Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
ALMOST BEEKEEPING - RELATED TOPICS => FARMING & COUNTRY LIFE => Topic started by: jdesq on April 26, 2007, 05:13:02 pm
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Dandelions are popping up all over. I'm not bragging ( to much) but I make an awesome dandelion wine. Make it early May and It's ready to drink about Christmas time. 5 gallons of liquid sunshine! It sure brightens up a dreary February day. Anyone else make this an annual rite of spring?
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No, but I've tasted the stuff. Very interesting. Always wanted to make wine(red), but haven't had the time yet. Too many other endaevors to do. Oh well! Enjoy your wine.
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I missed it here, they're already going to seed. Ah, heck, I'll just cruise the neighborhood and see what I can find, there's sure to be enough to do a batch.
Mark
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I think moonshine season is wrapping up here :-D
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Dandelions are popping up all over. I'm not bragging ( to much) but I make an awesome dandelion wine. Make it early May and It's ready to drink about Christmas time. 5 gallons of liquid sunshine! It sure brightens up a dreary February day. Anyone else make this an annual rite of spring?
We have dandelions so big this year I think that they have come from outer space. I have no clue why they are so BIG. If the sun shines I am going to take some pics, they are closed when it is raining.
I would be curious, how many do you have to pick. We have so many coming on, maybe I will give the wine a whirl. Could you pass on a recipe/procedure/amount required to make lots (LOLL). Have a beautiful, wonderful day, great health to all. Cindi
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Sure- You will need about 1 1/2 gallon bucket of dandelion heads. 10 lbs sugar, 3 cans white grape concentrate, and zest and juice from 3 lemons and packet of white wine yeast. Put the heads in a cheesecloth bag. Use at least a 5 gallon bucket put all ingrediants in bucket add hot water to dissolve sugar and top off with more water to give you around 5 gallons. After it cools down to room temp. add yeast and cover bucket with cloth. ferment for around 10 days then squeeze out juice from dandelion heads and discard heads. Move into another 5 gallon carboy leaving sediment behind. Put airlock on and forget about it untill thanksgiving. Rack once more -then bottle. It will get better with age. enjoy!
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jdseq. Now if that doesn't sound simple. I could easily pick that many dandelions. Ours are huge and I could probably pick that many in about half an hour. Thanks for this information, gonna do that for sure. Best of a beautiful day, great day, good health wishes to all. Cindi
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So I got enough. Where do I find an airlock?
Mark
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Never mind. I found this place:
http://www.homebrewheaven.com (http://www.homebrewheaven.com)
Very nice people.
Mark
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So, I thought I would offer my grandsons one cent per dandelion head to pick me several thousand (LOL). They didn't want to do it, so oh well, they could have made some good money. So...I'll have myself a bunch of money and head out today. Best of a wonderful day, good health to all. Cindi
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Yeah, I tried that with my daughter, she didn't buy into it either. :-\
I don't really mind, just another reason to be outside.
Mark
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Well, that is just too bad for my grandsons, tough tiddy said the kiddy.
I went outside yesterday and picked two gallons of beautiful yellow dandelions. I put on a glove because I know the staining that comes from these pretty little flowers. Lucky I did, I had to dispose of the glove afterwards.
It took me about an hour to pick these two buckets. The sun was shinin' and I was having fun, fun, fun. I counted the first bucket as I was picking. I can be rather weird about things. There is approximately 1,000 dandelion heads to a gallon. I am actually grateful that the kids didn't pick them for me. It would have cost me about $10 a bucket. so I told them, you snooze you looze. They didn't care. I guess the thought of picking dandelion flowers was too much for the mind of a young child. Guess there must be more interesting things to do, like, I actually don't know what. Jump on the trampoline, watching me pick these little flowers. Hmmm...what's the matter with kids today? LOL :roll: Have a beautiful day, great life, the sun is shinin', the package bees were having a great time yesterday. Cindi
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So here I am trying to find ways to kill the dandelions when I could be making wine!!! Never had dandelion wine, is it anything like rhubarb wine? My grandpa makes an awesome rhubarb wine from the rhubarb he gets from his garden. He said that when I'm ready to start making wine he'll hook me up with some carboys and airlocks. Maybe nows the time while the dandes are out. Just like my neighbor Cindi up there in BC, here in the Seattle area we have HUGE dandes this year. Massive! And my bees wont touch them! Maybe they are from another planet?!?!?!
Sean
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They're Triffids! :shock:
Mark
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Sean, now that is interesting that you say that about the bees not liking the dandelions. We hear all the time about the dandelion bloom and bees. My bees have zero interest in the dandelions too.
