# An onion and Garlic experiment



## RobertChartier (Feb 16, 2014)

Morning all. Still pretty new to this, and I'm playing mad scientist today.

I've looked over a handful of recipes for cooking wines, and I've sorta mashed a few together, and come up with this. Please critique, as I'm looking to test this recipe as a cooking wine (like THAT'S not obvious from the ingredient list).

Garlic & Onion Wine (yield 1 Gal US)

½ pound diced onion
4 garlic bulbs, peeled and diced
3 pounds carrots, sliced
2 lbs sugar
1 Tsp pectic enzyme
2 Tsp acid Blend
1 Tsp yeast Nutrient
½ Tsp Tannin
EC-1118

Diced and boil carrots, onions and garlic in 1 Gal of water until tender.

Strain out solids, and put juice into primary fermentation bucket.

Add sugar (should bring SG to about 1.095)

Let cool to room temp, then add remainder of ingredients except Yeast.

After 12-24 hours, pitch yeast.

Rack when SG stabilizes at 1.0

Rack again every 30 days or so until clear.

Bottle and age at least 3 months.


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## Runningwolf (Feb 16, 2014)

Add all ingredients together with a 3 pound roast and bake at 350° for two hours. LOL

I'm wondering is you shredded the vegetables instead of sling them and put them in a strainer bag for easier removal from your fermenter. Save all juice when shredding and add that in also. Accurate sugar addition will need to be measured by a hydrometer.


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## LoneStarLori (Feb 16, 2014)

The one gallon experiments are the most fun. There is a thread on here called Wine of the Month Club where you can post your experiments and so do others. 

I did a gallon of sweet onion wine in December. I used a full pound of onions and let me tell you, that one had be sequestered to the garage for fermenting. The smell over powered the entire house.
I used Jack Kellers recipe which had onions and potatoes. It has been clearing a couple of months now and the onion taste is subsiding a little and it is starting to taste like wine. I made this with the intention of a cooking wine also. I thought about using garlic, but that may be another batch.

Here is the post of my onion wine* Sweet onion wine*


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## RobertChartier (Feb 16, 2014)

yeah, shredding might be the best way, and strainer bag would be a requirement then. As for sugar, I'm aiming for somewhere around 1.09-1.1 SG to start, so the sugar amount is a ballpark.

As for sending it to the garage, well... it's detached, and not heated. since I'm in New England in February, it's not really an option. I do have a back room in the basement I use for storage, and it may end up there. The temp stays pretty constant around 62F. While it won't work for Primary, for aging, it sounds pretty ideal to me.


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## Jericurl (Feb 16, 2014)

Keep us updated on this one.

I did the same recipe as Lori for my January wine.
I slapped an airlock on my primary fairly quickly.

I plan on doing a carrot wine in the spring, but I'll be making mine sweet rather than savory.


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## RobertChartier (Feb 16, 2014)

I ended up running the garlic, carrots and onion through the "Ninja" to puree them, rather than boiling. I added that puree and enough water to make a hair over a gallon. and oh my god, it's enough to clear the room as is, and I haven't even pitched yeast yet. 

the SG is reading 1.082 right now, I'll let it sit til tomorrow evening and adjust SG as necessary before I pitch the yeast.


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## Jericurl (Feb 17, 2014)

If you pureed them rather than juicing, I would add at least 2 quarts of water on top of your gallon.
Puree is going to drop a ton of lees.


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## RobertChartier (Feb 19, 2014)

Did puree them, and I did end up adding a bit extra water (about a quart). The yeast is churning away nicely, although my daughter that shares the basement with the spare room is less than thrilled with me. The bucket is, pungent....


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## vacuumpumpman (Feb 19, 2014)

I am so ready to start a batch - But I have to wait as I know either it will be this batch or me in the garage - LOL 

Please let me know how it turns out - my mouth is watering as I am typing !!


