Up-North Whiskey
God tells us in His Word that he gave us wine to “make light the heart of man”. The brewing of wine is time honored tradition for homesteaders, and one that is pretty easy to do. I found this recipie in Charles Sander’s book The Self-Reliant Homestead. Though its called a “whiskey” it is really a wheat wine.
1 Gallon Water
4lbs Sugar
2lbs Wheat
2lbs Raisins
4 Large Oranges
1 pkg Yeast
Boil water and pour over sugar. Stir until dissolved and add wheat and chopped up rasins. Cut up oranges and add “fresh squoze” juice into the rest of the brew.Let it cool and then add the yeast and stir. Pour into fermentation vessal and allow to work intil fermentation stops, usually 2 to 3 weeks.
I plan on getting a batch of this going sometime in the next few weeks.
February 9th, 2007 at 8:36 pm
You know, I have a batch of mead going… We should think about a trade…
February 10th, 2007 at 5:08 am
MMMMM….Mead. How long do you have to age that stuff? I was reading up on it the other day and they said some recipies had to sit in the bottles for up to 5 years before it was ready. A true test of ones “multigenerational vision”
February 12th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
I have a batch of Scottich Export (ale) that is ready to be bottled. This stuff is supposed to ferment at lager temperatures and the Lord has made my friends garage just the right temperature over the last 3 weeks.
You make that wine sound simpler than Midwest Supplies does. I think I will try your recipie. What kind of yeast do you use? Does the fermentation vessle have to be glass or stainless steel?
February 12th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
I think it depends on the recipe, but probably it is supposed to age at least a year. We’ll see if any makes it that long…
March 17th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
I made up a batch of this, from this recipe, and it finished fermenting today. We tasted it after straining out the raisins and wheat and filtering it a bit, and it was remarkably good. It’s only fault is being very sweet, but perhaps it should be refrigerated before drinking. It tastes a lot like a sweet white wine. Opaque though.
I used regular QuickRise bread yeast. It fermented in a 5 gallon plastic bucket (the same one we use for fermenting beer) tightly sealed with a lid and a fermentation lock. It bubbled pretty heartily for the first couple days, and then I left it alone for 2 weeks. Now we’re storing it in a gallon-sized glass jar in the refrigerator.
March 17th, 2007 at 6:17 pm
Thanks for the report! I haven’t started mine yet, house has been to cold for proper fermenting. Hope to get started on it as soon as the weather breaks.
July 18th, 2008 at 8:10 am
Let me first say I’m no expert, but have some experience. I made my first batch last year with reg. bread yeast…turned out OK. Started a second batch with actual wine yeast Jan. ‘08 and third batch July ‘08. My plan is to start a batch every six months.
I just racked (move by syph. with plastic tubing) the Jan08 batch again and it’s really clear (like whiskey/brandy) and tastes great. Yes, it’s sweet, but it’s a sipping whiskey/wine.
Here’ what I do: I soak the wheatberries in the gal of water (I use filtered) called for - 24 hrs to soften. Bring that to a boil adding the rest of the ingredients. Cool to room temperature then add yeast. I ferment for 3-5 days in a tightly covered (with plastic and string/rubberband) container. Keep at as constant 70 degree temp as possible. Stir well once a day and recover. When the “active” bubbling slows way down I strain off the raisins, orange pulp and wheatberries and rack into a glass gal jug and seal with an airlock. Let work for at least 4 weeks. You will have sediment in the bottom of the jug. Carefully rack into another glass jug, clean and replace the airlock. Leave alone for three months. Certainly drinkable now but pretty sweet. The longer you can hold out the better it gets…sugars turn to alcohol.
Be very sure to keep area and equipment (containers, strainer, airlocks, tubing, etc) as clean as possible. HOT water and a drop of bleach is better than dish detergent. Air dry upside down. Rinse super well in HOT water before using regardless of when you washed equip. last. Bad bacteria can spoil a batch before you know it. You can find wine yeast, airlocks, tubing, etc. many places. You can search the internet to find supplies close to home.
July 18th, 2008 at 8:57 am
Thanks for the tips Robert,
We made some last year using bread yeast and we liked it a lot. I haven’t made any this year, but plan to back to it soon. I’ll try some wine yeast this time. Perhaps I’ll try your straining it and moving it over to glass method. We left it all together and never moved it from main plastic fermenter. Your right that its a sipin’ wine, it sure packed a punch even with the little aging we did. I must admit that none of it hung around more than a few weeks after bottling. I need to try bigger batches, if I can afford the sugar, perhaps 5 gallon batches. Thanks again for the tips, I’m glad you shared them with us.