# Your favorite "Off-beat" Wine



## p funky (Oct 25, 2006)

What's the strangest thing you ever shoved into a fermenter? The oddest wine you've ever made? And... was it any good?


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## p funky (Oct 25, 2006)

I'll go first: Right now, I have a Fig Sherry going on- it's aging in the secondary carboy.

It's strong (about 18%), but it should be fairly smooth, and have all kinds of interesting, meaty flavors to it.


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## Caplan (Oct 26, 2006)

For me it's my 'Hop Wine' - I found the recipe in a 'country wine' book and used some leftover hops from a beer I'd made. It's aging now for a while and is slowly clearing. I recently racked it and it tasted better than I'd been expecting it to!


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## Sir Sudster (Oct 29, 2006)

I made a kiwi/Grapefruit that was incredibly good. Used Champagne yeast.


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## Jim Karr (Nov 1, 2006)

*recipe for fig wine*

Figs? What's your recipe?


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## rod (Nov 18, 2006)

i tried the exotica wine recipe, using bananas, mangos and pineapple.
only problem is i was to add 7 lbs of sugar but added 12 as i thought the bags were 1 kilo(2.2 lbs x 3 = 6.6 lbs) but they were actually 2 kilos.(duh)
i then added extra water to reduce the og to 1.092.
ended up with about 30 litres instead of 23. - hope it will taste ok.


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## smurfe (Nov 19, 2006)

Mine has to be the Kumquat mead. It is an unorthodox recipe that many use called Joe M's Ancient Mead. I just modified it to fit my needs and came out great. I had made the original recipe with oranges before and it was very good so I thought I would modify it to use the kumquats. It turned out very smooth and tasty. It was quite well received at Winestock in Dallas last May. I was quite proud of my efforts.

Smurfe


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## Caplan (Nov 19, 2006)

smurfe said:


> Mine has to be the Kumquat mead. It is an unorthodox recipe that many use called Joe M's Ancient Mead. I just modified it to fit my needs and came out great. I had made the original recipe with oranges before and it was very good so I thought I would modify it to use the kumquats. It turned out very smooth and tasty. It was quite well received at Winestock in Dallas last May. I was quite proud of my efforts.
> 
> Smurfe


You didn't follow the instructions!!!!!! Joe's Ancient Mead shouldn't be altered! 

Just kidding - Your Mead looked great in the pics you posted in another thread, beautiful colour and crystal clear too!  

I've now got something in my primary that may make my 'hop wine' seem normal......


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## lalahobbit (Dec 4, 2006)

Nothing too mad so far, made a tinned lychee and dried elderflower wine in April, still waiting for it to mellow out. I thought sweet and dry would balance out. Came out very astringent (I think) and had a real dry kick to it. Last tried it in October and it had calmed down a bit...


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## daveb50 (Mar 31, 2007)

I made a Jalapeno-Apple wine last year, and have been using it for cooking purposes. It's great in Chili and Maranades. After a year of aging though it has mellowed into a good sipping wine. Mind you, I do not drink much at any one sitting, a couple ounces goes a long way. I started out with a 1 gallon recipe from Jack Keller's site, using 16 Jalapenos. I added too much sugar, and used a gallon of Apple juice to get the SG back down to 1.090, and pitched Montrachet yeast. It finished at an SG of .992, I did not use the Jalapeno seeds when making it.
Dave


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## weltercat (Jan 19, 2008)

Sir Sudster said:


> I made a kiwi/Grapefruit that was incredibly good. Used Champagne yeast.



I thought I would try this one out because it sounded kind of good. I started it back in august and just bottled it. Wow! it is really good, I am definitely going to start a five gallon batch. I used a grapefruit recipe from Jack Keller's site and just added Kiwi Fruit as well.


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## Luc (Jan 20, 2008)

lalahobbit said:


> Nothing too mad so far, made a tinned lychee and dried elderflower wine in April, still waiting for it to mellow out. I thought sweet and dry would balance out. Came out very astringent (I think) and had a real dry kick to it. Last tried it in October and it had calmed down a bit...



I still have about 10 cans of lychees in the garage.
I also have one ot two recipes.
Would you share yours so I can see if I can
tweak it a bit.

Luc


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## thunder2000 (Feb 19, 2008)

*Elderberry*

Last year I made a gallon of Elderberry and man did it ever turn out. I had six bottles and let it age for about six months and when we tryed it. WOW!!! I am making 12 gallons right now and can't wait to get it done. It had great flavor and had some punch. Couldn't stay out of it. I started in December with the next 12 can't wait.


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## oxyoke (Mar 2, 2008)

*Gatoraide*

I just made a gallon of wine out of gatoraide for a couch potato sports fan friend of mine, have no idea how it will turn out. Plan to test it out on him when he's not looking.


