Potato Anise wine

[DageonYar]

I'm thinking of making this wine over the weekend, but wanted to get input from the gurus on this site before trying. Anything I need to know or adjustments I should make before starting? <Credit to Jack Keller for the recipe>

Anise Wine (Potato-Based)

* 5 lbs potatoes
* 2½ lbs dark brown sugar
* 2 lemons
* 2 oranges
* 2 star anise "stars," crushed
* 1/2 oz ginger root
* 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
* water to one gallon
* 1 tsp yeast nutrient
* wine yeast

Use well-scrubbed, older potatoes (under-ripe, still greenish potatoes are toxic). Boil the potatoes in a gallon of water until tender but the skins unbroken. Remove the potatoes for other uses and retain the water for the wine. Put the sugar and the thinly peeled rinds (no pith, please) of the lemons and oranges and their juice in the water. Thinly slice the ginger root and add to water. Crush the star anises and add these to water. Bring water to boil, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes while stirring to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat and strain water into primary. Cover with sterile cloth and allow to cool to 70 degrees F. Add pectic enzyme and yeast nutrient, recover and set aside for 12 hours. Add activated wine yeast and ferment 7 days, stirring daily. Siphon into secondary, affix airlock and set aside to ferment out. Rack after 60 days, top up and reattach airlock. When wine clears, rack again, top up and reattach airlock. After 4 months, stabilize and rack into bottles. [Author's own recipe]

 

[Luc]

I advise you to ferment in a glass secondary.

I made anise wine some time ago and could not get
the smell out of my 5 liter secondary.
luckily I used a cheap water bottle (below 1 dollar)
so I tossed it.

Do not overdo the anise and ginger. They are both very strong......

Luc

 

[arcticsid]

That sounds pretty intersting DY, looking forward to hearing how it turns out.

Never thought about Anise in wine before. I ran a restaurant here for a while and used to use that star Anise and frozen concentrtaed Orange Juice, reduced, to make a sauce for sauteed scallops. Worked real nice, I hope it works equally as well for you wine.

Troy

 

[DageonYar]

Well, thought I would provide an update. We are now at the 2 month mark, and just did the second racking. So of course, had to take a clarity check and taste

The wine turned out a bit strong (so far). It's still very tasty, so at least it's not overpowered. But I think a bottle of this would do a good job lol

The wine has a nice heavy 'mouth' to it (if that's what you call it...). The anise is quite mild, and the ginger provides a nice undertone and not overly gingerish. The aftertaste is almost nutty, and maybe a slight tobacco kind of flavour. All in all, I think this will make for a great sipping wine. A couple more months of bulk aging, and then I'll bottle it and age for a while. I'm glad I got some advice on the sugar when I first made the batch (Thank God for this forum lol), because if I had added all the sugar the recipe calls for, it would have been rocket fuel. So my advice, start with 1/2 the sugar, and work up checking the SG each time until you get the right level.

Here's the wine, still a bit cloudy... hopefully another 2 months sitting will help that.

 

[arcticsid]

Some would say, looks like you "got it going on". Nothing can improve it besides patience! Keep on keepin on!!!!

 

[DageonYar]

Bottled up the batch tonight. I had stabilized with Pot Sorbate, and clarified for 14 days with isinglass. Then filtered with a #2 pad. Turned out nice and clear. I decided on 375ml clear bottles to show off the nice honey colouring. Of course, I had a 3/4 bottle left over, so can't let that go to waste The other bottles will go into the cellar for a bit of maturing. Overall, I'm quite pleased with the flavour. It's quite fresh and not overpowering.

I would definitely suggest this recipe if you like a very dry, well balanced wine, and enjoy licorice flavoring.

Thanks again to the folks on this site for putting up with me

 

[Leanne]

It looks and sounds really lovely. Well done. What are you doing next?

 

[manicorganicgal]

That looks beautiful!

 

[BettyJ]

Wow - wish I could try it! I make Sambuca and Luc is right about the aroma - very strong and almost impossible to rid even in glass. I am currently working on a black Sambuca with the star Anise and Elderberries (don't have access to liquorish root, so once again I must improvise)