Hi Ashley, my name is Lucien and I just read ur article about learning how to make wine, on making soap and other fantastic things. N I would like to learn these things bcuz I’m planning on moving off grid and having my own homestead with some animals and learning how to b self sufficient
I joined AARP and had a coupon for NakedWines. I joined also. I love the variety of different grapes and varietals that are available. I really like that they help support small growers and winemakers. It's worked out very well for us.
You inspired me two summers ago to give a try at small batch wine making. My strawberry ones weren't so great, but the bottle of raspberry wine was so good! Last month we finally got around to bottling a three gallon batch of beet wine that had been sitting around patiently for a year or so. We've been making beet wine here for probably at least 5 years now. Always a favorite. If you haven't tried beet wine I would highly recommend it.
I went to your Small Batch Winemaking webpage and it's very informative. I didn't even know that was a possibility. We have apple, pear, and cherry trees here - and, hopefully, one peach tree (we'll see if it survives the winter!). I'm excited to try a small batch of fruit and/or flower wine.
Awesome! Peach trees are tricky in the cold, they'll often survive all but the coldest winters, or so I read (ours keep dying) but getting them to actually fruit can be tricky (as the flowers tend to die in late frosts). There are quite a few people that have them around our area, but I think our particular soil is too wet. Each one we've planted has died...but this past year we built them a mound in a warm microclimate, so I'm hopeful that the next batch will make it. (I love your substack by the way, it's one of my favorites.)
I bought a "Contender" peach tree which is supposed to do well in below zero temps. We'll see... It's little branches are just barely sticking out of the 2ft or more snow that we still have covering our orchard! Unlike you, our soil is really dry - We're in a highland desert area. I was raised in SC and find peaches to be "emotionally comforting" - lots of childhood memories of eating soft, juicy peaches in the summer sun. To be, or not to be? We'll see...
Contender and reliance are what died, but it really was a brutally wet spot for them. This time, we're trying those two again, along with redhaven. I've actually had contender peaches, they're quite good. Not a SC peach...but pretty darn good for a northern climate. I haven't tried the others.
Thanks for the info. I made a batch of blueberry wine last June and it turned out great. We had a bumper crop wild grapes which I collected to make wine but because back issues my plans fell through. Hopefully there will be plenty this fall to.
Had a sort of generic question for you: any experience using fruit juice or fruit concentrate for wines? We're in a similar winter situation as you, fruit is a good ways off and we were thinking of making it with something storebought, thought of the juice or frozen concentrates and wondered how well they work. I mean, I am sure you'll end up with wine if you put sugar, water, flavor, and yeast together and wait, but wondering if it is not very worthwhile as far as the quality of the finished wine or if it could be something good. If you've not tried, no worries of course, we can experiment, just curious.
You can definitely use fruit juice (or even dried fruit, or actual fruit jam, or canned fruit) as a base for wine. Make sure the ingredients are just fruit juice and sugar, no preservatives of any kind and no "natural flavors" or other ingredients.
If it's a plain fruit juice with no added sugar, then the process is pretty straightforward and you just substitute it. With sugar in there, it's trickier as you have to reduce the sugar in the recipe...but by how much is going to be a guess. Always reduce it by more than you think, as you can add more sugar later, but you can't take it away.
You can also make wine with lots of other things as a flavoring, even homemade jam or dried fruit. If using jam, you'll need a good bit of pectic enzyme. With dried fruit, it may need to be simmered to soften and extract flavor.
Hi Ashley you asked for Qs about raising chickens. I’m interested in how to feed them in the most economical ways. Do your sprout your chicken feed grains? Can they eat scraps like offal left over from butchering other animals? Thanks!
Yes, definitely. Offal really boosts their protein intake and helps them keep laying all winter long. We do feed grains because winter is so long here with no forage, but in summer they're almost exclusively on forage and food scraps.
Great write up on the wine! I'm about to rack off 2 gal of hard cider, and I have a gallon of mead I started a month ago. If your curious I have write ups on my page for them both.
I also ran off about 10lbs of fresh lemons in the freeze dryer. They came out beautifully!
Thanks for the great info about wine making and fruit wines. I'm starting to get some decent fruit yields and very excited to try my hand at wine-making. Your pictures are beautiful, by the way.
Black walnut syrup comes out pretty good! We don't have any big enough to tap, at least on our land, but I did get to try some from a friend. The nuts do take some getting used to flavor wise.
We just tapped our maples yesterday, and the sap's running hard right now =)
Hi Ashley, my name is Lucien and I just read ur article about learning how to make wine, on making soap and other fantastic things. N I would like to learn these things bcuz I’m planning on moving off grid and having my own homestead with some animals and learning how to b self sufficient
Wonderful!
Yay!! I'm looking forward to your deep dive emails in my inbox. Thank you immensely
Wonderful Jill, so glad they're helpful to you!
I joined AARP and had a coupon for NakedWines. I joined also. I love the variety of different grapes and varietals that are available. I really like that they help support small growers and winemakers. It's worked out very well for us.
Likewise! I don't even remember where our coupon came from originally, but I was glad for it!