My theory on this is that there are so many other trees in bloom that the dandelions hold no interest. We have so many wild fruit trees and many other trees blooming like crazy right now, probably more interest to the bees than the pretty little dandelions. I do see other pollinators on the dandes, they love them. I think that they are the little teeeny tiny bees that always go in my swimming pool. They look like them anyways. The ones that go in the pool are a real nuisance. They are so tiny and pack quite a little sting. The kids are always getting stung by them, but their venom is nothing compared to the honeybee, so they just go ouch and carry on their way. I always try to skim them off as best that I can and I tell the kids to keep the skimmer close at hand and remove the little bees when they go in the pool.
The bug that bugs me that goes into the pool and bugs everyone is the one that I call the maneater, the boat bug, whatever. I have never been bit by one, but I think that they bite. They fly into the pool, swim underwater all the time, are fast and very hard to catch. When I catch a boat bug if it gets away before I squish it (yep, I squish bugs, my husband eats them on dares), the boat bug flies away. It looks like a little guy in a row boat in the water, the legs (or wings, whatever it is) looking like oars. I am sure that everyone has these critters.
Ooops, lost the topic, back to dandelion wine. I picked two buckets, but they are still in my fridge. I haven't got around to buying some white grape concentrate so I think that I am going to use some cherry juice that I extracted from cherries last year. I am thinking the dandelion wine will not be clear, but maybe a dark one. That throws a different swing on the thought of dandelion wine, but then improvision is a good thing too. I have lots and lots or rhubarb, too much actually, never thought about making wine with that, but it sounds delicious. I had some raspberry wine the other day my friend made out of excess raspberries that she had frozen from her garden lasat year. Man, now if that wasn't a treat for the palate. I will have excesss of raspberries this year too. Guess it is gonna be a year of wine making. Best of a wonderful, beautiful day, good health to all. Cindi
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Cindi!
I HATE that maneater bug you mentioned!!! Those things hurt worse than any bee sting! And they're fast too. They look kind of like a weird beetle with those two long legs that they swim with. You're the first person I've talked to that knows what I'm talking about (besides my neighbors). Must be a northwest thing. When I lived in Portland, never saw them.
I'm definately going to grow rhubarb this year and make some wine from that, but I think I'll wait for dandelion wine until next year. I noticed the same thing about other bees and bugs liking the dandes. We have a big population of bumble bees this year and they've been really digging the dandes. Same with the orchard mason bees. I think you're right about the bees going after something better. Must be the big maple they've been going after.
Sean
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Sean, now that is funny about the maneater (boatbug) that we speak about. I have always seen them my entire life. Even as a child when we played in the swamps, catching the huge bull frog tadpoles, swimming in the murk,, we were warned about the maneater bugs, had a healthy respect for them surely, and I have passed on these teachings to anyone that swims in my pool. Man, looking back to my childhood days, I really don't know how on earth we could go down to the swamps and swim and play in those dark murkey waters. It sends shivers up my spine to think of going into any water that I cannot see clearly into, for fear of what lurks below. The ignorance of youth, surely. It scares me still thinking of my childhood days, deep in the woods, deep in the swamp, eeeks!!!! And the swamp grasses!!!!!
This maneat bug is a nasty. Have never been bit by one, thank goodness you told me that they do really pack a whollop of a sting/bite, whatever these critters do. When I hear a kid shrieking in the pool and calling me, I know for surely that that kind of shriek is the need to come and remove the boatbug. What bugs me is that they like to go down to the deep end and then it is really hard to get them, but I always win. I try to squish them in the net before I release, cause they can fly away so quickly. Well, wouldn't ya think so, the way that they can paddle their little bodies around under water!!!! Nasties for surely. have a wonderful day, great day and good health wishes for us all. Cindi
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Cindi, The dandelion wine will end up with a light yellow cast to it- like a chardonney- I'd recommend sticking to the recipe for your first wine- If your first wine is a success, you'll make many more- if not,the hobby will die there.
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jdseq. Actually, I made the wine yesterday, we'll see how it turns out. Pretty simple actually. Now, the only question that I have is:
The dandelions heads are in the cheesecloth bag (actually a painters' strainer bag) suspended in the liquid. BUT...I looked this morning and the bag is not submerged in the liquid, it is floating, about half of it is above liquid the other half below.
Is this right? If it needs to be submerged completely, how is this accomplished? I'm thinking that the "above fluid" dandelion heads might go mouldy or something weird like that. Have the beautiful day, great day, good health wishes to all. Cindiu
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Just punch down the bag whenever you go past it- maybe rotate it once in awhile- Don't worry -It will be great!
