Something is Brewing

I come from a long line of people who are passionate about brewing extremely dodgy beverages.  My English Grandmother's elderflower wine is still spoken of in hushed tones, and has been held responsible for no less than three neighbours driving their cars into hedges (this was before drink driving or even seatbelts had been invented).

So, as is my habit when autumn is upon us, I have been upholding a fine family tradition and getting the moonshine going.

Ginger Beer
Home brewed ginger beer is delightful - am supplier for us and mumndad
Making a ginger beer plant is the first step in the process. Once the plant is going the liquid is used to brew the beer, which is very mildly alcoholic.

Ingredients:
1/2 oz dried yeast
1/2 pint water
sugar
ground ginger

Put the yeast in a jar, add the water, two teaspoons sugar and two teaspoons ground ginger and give a good mix.
Cover the jar.
Each day for 7 days add 1 teaspoon sugar and 1 teaspoon ground ginger.

Ginger beer plant: and yes, my kitchen windows are that dirty

This ginger beer plant is now three days old.  Will be turning it into ginger beer in a few days :) so check back for an update on Monday (give or take).

Parsley Wine
As home brewing experiments go, I suspect this may well be my most horrific so far.  Nevertheless, I found the recipe in a little traditional English brewing book, and in the interest of using produce from the garden, I am diving in, so to speak.
Apparently it will taste wonderful with fish. Hmm.
So I took 450g parsley from the garden and boiled it, which made the house smell like wet wool socks and parsley sauce, yummy, kindof.
I added some champagne yeast and some sultanas, and this was the spectacular result...

Parsley wine in the fermenting bin

 No, I could not bring myself to taste it, in case you were wondering.

Twenty four hours later, its fizzing and bubbling, the sultanas have risen to the top, and the house smells herby and fermenty.   Am feeling faintly more confident about it than I was yesterday. Faintly.

Parsley wine: Day 2 - Sultanas floating on the top

Will be sticking it in a demi-john and leaving it to do some serious fermenting in a few days, so stay tuned for an update, and I'll put the recipe up then as well.

:)