marmalade, it's a kind of marmalade concentrate that you make up yourself with sugar (presumably for someone who loves marmalade so much they need to make 8 lbs of the stuff for £2.30 - no idea who would be in the market for this). I tasted it before using it and it was not...

I discovered "Ma Made prepared Seville oranges" in the local supermarket. As it was so cheap I bought 2 of them and decided to make up a 1 gall batch to see how this would go. About 4 lbs of the marmalade concentrate, 3 lbs of sugar, water, pectolase, yeast and tannin. Starting gravity was...

Elderflower champagne is excellent, made it two years in a row and it's something I can see myself making regularly. Elderflowers, lemons, sugar, yeast in a large bucket. After a week, filter out the elderflowers and lemons, and bottle in 2L PET bottles. The champagne will carbonate in the...

Blackberries (or brambles as we call them round these parts) are excellent for country fruit wine. Your quantities sound about right. You will need the sugar (more = better), and some tannin. But apart from that just treat it as you would any fruit wine. Another tip: I usually pick and...

One of my first wines a year ago was a raisin wine made with a fairly random mix of raisins, currants, dates and dried apricots. I used about 4lbs in a 2 gallon batch - I would use more raisins next time. I added some sugar. Turned into a pleasant, clear golden wine, and it's one I intend to...