Selfsufficientish.com

Hi all,
Its 2.45am and I cant sleep again! As I lay looking thru my velux at the stars, listening to the owls screeching & the frogs croaking, my mind drifted to bottling my wines (as it does!) and then to some more unusual flavours that could possibly be made into wines.
I did a search and found there is already a banana wine and on further investigation that someone on here has perhaps made it too - will have to try that.
Not being a lover of grape wines, I am very interested in homemade ones that have lots of flavour other than grape - like the ginger & lemon or the coffee wine.
Then I thought, if the basis of most wines is the flavouring, water, sugar and yeast, would it be possible to use cake flavourings/essences, thus creating the opportunity to have coconut or vanilla or mint wine.
Does anyone think this would be possible or is it just the ramblings of an insomniac with nothing better on her mind than alcohol

That's a bummer mate! To be awake at 2:45am sucks pretty comprehensively. I occasionally cop it too but usually around work!

I have seen coconut spirits so I assume that the wine is possible. Maybe perhaps a liquer (eh! I cant spell it) would be better?

Nev

Ahhh I sympathise with being awake in the wee small hours. We were awakened last night by a loud thud and then a few minutes later the 'song' of the cats fighting.... not sure what the thud was.. I got up to investigate and couldn't find anything. I guess it could have been the cats jumping onto the roof - a corrugated metal roof - en route to the fight.

I couldn't get back to sleep for AGES - really tired this morning.

Coconut wine... not heard of it but probably can do it - not sure what it would taste like though. Banana wine sounds interesting..

If you decide to give any of these a try then please do feedback to us I'd definitely like to know what the result is like.

The essence of alcohol is water sugar and yeast plus flavour, but that's not wine. The essence of wine includes tannin, and vinosity other weird and wonderful things. I know Jilly Goolden and Oz Clarke are desparately annoying with their pretentious talk of pencil shavings and mown grass, but there really is more to wine than just falling-over juice.

Having said that, please do experiment and let us know how you get on. Like Wombat says there are alcohols and liquers made from all kinds of things and with all kinds of flavours in. I would guess you'd have more success making a basic alcohol from whatever you have plenty of, say potatoes, and then adding the flavours afterwards, rather than making a vanilla-flavoured syrup and fermenting that. But try it both ways and let us know how it turns out.

Having read the coffee wine recipe from Luath and seeing that it is literally just coffee, water, sugar and yeast, I think my idea of the essence could work. Problem will be getting the quantities of sugar right, perhaps have to read the amounts for several different types of wine and guesstimate from that! Obviously will let u all know how I get on.
Waiting for reply from Hay331 who has said in another thread about making banana wine, quite fancy that. Have found a link with a recipe if anyone is interested.

http://www.hookerycookery.com/banana21.htm

Thanks for your sympathy with the insomnia everyone!

I made banana wine a few weeks ago, after I cam home and found 4 1/2lbs bananas on the doorstep copurtesy of the kind landlord from the pub over the road.

You can make coconut wine, I have recipes for dessicated coconut wine, will hunt them down for you.

I don't think the essences would work - not enough substance to them. You can make mint tea like lemon balm - big handfuls of mint leaves/stalks - will find a recipe if you would like one. Not tried it myself, but sounds as if it would be nice.

Hi again Luath,

Have u made the banana wine before and if so, was it good? Does it taste strongly of banana? I want flavourings that are strong enuf tho to mask the flavouring of just the wine alcohol if that makes sense.

I do love my liqueurs and have 2 on the go at the moment from kits, but its a bit different drinking a couple of bottles of wine a week to drinking a couple of bottles of liqueurs a week!

Coconut is my absolute favourite flavouring in anything, so yes please, would love the dessicated recipe please

I have mint tea recipes thanks anyway as I am looking into herbalism at the moment so that features along with other herb teas/infusions & decoctions.

Major slip-up there - I did, ofcourse, mean recipe for mint WINE, not mint tea...............

Oh funny as......

Yes please would like the mint wine - that sounds yummy!

Thanks again