You inspired me two summers ago to give a try at small batch wine making. My strawberry ones weren't so great, but the bottle of raspberry wine was so good! Last month we finally got around to bottling a three gallon batch of beet wine that had been sitting around patiently for a year or so. We've been making beet wine here for probably at least 5 years now. Always a favorite. If you haven't tried beet wine I would highly recommend it.
Nice! Not that many people have tried beet wine, but it is a good one!
I went to your Small Batch Winemaking webpage and it's very informative. I didn't even know that was a possibility. We have apple, pear, and cherry trees here - and, hopefully, one peach tree (we'll see if it survives the winter!). I'm excited to try a small batch of fruit and/or flower wine.
Awesome! Peach trees are tricky in the cold, they'll often survive all but the coldest winters, or so I read (ours keep dying) but getting them to actually fruit can be tricky (as the flowers tend to die in late frosts). There are quite a few people that have them around our area, but I think our particular soil is too wet. Each one we've planted has died...but this past year we built them a mound in a warm microclimate, so I'm hopeful that the next batch will make it. (I love your substack by the way, it's one of my favorites.)
Wow! Thanks for the compliment!
I bought a "Contender" peach tree which is supposed to do well in below zero temps. We'll see... It's little branches are just barely sticking out of the 2ft or more snow that we still have covering our orchard! Unlike you, our soil is really dry - We're in a highland desert area. I was raised in SC and find peaches to be "emotionally comforting" - lots of childhood memories of eating soft, juicy peaches in the summer sun. To be, or not to be? We'll see...
What varietal of peach did you plant this time?
Contender and reliance are what died, but it really was a brutally wet spot for them. This time, we're trying those two again, along with redhaven. I've actually had contender peaches, they're quite good. Not a SC peach...but pretty darn good for a northern climate. I haven't tried the others.
Fedco has a really great selection of zone 4 peaches : https://www.fedcoseeds.com/trees/peaches
Thanks for the tip. We'll have to keep each other posted!
Thanks for the info. I made a batch of blueberry wine last June and it turned out great. We had a bumper crop wild grapes which I collected to make wine but because back issues my plans fell through. Hopefully there will be plenty this fall to.
Nice!
Had a sort of generic question for you: any experience using fruit juice or fruit concentrate for wines? We're in a similar winter situation as you, fruit is a good ways off and we were thinking of making it with something storebought, thought of the juice or frozen concentrates and wondered how well they work. I mean, I am sure you'll end up with wine if you put sugar, water, flavor, and yeast together and wait, but wondering if it is not very worthwhile as far as the quality of the finished wine or if it could be something good. If you've not tried, no worries of course, we can experiment, just curious.
Maria :]
You can definitely use fruit juice (or even dried fruit, or actual fruit jam, or canned fruit) as a base for wine. Make sure the ingredients are just fruit juice and sugar, no preservatives of any kind and no "natural flavors" or other ingredients.
If it's a plain fruit juice with no added sugar, then the process is pretty straightforward and you just substitute it. With sugar in there, it's trickier as you have to reduce the sugar in the recipe...but by how much is going to be a guess. Always reduce it by more than you think, as you can add more sugar later, but you can't take it away.
You can also make wine with lots of other things as a flavoring, even homemade jam or dried fruit. If using jam, you'll need a good bit of pectic enzyme. With dried fruit, it may need to be simmered to soften and extract flavor.
But yes, you can make wine that way.
Love reading and learning from you and followers. I need help on how to print some of the instructions?
I have a tutorial on how to do that coming soon. My husband is my tech guy, and I need his help to finish it.
Hi Ashley you asked for Qs about raising chickens. I’m interested in how to feed them in the most economical ways. Do your sprout your chicken feed grains? Can they eat scraps like offal left over from butchering other animals? Thanks!
Yes, definitely. Offal really boosts their protein intake and helps them keep laying all winter long. We do feed grains because winter is so long here with no forage, but in summer they're almost exclusively on forage and food scraps.
Great write up on the wine! I'm about to rack off 2 gal of hard cider, and I have a gallon of mead I started a month ago. If your curious I have write ups on my page for them both.
I also ran off about 10lbs of fresh lemons in the freeze dryer. They came out beautifully!
Thank you again!
Oh nice! Here's the link for anyone else looking for it: https://fireonthemt.substack.com/p/home-brewing-mead
Thank you for subscribing and linking my page!!
Thanks for the great info about wine making and fruit wines. I'm starting to get some decent fruit yields and very excited to try my hand at wine-making. Your pictures are beautiful, by the way.
Right now boiling down black walnut sap. Not fond of them so this will be my response instead of cutting them down
Black walnut syrup comes out pretty good! We don't have any big enough to tap, at least on our land, but I did get to try some from a friend. The nuts do take some getting used to flavor wise.
We just tapped our maples yesterday, and the sap's running hard right now =)
Yes never liked the nut flavor, squirrels do, but syrup is supposed to be buttery nut flavor.
Yes one of the black here gave a gallon in a couple of days, so definitely agree about the sap. Happy tapping!
You're quite welcome!