Hello,
I was out in my garden yesterday, and I have an abundance of cucumbers
sitting in my fridge right now. Having made as many sweet pickles as I care
to make in one year, my thoughts turned to making a wine. Anyone try this?
If so, how was it and do you have a recipe? If not, I was thinking of using
my zucchini wine recipe, and trying it with cucumbers - any thoughts? Thanks
in advance.
Darlene
Wisconsin

In article >, Dar V
> writes
>Hello,
>I was out in my garden yesterday, and I have an abundance of cucumbers
>sitting in my fridge right now. Having made as many sweet pickles as I care
>to make in one year, my thoughts turned to making a wine. Anyone try this?
>If so, how was it and do you have a recipe? If not, I was thinking of using
>my zucchini wine recipe, and trying it with cucumbers - any thoughts? Thanks
>in advance.

I made a wine a long time ago from neat cucumber juice and IIRC it
turned out to be very good. I don't recall how I extracted the juice,
but peeling then freezing first, de-freezing, then adding sugar worked
very well for me recently with zucchini. Cucumber would need a flavour
boost with something like lemon, but if you are not keen on that,
possibly lime, mint or even juniper?
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

Thanks Alan. Glad to hear somebody has made it before. Can you describe the
taste? just a basic white wine...? I agree on the need to boost the flavor,
and freezing the fruit/veggie before making the wine. I was leaning towards
either bananas or raisons to add body, but I appreciate the other ideas.
Darlene


"Alan Gould" > wrote in message
...
> In article >, Dar V
> > writes
>>Hello,
>>I was out in my garden yesterday, and I have an abundance of cucumbers
>>sitting in my fridge right now. Having made as many sweet pickles as I
>>care
>>to make in one year, my thoughts turned to making a wine. Anyone try this?
>>If so, how was it and do you have a recipe? If not, I was thinking of
>>using
>>my zucchini wine recipe, and trying it with cucumbers - any thoughts?
>>Thanks
>>in advance.
>
> I made a wine a long time ago from neat cucumber juice and IIRC it
> turned out to be very good. I don't recall how I extracted the juice,
> but peeling then freezing first, de-freezing, then adding sugar worked
> very well for me recently with zucchini. Cucumber would need a flavour
> boost with something like lemon, but if you are not keen on that,
> possibly lime, mint or even juniper?
> --
> Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

In article >, Dar V
> writes
>Thanks Alan. Glad to hear somebody has made it before. Can you describe the
>taste? just a basic white wine...? I agree on the need to boost the flavor,
>and freezing the fruit/veggie before making the wine. I was leaning towards
>either bananas or raisons to add body, but I appreciate the other ideas.

It was a long time ago, but IIRC the cucumber flavour held up well. At
the time, I was trying to produce a 'gin' clear wine, so I used only
sugar with no grape juice or other boosters, but in the end it looked
more like a pale sherry than gin. Somehow, I can't quite equate banana
flavour with cucumber and I would use sultanas rather than raisins, but
there's not a lot to choose between those. Is candied peel an option?

I strained my 2 gallon batch of zucchini off the mash today, spreading
the liquid equally between 3 x 1 gallon secondary fermentation vessels,
because I know it has a lot of lees in it and because it is still
fermenting vigorously. Just at the moment, it would look more at home in
a soup kitchen than in our kitchen, but hope springs eternal.
--
Alan Gould. North Lincolnshire, UK.

Darlene,

I am thinking you might want to try spicing it with just a hint of
clove and maybe some corriander and cinnamon. Just a tiny tiny tiny
bit.

Thanks. You've given me a lot to think about while the shredded cukes are in
the freezer.
Darlene

"Droopy" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> Darlene,
>
> I am thinking you might want to try spicing it with just a hint of
> clove and maybe some corriander and cinnamon. Just a tiny tiny tiny
> bit.
>

In article >, Dar V
> writes
>Thanks. You've given me a lot to think about while the shredded cukes are in
>the freezer.

Dar, your cukes will do very well for having been frozen, I'm certain of
that, but I am having second thoughts about its advisability with looser
fleshed zucchini. The batch I did released their juices very well after
freezing and being treated with sugar and enzyme, then the solids rose
to the top in the usual way and I gave them a good stir twice a day for
three days. After I stirred them yesterday, the 4th. day, I could see
that there had been a change in the mash. It was still fermenting
vigorously, but the solids and liquids vessels were not separating.
I could see that because my initial fermentation vessel is translucent.
I decided to strain it off immediately, but the liquid in the secondary
vessels now looks almost as though it has been cooked into a soup.

It is early days and I hope that batch of wine may come round in time,
but what I am going to do is try again without freezing, peeling or
enzyme this time. I will wash, top, tail and roughly chop the fruits,
then put them into a vessel with sugar and see what juice is extracted.
If it looks viable, I will sulphite it, then proceed in the usual way,
maybe using grape concentrate, maybe not. Fortunately we have a massive
surplus of zucchinis, so I am able to experiment.
--
Alan Gould. North Lincolnshire, UK.

