Making Your Homegrown Wine, Beer, Cider, and Mead Is A
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Hooch Cover_Layout 1 3/15/13 12:43 PM Page 1 WINE & SPIRITS IF YOU’VE ALWAYS HAD AN URGE TO TRY YOUR HAND AT BREWING but thought it was only for the highly experienced with acres of land and expensive equip- ment, think again. This simple guide strips the art of booze-making down to its basics with clear and accessible step-by-step instructions and illustrations; even the novice can turn out bottles of refreshing brews, wines, and infusions. Garden-to-glass drinking allows you to customize every part of the process. Learn to craft your own drinks from the ground up: CHOOSING SEEDS • GROWING GRAPES, FRUITS, GRAINS, AND HERBS HARVESTING • PRESSING • FERMENTING • BREWING INFUSING • DISTILLING • AND MORE! Written for the hobbyist with plenty of ambition but limited space or experience, this book has a drink for every taste: from flavorful fruit wines made from peaches, plums, and berries to spicy ginger beers and ciders to delicious homemade mead and liqueurs. What are you waiting for? There’s imbibing to do. SCOTT MEYER was on staff at Organic Gardening magazine for more than twenty years, seven of them as editor-in-chief. Meyer is the author of four books, including The City Homesteader. His writing has appeared in Philadelphia, Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Prevention, Organic Style, Mountain Bike, and more. He lives with his wife, two children, and garden beds in suburban Philadelphia. ISBN 978-0-7624-4603-2 Visit us on the web! $22.00 in U.S.A. • $25.50 in Canada www.runningpress.com £14.99 in U.K. Printed in the United States 04/13 hooch design1_Layout 1 3/15/13 10:46 AM Page 1 hooch design1_Layout 1 3/15/13 10:46 AM Page 2 © 2013 by Scott Meyer Cover and interior illustrations © 2013 by Joel Holland Published by Running Press, A Member of the Perseus Books Group All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions Printed in the United States This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher. Books published by Running Press are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the United States by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more information, please contact the Special Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group, 2300 Chestnut Street, Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA 19103, or call (800) 810-4145, ext. 5000, or e-mail [email protected]. ISBN 978-0-7624-4603-2 Library of Congress Control Number: 2012942523 E-book ISBN 978-0-7624-4829-6 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Digit on the right indicates the number of this printing Cover and interior design by Amanda Richmond Edited by Kristen Green Wiewora Typography: Archer, Franchise, and MailartRubberstamp Running Press Book Publishers 2300 Chestnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19103–4371 Visit us on the web! www.runningpress.com hooch design1_Layout 1 3/15/13 10:46 AM Page 3 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx TO MY VERY BEST FRIEND AND TRUE LOVE, DAWN, FOR ALL THOSE NIGHTS WE SMASHED FRUIT AND IMAGINED OUR LIVES TOGETHER. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx hooch design1_Layout 1 3/15/13 10:46 AM Page 4 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ... 6 CHAPTER 1. FERMENTATION BASICS ... 10 Essential Supplies ...11 Serious About Sanitizing ...19 Water ...21 Simple Science ...22 Yeast Husbandry ...28 Fermentation Steps ...35 CHAPTER 2. HOMEGROWN WINES ... 40 Grapes ...44 Berries ...52 Orchard Fruits ...61 Citrus Fruits ...70 Root Crops ...74 Summer Vegetables ...79 Foraged Foods ...86 CHAPTER 3. HOME BREWS ... 92 Growing Hops ...93 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx hooch design1_Layout 1 3/15/13 10:46 AM Page 5 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Growing Barley ...101 Ginger Beer ...118 CHAPTER 4. CIDER WITH A KICK ... 123 Growing Apples ...124 Making Cider ...131 Variations ...136 CHAPTER 5. A HONEY OF A DRINK ... 140 Keeping Bees ...141 Making Mead ...147 CHAPTER 6. DARE TO DISTILL ... 156 The Still ...157 Ingredients ...160 Distillation Steps ...163 CHAPTER 7. INTERESTING INFUSIONS ... 175 Flavored Vodkas ...176 Simple Sangrias ...185 CHAPTER 8. GARDEN TO GLASS ... 