Hi all!
we are the proud owners of some damsons scrumped from the
hedgerow. Does anyone have a favourite recipe for a gallon of wine? I've
seen one for Welsh damson Port but it relies on natural yeast and I'd rather
go for a real wine yeast to get the alcohol content up for long keeping...

Les

--
Remove Frontal Lobes to reply.

"...The people can always be brought to the bidding of the
leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being
attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and
exposing the country to greater danger "

-- Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little
temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

- Benjamin Franklin, 1759

I don't have such a recipe (we don't get many damson's in south Texas and I
don't really know what they are) but if you have a recipe that looks good
except for the wild yeast then use it but use a good wine yeast with it. If
you are making a port style then I would high alcohol tolerant yeast like a
Champaign yeast. Also of note, C.J.J Berry, a good English wine author,
says to treat them as you would greengage or plums.

Hope that helps.

Ray

"Les Hemmings" wrote in message
...
Hi all!
we are the proud owners of some damsons scrumped from the
hedgerow. Does anyone have a favourite recipe for a gallon of wine? I've
seen one for Welsh damson Port but it relies on natural yeast and I'd
rather go for a real wine yeast to get the alcohol content up for long
keeping...

Les

--
Remove Frontal Lobes to reply.

"...The people can always be brought to the bidding of the
leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being
attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and
exposing the country to greater danger "

-- Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little
temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

- Benjamin Franklin, 1759

Try Jack's site..

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/damson.asp

On Sun, 28 Aug 2005 15:26:40 +0100, "Les Hemmings"
wrote:

Hi all!
we are the proud owners of some damsons scrumped from the
hedgerow. Does anyone have a favourite recipe for a gallon of wine? I've
seen one for Welsh damson Port but it relies on natural yeast and I'd rather
go for a real wine yeast to get the alcohol content up for long keeping...

Les

Here's a recipe from my dim distant past. It will produce a wine of about 12
%abv. I confess it must be well over 12 years since I last made it -- this
also will explain the ancient methodology! But I can guarantee that it will
work
For a gallon ( imp) of a dry and fruity wine.
4 lbs of Damsons
1 kg of sugar
1/2 lb of Sultanas ( white raisins to the US readers)
Yeast of your choice
Yeast nutrient ( from your local Home Brew shop)
Pectin Enzyme
1 gallon of water

remove stalks and then crush the damsons well by hand -- there will not be
a lot of juice from damsons -- the aim is to break open the skins of the
fruits.
Chop the sultanas and add to the fermentation bucket. Add 1/2 gallon of
water and mix well. Add a solution of a little water with a crushed campden
tablet in to the must.

Boil all the sugar in 3 pints of water ( 60 fl ozs) for two minutes and when
it is cool add it to the must and stir well.
Add the yeast , Nutrient and a small teaspoon of pectin enzyme ( this is to
help in the breakdown of the fruit fibres).
Cover and ferment for 7 days stirring daily to break up the "cap"
Strain and wring out the fruit tightly to extract the maximum of the must.
Return the must to a clean fermenting bucket and leave undisturbed for
another 3 days.
Then carefully rack off into a sanitised 1 gal demijohn, ( carboy ), leaving
behind as much of the lees as possible.
Top up with cooled boiled water to the neck of the demijohn and fit a
fermentation lock

Leave to ferment out to completion.

Best aged for at least a year

It will be seen that this is a very ancient recipe and dates from about 1973
as far as I am concerned.

I have also a recipe for a more full bodied and higher abv, medium sweet
damson wine made by similar ancient & uncomplicated methods which really
needs 2 years aging before it is quaffable!

--
Trevor A Panther
In South Yorkshire,
England, United Kingdom.
Remove PSANTISPAM to reply
"Les Hemmings" wrote in message
...
Hi all!
we are the proud owners of some damsons scrumped from the
hedgerow. Does anyone have a favourite recipe for a gallon of wine? I've
seen one for Welsh damson Port but it relies on natural yeast and I'd
rather go for a real wine yeast to get the alcohol content up for long
keeping...

"Pinky" wrote in message
.uk...
Here's a recipe from my dim distant past. It will produce a wine of about
12 %abv. I confess it must be well over 12 years since I last made it --
this also will explain the ancient methodology! But I can guarantee that
it will work

Thanks all! We'll have a bash this weekend...

We froze the damsons while researching.... hope this doesn't break
them down too much. I've read that pectin is a problem with them if they
mush up too much...

Les

--
Remove Frontal Lobes to reply.

"...The people can always be brought to the bidding of the
leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being
attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and
exposing the country to greater danger "

-- Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little
temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

- Benjamin Franklin, 1759