Greetings from the east of England

[Frognostic]

Hello there, I've been reading this forum for a while so thought it was about time I signed up.

I began home-brewing in 2013, at the age of 29, and have made a variety of wine-like drinks from allotment produce (marrows) and hedgerow fruits (blackberries and elderberries).

I borrowed a small fruit press from a friend who is also into home-brewing and began to make cider from windfall wilding apples I found littered about the place in the fall. After that I got my own press.

In early 2014 I made my first meads from buckwheat, sunflower and wildflower / honeydew honey which are still aging as I write this. In January 2015 I made some more mead, about three gallons, and intend to make more in the not too distant future.

I have two beer kits, Young's Harvest Bitter, that were birthday and Christmas presents respectively, which I intend to make before too long.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Welcome to HBT! Just a quick question: These "Marrows" you speak of, these are squash? I don't mean to appear dense, I've just never heard the term applied to anything other than bone marrow before. This was what I found on Google:
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-your-own/vegetables/marrow
Regards, GF.

 

[unionrdr]

Yeah, new one here to find out marrow is squash. Should get slightly different flavors from different varieties?

 

[Microscopist]

Welcome!
Marrow's specifically the grown up version of what you guys call zucchini.

Did you do the traditional marrow rum? ( for our foreign friends it's made by removing the seeds via one end, packing with sugar and pouring a bit of yeast on the top, straining after a few weeks to finish the ferment ). I still have some knocking around from a few years ago.

 

[Frognostic]

Thanks everyone for your replies.

Yes, marrow is an oversized courgette / zucchini.

I did a different method, wherein I grated the marrow and put layers of the grated marrow and Demerara sugar into a primary fermentation bucket.

The marrow water melted the Demerara and the sugary liquid began to accumulate at the bottom of the container.

The Demerara-marrow water went into a demijohn with some all purpose yeast and I think I put the remaining grated marrow in a pulp bag and let it trickle to a drip.

It was one of the first brews I made and it was very sweet, probably because there was more sugar than the yeast could ferment before perishing. I hadn't started using a hydrometer at that time.

 

[JLeuck64]

I bet it would go along swell with some bangers and mash!

Welcome aboard matey ( ;

 

[Frognostic]

I bet it would go along swell with some bangers and mash!

Welcome aboard matey ( ;

Cheers ; )

 

[MacOne]

Welcome to a fellow Brit! Same as you I lurked for a long time and gained lots of insight before jumping in to saying hello.

If yiuve been making those kinds of brews I'm a little surprised you went down the "kit" route. You'll be surprised how easy it will be to witch over to all grain using a biab method as you'll have quite a bit of the kit already. If you are into foraging it'll only be a mere matter of time before opening a can won't see you happy lol

 

[Frognostic]

Welcome to a fellow Brit! Same as you I lurked for a long time and gained lots of insight before jumping in to saying hello.

If yiuve been making those kinds of brews I'm a little surprised you went down the "kit" route. You'll be surprised how easy it will be to witch over to all grain using a biab method as you'll have quite a bit of the kit already. If you are into foraging it'll only be a mere matter of time before opening a can won't see you happy lol

I get where you're coming from but the kits were birthday and Christmas presents respectively lol.

 

[Cyclman]

Welcome to the group, from Colorado

 

[russell58]

Welcome to HBT from across the pond. Can't warn you about the obsession since you started in 2013.

Cheers