Alan,
I think it depends on your fruit. I've been shredding zucchini and freezing
for years to make bread and muffins. It has only been recently that I have
tried making wine. You're in the UK, and your fruit may come out a bit
different than mine here in Wisconsin. Zucchini has always been pretty dry
when I freeze it, but if I wait a few months longer and thaw, I get a very
soupy wet consistency. It seems to get more soupy the longer you freeze.
Anyway, I would hang in there and keep going. I was surprised by how much
wetter the shredded cucumbers turned out before I froze those. Pumpkin
(which I shred & freeze also) on the other hand comes out very, very dry and
there's not much water when I thaw that, but the wine is very, very good.
Let me know how your other ideas work.
Darlene

"Alan Gould" > wrote in message
...
> In article >, Dar V
> > writes
>>Thanks. You've given me a lot to think about while the shredded cukes are
>>in
>>the freezer.
>
> Dar, your cukes will do very well for having been frozen, I'm certain of
> that, but I am having second thoughts about its advisability with looser
> fleshed zucchini. The batch I did released their juices very well after
> freezing and being treated with sugar and enzyme, then the solids rose
> to the top in the usual way and I gave them a good stir twice a day for
> three days. After I stirred them yesterday, the 4th. day, I could see
> that there had been a change in the mash. It was still fermenting
> vigorously, but the solids and liquids vessels were not separating.
> I could see that because my initial fermentation vessel is translucent.
> I decided to strain it off immediately, but the liquid in the secondary
> vessels now looks almost as though it has been cooked into a soup.
>
> It is early days and I hope that batch of wine may come round in time,
> but what I am going to do is try again without freezing, peeling or
> enzyme this time. I will wash, top, tail and roughly chop the fruits,
> then put them into a vessel with sugar and see what juice is extracted.
> If it looks viable, I will sulphite it, then proceed in the usual way,
> maybe using grape concentrate, maybe not. Fortunately we have a massive
> surplus of zucchinis, so I am able to experiment.
> --
> Alan Gould. North Lincolnshire, UK.

Now I have to ask you for another recipe here, Darlene. Will be trying
your zucchini recipe sometime here in September, but October will be doing
Pumpkin wine. So if I ask nicely could we get your recipe in here? Will do
yours and Jack's again(as I'm doing for the zucchini), then sometime next
year compare them, choose which one I like best(or decide that neither is
quite what I want and experiment some more with modifying closest one to get
what I want, which of course is the second most fun part of this hobby. The
first of course is just enjoying the final product )

Thanks in advance
Joel

"Dar V" > wrote in message
...
> Alan,
> I think it depends on your fruit. I've been shredding zucchini and
freezing
> for years to make bread and muffins. It has only been recently that I have
> tried making wine. You're in the UK, and your fruit may come out a bit
> different than mine here in Wisconsin. Zucchini has always been pretty dry
> when I freeze it, but if I wait a few months longer and thaw, I get a very
> soupy wet consistency. It seems to get more soupy the longer you freeze.
> Anyway, I would hang in there and keep going. I was surprised by how much
> wetter the shredded cucumbers turned out before I froze those. Pumpkin
> (which I shred & freeze also) on the other hand comes out very, very dry
and
> there's not much water when I thaw that, but the wine is very, very good.
> Let me know how your other ideas work.
> Darlene
>
> "Alan Gould" > wrote in message
> ...
> > In article >, Dar V
> > > writes
> >>Thanks. You've given me a lot to think about while the shredded cukes
are
> >>in
> >>the freezer.
> >
> > Dar, your cukes will do very well for having been frozen, I'm certain of
> > that, but I am having second thoughts about its advisability with looser
> > fleshed zucchini. The batch I did released their juices very well after
> > freezing and being treated with sugar and enzyme, then the solids rose
> > to the top in the usual way and I gave them a good stir twice a day for
> > three days. After I stirred them yesterday, the 4th. day, I could see
> > that there had been a change in the mash. It was still fermenting
> > vigorously, but the solids and liquids vessels were not separating.
> > I could see that because my initial fermentation vessel is translucent.
> > I decided to strain it off immediately, but the liquid in the secondary
> > vessels now looks almost as though it has been cooked into a soup.
> >
> > It is early days and I hope that batch of wine may come round in time,
> > but what I am going to do is try again without freezing, peeling or
> > enzyme this time. I will wash, top, tail and roughly chop the fruits,
> > then put them into a vessel with sugar and see what juice is extracted.
> > If it looks viable, I will sulphite it, then proceed in the usual way,
> > maybe using grape concentrate, maybe not. Fortunately we have a massive
> > surplus of zucchinis, so I am able to experiment.
> > --
> > Alan Gould. North Lincolnshire, UK.
>
>

In article >, Dar V
> writes
>Alan,
>I think it depends on your fruit. I've been shredding zucchini and freezing
>for years to make bread and muffins. It has only been recently that I have
>tried making wine. You're in the UK, and your fruit may come out a bit
>different than mine here in Wisconsin. Zucchini has always been pretty dry
>when I freeze it, but if I wait a few months longer and thaw, I get a very
>soupy wet consistency. It seems to get more soupy the longer you freeze.
>Anyway, I would hang in there and keep going. I was surprised by how much
>wetter the shredded cucumbers turned out before I froze those. Pumpkin
>(which I shred & freeze also) on the other hand comes out very, very dry and
>there's not much water when I thaw that, but the wine is very, very good.
>Let me know how your other ideas work.