187 Resources ...195 Bibliography ...201 Index ...203 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx hooch design1_Layout 1 3/15/13 10:46 AM Page 6 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx INTRODUCTION OOCH USED TO MEAN ROTGUT, SWILL, OLD GRAPE JUICE, FIREWATER, moonshine, and a lot of other unappealing terms for something you drink Honly because it’s all there is or because you don’t want to offend whoever is passing it your way. The new hooch is altogether different. It may be wine, beer, cider, mead, or spirits, and its purpose is not a quick and cheap buzz. It’s made from ingredi- ents raised with care and it’s crafted with attention to quality from harvest to glass. Today’s hooch is all about hands-on experience and the deep satisfaction of starting with a handful of seeds and turning them into a glassful of cheer you’re proud to share. Making your own hooch doesn’t mean you are a bootlegger, cheapskate, or eccen- tric. Well, maybe you are a little of each. But when you grow (or gather) the ingredients, then handle them yourself every step of the way from raw material to bottle, you become an artisan with a great story you can offer along with the drink: This comes from right here; its terroir is my home. Not that you need a vineyard that stretches for acres or a vast cellar to grow and make a batch of brew, wine, or spirits. You can do something in a city apartment, a lot in a suburban backyard. You don’t need to invest in expensive equipment to get started, and you can make drinks worth sharing even if you flunked chemistry in high school. P Transforming ordinary garden crops and foraged foods into sublime alcohol seems like it must be complicated, but it’s remarkably easy. The earliest civilizations discov- ered—most likely by accident—how to make wine and beer. Medieval monks and farm- ers managed to produce drinks that inspired poetry and earned fortunes without xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx hooch design1_Layout 1 3/15/13 10:47 AM Page 7 really understanding how it happened. Today, we know that yeast has the unique abil- ity to make alcohol from sugar, and researchers have documented the variations in each strain of yeast’s reaction to different ingredients and conditions, making it sim- pler than ever before for anyone to capture nature’s purest flavors in a bottle. Ancient people surely appreciated—and often celebrated—the sacramental and intoxicating qualities of the alcohol they had. But they may have just as well valued fer- menting and distilling—the processes of producing and concentrating alcoholic con- tent—as a form of food preservation. (A really pleasurable kind of food preservation.) You can’t overestimate the benefits of a safe supply of drinking liquids in times before sanitation made water a trustworthy option. We don’t have to worry about a safe water supply anymore, but fermenting homegrown ingredients lets us capture and refine their flavors, and enjoy them for years after they are harvested. Our world has been so shaped for our convenience, we can press a few buttons on our computers or phones, and anything we desire can be delivered right to our door. So why bother growing a garden? Why go to the trouble of making your own wines, brews, and spirits? I say it’s worth it because the flavors of homegrown and homemade are the purest. Because you get to enjoy unique tastes that are not available commer- cially. Because many of us have discovered that something is missing from our con- venient world. We are hungry for the genuine confidence that comes with providing for ourselves and we are thirsty for knowledge on how to do it simply. We’re growing gardens because we love fresh food, we’re preserving it to get a taste of homegrown food in every season, and we’re sharing our bounty with family and friends because there is simple joy in offering your effort and care to those you love. This book is meant to show you how easy and rewarding it is to grow and make your own hooch. I believe the goal is to enjoy the process as much as the outcome, so I’ve emphasized the most natural methods every step of the way and purity over conven- ience for each ingredient and additive. When sharing information on growing, I focus on the organic approach, not only because I know garden chemicals are toxic to peo- ple and the environment, but primarily because they leave behind residues that affect the flavor of your ingredients. (If you don’t trust my admittedly biased opinion, ask any vintner or chef about that.) Likewise, I’m inclined to pass on adding sulfites when making my own hooch, though I realize many successful professionals and amateurs include them in their wines, ciders, and meads. I also prefer to use natural ingredients xxx INTRODUCTIONxxx 7 hooch design1_Layout 1 3/15/13 10:47 AM Page 8 such as black tea and citrus fruits rather than purchase commercially produced tan- nins and acids. I don’t intend to badger you with this point and I certainly won’t con- demn you if you find that you feel more confident relying on synthetic fertilizers and such purchased additives. I do hope you’ll first try to do without them and trust that over time you will acquire the knowledge needed to keep your hooch pure from start to finish.