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## pjd (Feb 19, 2014)

You will love it as a cooking wine. I read somewhere you should never cook with a wine you would not drink but I can tell you that after making a batch of Vidalia onion wine, 2 batches of Garlic wine, 3 batches of Jalapeno wine that is just wrong! I cannot nor do I want to drink those wines but they are just magical in what they do for your foods! Jalapeno and Garlic wine in a bowl of spaghetti, Vidalia onion in a pot roast, all three of them in a marinade for steaks. You cannot go wrong experimenting with cooking wines,


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## vacuumpumpman (Feb 19, 2014)

PJD - 
how long did you have to age it ? 
start to finish process ?


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## pjd (Feb 20, 2014)

vacuumpumpman said:


> PJD -
> how long did you have to age it ?
> start to finish process ?


 
Steve, I had to consult my notes. It seems that all of them were bottled about 9 months after I started them. They probably were ready before that but sometimes I am lazy and don't get around to finishing it.


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## RobertChartier (Mar 2, 2014)

Well, when the SG. Hit 1.00, I racked it and that was on 2/24.

The smell had both my eyes and my mouth watering.

Due to the high carrot content, it is international orange in color. Also very cloudy at the moment.



Sent from my iPhone using Wine Making


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## RobertChartier (Mar 9, 2014)

I racked it this morning due to a 3/4 sediment layer. It is still quite pungent. I did have to top off a bit, I used a dry white blend (Alsace One). I'll rack again in about a month.


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## bydash (Sep 2, 2014)

If you add some chicken pieces it will become more tasty.


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## JohnT (Sep 2, 2014)

Garlic and onion wine??? Well, at least it will taste better than Welch's! 


_- Julie, I refuse to go to the corner unless you get someone to clean. Nobody has been sent there for quite some time and it is full of cobwebs and dust. _


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## Tom_S (Sep 2, 2014)

I've read about others making garlic wine before, but not onion & garlic. I'm sure it would be great for cooking. I've been tempted to make a gallon of garlic wine but since our garage is not cooled or heated, I don't have anywhere to make it where it won't smell up the place.


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## photoactivist (Nov 22, 2014)

My initial reaction would have thought you may not need as much acid since the onion and garlic would have a lot of their own.
How about an update, Robert? Sounds most fascinating!


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## winehomie (Oct 13, 2016)

WOW JUST WOW. I would have never thought of making an onion wine, but I may have to try this for a cooking wine. Onion-Jalapeno or Onion-banana pepper would be my choice as I think of it, I cook with a ton of onion and peppers and this would be an awesome steak marinade or roast marinade, this is a project for spring as I ferment in a closet in my bedroom, and the smell would not go over well with the wife or myself. lol


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## Jericurl (Oct 13, 2016)

winehomie said:


> WOW JUST WOW. I would have never thought of making an onion wine, but I may have to try this for a cooking wine. Onion-Jalapeno or Onion-banana pepper would be my choice as I think of it, I cook with a ton of onion and peppers and this would be an awesome steak marinade or roast marinade, this is a project for spring as I ferment in a closet in my bedroom, and the smell would not go over well with the wife or myself. lol



The smell is truly awful. But the onion is truly beautiful after it ages. I didn't even have a problem drinking it straight. Tasted like a dry chardonnay and only had a slight onion taste at the very back end.


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## hounddawg (Jan 10, 2017)

sounds intreaging, a purple onion/black pepper corn, sounds killer for the off set stick smoker, come warm weather i'll start a3 gallon batch, warm weather then let sit out side in a shed, LOL
DAWG,
I'VE LEARN SOME CRAZY THINGS ON HERE BUT I'VE LEARNED NOT TO JUDGE TILL I TRY IT FOR MYSSELF, plum nutts works many a time,, go figure,, lol
Dawg


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## RobertChartier (Jan 10, 2017)

Still got a bottle or two laying around (I bottled it in splits). I makes a HELL of a marinade. I will say I had to try a glass, and, well. I wouldn't recommend it as a drinking wine. And yeah, the shed it probably a good idea. It's pretty pungent.


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