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## Mnementh (Mar 19, 2008)

Just started the oddest wine I've yet made. A lime/coconut wine, with a base of Welch's white grape juice.


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## jackmcmanus21 (Apr 2, 2008)

Mnementh said:


> Just started the oddest wine I've yet made. A lime/coconut wine, with a base of Welch's white grape juice.



that sounds delicious....very pina coladaish. Let us know how it turns out!


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## Kevinski324 (Apr 9, 2008)

*Juniper/hawthorn berry wine*

I have a batch of juniper/ hawthorne wine just finishing up now, and it tastes like a fruity/piny(almost like a grapefruit taste, but with other flavors added). I also am now making a black current wine, using honey as a sweetener(I just started this one, so I'll let you know how it turns out..)


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## BettyJ (Jun 16, 2009)

rod said:


> i tried the exotica wine recipe, using bananas, mangos and pineapple.
> only problem is i was to add 7 lbs of sugar but added 12 as i thought the bags were 1 kilo(2.2 lbs x 3 = 6.6 lbs) but they were actually 2 kilos.(duh)
> i then added extra water to reduce the og to 1.092.
> ended up with about 30 litres instead of 23. - hope it will taste ok.




Hi there
I was wondering where to find this recipe as I would love to try it. How did yours turn out?


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## Boozehag (Jun 17, 2009)

I want to hear how the lime coconut one turned out that sounds a bit of me if it tatses anything like the ingredients!


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## St Allie (Jun 17, 2009)

Tabasco pepper red wine..

it's bulk aging at present .. is nice and warming with a bit of a kick.. it toned down amazingly after fermentation finished.. and betting by xmas it'll be a nice sipping wine.

I will probably make another 5 gallon batch judging by the way this is going.


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## LindseyGrapes (Sep 10, 2009)

Hey Smurfe... when you increase the recipe for the Ancient Mead, do you still use one packet of the bread yeast or do you increase that too? We love ours but only made one gallon. We were going to try a different recipe. There's some that say this is not a real mead. Never even tasted mead before this recipe.


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## Dhorton (Sep 10, 2009)

A friend of mine made "holy water" which is 15 lbs of sugar, 6 gallons of water, and yeast- no fruit. He just adds kool-aid to it.... It taste just like kool-aid, with a slight bite, pretty good.


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## Midwest Vintner (Sep 10, 2009)

raspberry chipotle, which is a roller coaster of taste. really good though. sweet, then raspberry, then pepper and finally heat as it goes down. not hot, but more of a straight mild sauce from taco hell type heat.

green tomato. suprisingly good. much like lemonade, with hint of tomato as it goes down.

pecan. mmmm. buttery sweetness to a mild nut flavor. so good.

jalapeno. real hot, but real tasty if you can handle it.

more to come! got some more ideas brewing!


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## smurfe (Sep 11, 2009)

LindseyGrapes said:


> Hey Smurfe... when you increase the recipe for the Ancient Mead, do you still use one packet of the bread yeast or do you increase that too? We love ours but only made one gallon. We were going to try a different recipe. There's some that say this is not a real mead. Never even tasted mead before this recipe.




I have made 5 gallons with one packet before. I don't really know the average cell count in a packet if bread yeast. I don't believe it is any weaker than a packet of wine yeast though.


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## non-grapenut (Sep 11, 2009)

Rosepetal wine--i used white grape concentrate as the base and Monet and Mr Lincoln petals. I helped with a fundraiser in which they sprayed petals all over their tables as the decor. Silly rabbits were gonna just throw away 6 gallons of petals!!! Tastes like a blush zinfindel. Amazing! I am considering bartering with some local florists for their petals in return for wine. The petals afford a slight opalescense to the liquid. Hmmm.


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## e-wine (Jul 6, 2010)

Dhorton,

I'm doing about the same thing with a crystal light wine. My thoughts are to make a base or "holy water" as you put it and just add one of the little packets of cyrstal light. It can be one of the little ones you use for the single servings of bottled water. I plan to make the base dry and let the sweetness come artificially from the packet so basically, sugar free.

e-wine


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## FrmntItAndTheyWllCom (Oct 1, 2010)

*Tomato-Jalapeno*

So, I WAY overplanted tomatoes this year and I started 5 gallons of tomato wine. When I was pressing the tomatoes I was staring at a couple of jalepenos on the counter and decided "why not" and chopped them up with the maters. Anyone ever done this? How did it turn out? Mine just started bubbling tonight


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## GameRoomInc (Mar 29, 2013)

Hi everyone. I'm new to the forum and winemaking but I fancy I know a bit about wine from research and such. First off, Gatorade? Really? Wouldn't the preservative kill of the yeast? If not, how did it turn out? My girlfriend is obsessed with Powerade so I figure your recipe should transfer. Second, I've been searching for a good juniper berry wine/mead recipe for awhile and can't seem to find one. If someone could provide I'd be very thankful!


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