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Just punch down the bag whenever you go past it- maybe rotate it once in awhile- Don't worry -It will be great!
I'm still pretty new to brewing, but shouldnt you be careful about air contact during fermantation? My grandfather told me that there's a bacteria in the air that can screw up a batch of wine, turing it to vinegar. So, shouldnt you just leave it be instead of touching it every once in a while? Would it have been better to weight down the cheesecloth with a weight?
Cindi,
Yeah, those bugs are nasty! Everytime we got bit or stung we would have a HUGE welt. I'm thinking now that it had to be a sting for it to make such a mark. Hurt like a sunofagun. Never saw them in the horse traugh, but always in the kiddy pool, especially after we just filled it. They must have really liked the super fresh water.
Sean
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Sean, OK now I have a new respect for the boatbug. I have not met it personally and now I really do not want to. I was always only teasing the kids when I told them to beware the maneater. Now I really do need to keep on top of this nasty critter. Yes, I bet they like your poor little kids' pool, nasties. Best of a beautiful day, great life and great health wishes for all. Cindi
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I'm beginning to get a really nice yeasty smell down in the basement. Six more days in the bucket, then transfer to the carboy. :-D
Mark
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Once you have this in the carboy- we'll make some mead!! I make at least 30 gallons of mead a year- thats why I originally got into bee keeping.
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I'm up for that. :-D
Mark
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I have excess honey, still liquid, I really should get into making some mead. I am on the search for a recipe that I read about somewhere called something like "Joe's Ancient Orange" mead recipe. Probably gonna google it. Have a wonderful day, great life, great health. Cindi
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My mom and I might make some mead, but that wont start till next year when I have some more honey.
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Okay, it's in the carboy and airlock is in place, I am now officially forgetting it after I ask the next couple questions.
Where do I keep it climate/light wise - dark warm, dark cool, light warm, light cool?
Also, when I re-rack it in November how long will it stay in the second carboy until I bottle it?
Right, so mead is next yes? :-D
Mark
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Mead--- The nectar of the Gods! Very simple- 15 lbs. of honey,4 gallons water, Hydrate a package of yeast and add with a little yeast nutrient,ferment a a month or so then rack and forget about it for six to eight months , rack once more, bottle and enjoy!!! A lot of variations of this with different juices or fruits. If interested let me know. This is a hobby that can become very addicting.
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Mark, keep your dandelion wine in a dark cool enviroment. Your basement is perfect. I would rack it once more in November then bottle. Age it as long as you can stand it. Of course for quality assurance purposes you will have to have a glass or two every once in awhile.
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Mead--- The nectar of the Gods! Very simple- 15 lbs. of honey,4 gallons water, Hydrate a package of yeast and add with a little yeast nutrient,ferment a a month or so then rack and forget about it for six to eight months , rack once more, bottle and enjoy!!! A lot of variations of this with different juices or fruits. If interested let me know. This is a hobby that can become very addicting.
Oh I'm interested! This brewing thing has become quite addicting already. I have big plans for my strawberry crop in a month or so. Anyone ever made strawberry wine? I found a recipe yesterday on line, but am having a hard time finding it again. It'll turn up.
So can you become an alcoholic if you're making it yourself? Just a thought. . . I'm thinking not so much. I can see drinking more often, but less quantity as to enjoy the fruit (pun not really intended) of my labor. Not that it's an issue, just curious as to other folks' experiences.
Mark
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Try this site for recipies.....
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/ (http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/)
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Yeah!!! I racked my dandelion wine from the primary fermenter into the carboy yesterday. I was very surprised at it, it looked ugly. It initally was very dark kind of purpely looking, I couldn't find any white grape juice concentrate, so I used my blackberry/cherry juice that I had bottled last summer from fruit that I got the juice from with my steamer pot. The liquid had turned into kind of a light pinkish colour, I guess attractive in its own way. I won't have the nice looking dandelion wine that the white grape juice would afford, but I think it is still going to taste mighty fine. I will have a hard time waiting all those months for it though.
My next project is going to be rhubarb wine, I had huge amounts of it maturing right now and I have heard on this thread that it is really yummy!!! I think I have become a wine maker addict.
I have been brewing my own wine using the store bought wine kits, and I have honed them down pretty nicely. That last batch was a barolo, and it is really really nice. The next ones on the brew are merlo and cabernet. I am going to mix the two together to get the cab-merlot. Yeah!!! Have a wonderful day, great health, Cindi