The 'zucchinis' I am using are what we call courgettes, and later if
they are left on the plant they become marrows. The present batch was
only in the freezer overnight. Today, I have prepared 20lb. of the same
fruit, I have not peeled or frozen it this time, just cut it into slices
and chunks. I put it in a vessel with some sugar and a little enzyme. It
is already decanting out juice, and I am anticipating about 8-12 pints
of fluid will have appeared by tomorrow morning. If so, I have a choice
of gherkins, melons, nectarines, lemons etc. to add if I wish.

For wine-making purposes, short time freezing would probably help to
soften pears and apples. We freeze a lot of those for winter storage,
but this year there's such a bumper crop, I shall be looking at some
ideas for using the surplus.
--
Alan Gould. North Lincolnshire, UK.

Hello,
Not a problem. Here it is.
5 lbs pumpkin (shredded, frozen, and thawed)
1 can 100% Welch's white grape juice
4 tsp acid blend
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1/4 tsp tannin
1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
5 - 6 cups sugar
1 gallon + 1/2 qt water
1 package wine yeast

I do want to caution you on the amount of the sugar to add - it depends on
the pumpkins, whether you get sugar pie pumpkins or regular pumpkins. In
order to hit th 11-12% range for you % alcohol by volume. I have added 4
cups in the beginning, but the SG wasn't high enough, so I added another
cup. It still wasn't high enough so I added another 1/2 cup. I would rather
add more than too much in the beginning. I do stabilize & sweeten this
before I bottle, but try it beforehand and add what you think you would
like.
Good-luck.
Darlene


"Joel Sprague" > wrote in message
news:IYZQe.5502$UI.5381@okepread05...
> Now I have to ask you for another recipe here, Darlene. Will be
> trying
> your zucchini recipe sometime here in September, but October will be doing
> Pumpkin wine. So if I ask nicely could we get your recipe in here? Will
> do
> yours and Jack's again(as I'm doing for the zucchini), then sometime next
> year compare them, choose which one I like best(or decide that neither is
> quite what I want and experiment some more with modifying closest one to
> get
> what I want, which of course is the second most fun part of this hobby.
> The
> first of course is just enjoying the final product )
>
> Thanks in advance
> Joel
>
> "Dar V" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Alan,
>> I think it depends on your fruit. I've been shredding zucchini and
> freezing
>> for years to make bread and muffins. It has only been recently that I
>> have
>> tried making wine. You're in the UK, and your fruit may come out a bit
>> different than mine here in Wisconsin. Zucchini has always been pretty
>> dry
>> when I freeze it, but if I wait a few months longer and thaw, I get a
>> very
>> soupy wet consistency. It seems to get more soupy the longer you freeze.
>> Anyway, I would hang in there and keep going. I was surprised by how much
>> wetter the shredded cucumbers turned out before I froze those. Pumpkin
>> (which I shred & freeze also) on the other hand comes out very, very dry
> and
>> there's not much water when I thaw that, but the wine is very, very good.
>> Let me know how your other ideas work.
>> Darlene
>>
>> "Alan Gould" > wrote in message
>> ...
>> > In article >, Dar V
>> > > writes
>> >>Thanks. You've given me a lot to think about while the shredded cukes
> are
>> >>in
>> >>the freezer.
>> >
>> > Dar, your cukes will do very well for having been frozen, I'm certain
>> > of
>> > that, but I am having second thoughts about its advisability with
>> > looser
>> > fleshed zucchini. The batch I did released their juices very well after
>> > freezing and being treated with sugar and enzyme, then the solids rose
>> > to the top in the usual way and I gave them a good stir twice a day for
>> > three days. After I stirred them yesterday, the 4th. day, I could see
>> > that there had been a change in the mash. It was still fermenting
>> > vigorously, but the solids and liquids vessels were not separating.
>> > I could see that because my initial fermentation vessel is translucent.
>> > I decided to strain it off immediately, but the liquid in the secondary
>> > vessels now looks almost as though it has been cooked into a soup.
>> >
>> > It is early days and I hope that batch of wine may come round in time,
>> > but what I am going to do is try again without freezing, peeling or
>> > enzyme this time. I will wash, top, tail and roughly chop the fruits,
>> > then put them into a vessel with sugar and see what juice is extracted.
>> > If it looks viable, I will sulphite it, then proceed in the usual way,
>> > maybe using grape concentrate, maybe not. Fortunately we have a massive
>> > surplus of zucchinis, so I am able to experiment.
>> > --
>> > Alan Gould. North Lincolnshire, UK.
>>
>>
>
>