New Blood

[Reverend_Nelson]

This is my first post, but make no mistake, I've made a lot of booze. But, I'm looking for something new. I mostly make wine and cider, on occasion i make beer. I like to experiment, different fruits, some vegetables, candy. Give me some ideas on what to try next.

 

[AzOr]

Go with the season- dandelion wine or mead?

I’ve used Keller’s dandelion wine recipe in the past and it was delicious. This time I’m using honey to make a dandelion mead.
I found a couple of good looking recipes on the web.

 

[Kent88]

Beechwood aged pumpkin peach ale.

Why not?

 

[Reverend_Nelson]

Go with the season- dandelion wine or mead?

I’ve used Keller’s dandelion wine recipe in the past and it was delicious. This time I’m using honey to make a dandelion mead.
I found a couple of good looking recipes on the web.

I took a blue ribbon at the county fair with my dandelion wine. And my old supply Sgt's dandelion wine is actually what got me interested.

Dandelion Grief
(1gal)
8 cups yellow petals w/o greens (picked the same day.)
2lbs sugar
1tsp acid blend
1tbsp nutrient
Top up with cool water.

 

[Reverend_Nelson]

Beechwood aged pumpkin peach ale.

Why not?

The Beechwood sounds pretty interesting. I've never tried it. Good call.

 

[AzOr]

I took a blue ribbon at the county fair with my dandelion wine. And my old supply Sgt's dandelion wine is actually what got me interested.

Dandelion Grief
(1gal)
8 cups yellow petals w/o greens (picked the same day.)
2lbs sugar
1tsp acid blend
1tbsp nutrient
Top up with cool water.

Nice! That’s similar to what I did last time except I added a touch of lemon peel.
This time I’ll add orange zest and honey instead of table sugar. I may add a can or two of white grape juice concentrate for a 3 gallon batch.

 

[Reverend_Nelson]

Beechwood aged pumpkin peach ale.

Why not?

Ok, so I can't find anything on the beechwood. I found tons of articles on Budweiser cooking all the flavor out of it before use. But no flavor profile for aging. Just chips for smoking. And aside from the tobacco, I have no experience with it. Compared to oak, what's it like?

 

[Kent88]

Meh, just leave out the beechwood. I've never used it.

 

[JimRausch]

Be aware that 7-8 cups of dandelion blossums is ALOT of dandelions. The one time I made a 1G batch it took about a month to pick and clean them all. I did store them in ziplock bags in the freezer. Never again, although the result was pretty nice.
Now, if you pay all the neighborhood kids for cleaned petals, maybe that would work.

 

[Reverend_Nelson]

Be aware that 7-8 cups of dandelion blossums is ALOT of dandelions. The one time I made a 1G batch it took about a month to pick and clean them all. I did store them in ziplock bags in the freezer. Never again, although the result was pretty nice.
Now, if you pay all the neighborhood kids for cleaned petals, maybe that would work.

It only took about an hour for me to pick 8 cups of dandelions. It took my wife about twice that to take the greens off. I had read that it's best to do it all in one day because once they start to wilt the flavors start changing for the worse. Still, I found it to be a worthy venture. But only because the dandelions were plentiful that day.