Star Anise Wine

[Vinobeau]

I was going over some old recipes that I discovered on WineworldFDW and decided to try his "Egypt White", which calls for 40 grams, 1.41 oz., or about 1/3 c of ground star anise. Jack Keller has two recipes that each call for 2 anise stars, which seems a bit light compared to. I made a batch of Clove wine about 40 years ago, and I've lost those records, so I have nothing to compare. Anybody have any ideas / advice??

 

[Shayne Edwards]

How did you go? My girl might like this.

 

[Vinobeau]

I haven't made it yet, but I'm going to use 7.25 oz for the 5 gallons. Check out these unusual recipes http://wineworldfdw.com/wine_recipes.html
The Bali Rose is excellent. Actually, dill does wonders for many other ingredients.

 

[BernardSmith]

I have to try some of these. The Star Anise wine (Egypt White) catches my imagination.

 

[Vinobeau]

I have to try some of these. The Star Anise wine (Egypt White) catches my imagination.

I'll be starting mine in two weeks. I'll keep you posted!

 

[BernardSmith]

Not among the ingredients but has anyone tried to make a wine from wormwood (a wine version of absinthe)? My local health food store now sells dried wormwood and I am thinking of using this to make a wine - Thoughts?

 

[Shayne Edwards]

Not among the ingredients but has anyone tried to make a wine from wormwood (a wine version of absinthe)? My local health food store now sells dried wormwood and I am thinking of using this to make a wine - Thoughts?

I would follow this so closely, and will try do some research around it and share what I can find, if you don't mind. How cool would Green Fairy Wine be, you would be pushing the envelope, surely?

 

[Shayne Edwards]

I haven't made it yet, but I'm going to use 7.25 oz for the 5 gallons. Check out these unusual recipes http://wineworldfdw.com/wine_recipes.html
The Bali Rose is excellent. Actually, dill does wonders for many other ingredients.

If it helps I will try a batch of Mr Kellers potato anise wine next weekend. I will share it to here if you do the same with your version, might be interesting. Only I think I will double down on the star anise as my girl loves the flavour so much and if I can find some worm wood again halve the batch with the herb in one half.

 

[Shayne Edwards]

Some information
https://www.herbcottage.com.au/wormwood.html

 

[wildhair]

I have made a Lemongrass-Dandelion wine & mint wine and have the chamomile flowers frozen for a chamomile wine. I grow a number of other not-too-common common herbs - lemon basil, lime basil, lemon balm, anise, etc. as well as mints and dill and parsley and lavender, etc. I like the flower and herb wines - very different, light and fresh. This looks interesting.

I looked at the pages - help me out here. If I read this right - it's the same basic recipe with the additions of the different flowers & herbs? These are essentially "tea wines" - with no fruit or fruit juice - is that correct? Won't they lack body and feel?

btw - I have lots of lemongrass, fresh, and dried/frozen if anyone needs any.

 

[Shayne Edwards]

ANISE



Nothing I can find indicates anise is a hallucinogen. It is widely used in the production of liqueurs and candies all over the world and has medicinal properties as well. More to the point, it does not appear on any toxicity list I have found to date. Thus, I think we can give it a pretty clean bill of health. There are, however, two distinct kinds of anise -- the Mediterranean anise (Pimpinella anisum) and the Asian anise (Illicium vernum), or star anise. It is the second that is recommended for winemaking purposes because the seeds of the first contain a worrisome oil.

One does not make anise wine per se, but rather makes another wine and flavors it with anise (star anise). With this in mind, I will offer you two recipes for anise wine. One is grape-based and the other is potato -based.


Anise Wine (Grape-Based)

• 
  
  
  • 2 cans (11.5 oz) Welch's 100% White Grape Juice (Niagara grape) frozen concentrate
  • 2 star anise "stars," crushed
  • 1-1/4 lbs granulated sugar
  • 2 tsp acid blend
  • 1 tsp pectic enzyme
  • 1 tsp yeast nutrient
  • water to make 1 gallon
• wine yeast

Bring 1 quart water to boil and dissolve the sugar in the water. Remove from heat and add frozen concentrate. Add additional water to make 7 pints total volume and pour into secondary. Add remaining ingredients except anise and yeast. Place crushed anise in small piece of cloth with a glass marble in it. Gather cloth around contents and tie closed with long piece of button thread. Sink the cloth packet in secondary but retain loose end of thread outside secondary. Cover mouth of secondary with napkin, paper towel or cloth fastened with rubber band and set aside 12 hours. Add activated wine yeast and recover. When active fermentation slows down (about 7-9 days), remove cloth packet, top up with water and attach airlock. Rack, top up and refit airlock after 60 days. After additional 60 days, stabilize, sweeten if desired and set aside under airlock additional 2 weeks. If no sign of refermentation, rack into bottles. [Author's own 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]

My thanks to Chuck Yeager for this request.

This page was updated on August 31st, 2001
If our website has helped you in your wine or
mead making endeavors, and you feel moved to
Author Jack Keller

 

[Shayne Edwards]

Does that help Red?
If you could nip over to my place with some lemon grass, that would be great, I'll have a beer waiting for you.

 

[Vinobeau]

If it helps I will try a batch of Mr Kellers potato anise wine next weekend. I will share it to here if you do the same with your version, might be interesting. Only I think I will double down on the star anise as my girl loves the flavour so much and if I can find some worm wood again halve the batch with the herb in one half.

I started this wine in late June - this is the recipe:
7.28 Oz of Star Anise finely ground
11 lbs Sugar
5 Campden Tabs
1 ¼ tsp Tannin
3 ½ T Acid blend
5 tsp Yeast Nutrient
½ tsp Yeast Energizer
2.33 gal Juicy Juice Punch
1 pkt Premier Cuvee Yeast
Starting SG was a bit high = 1.110. I only used the Juicy Juice because the grocery had it on sale for $1 per bottle, so I splurged.

 

[Shayne Edwards]

I’m running behind but will start batch soon, told my girl about it and she insists this is next. Think I will add some star anise to some finished tea wine as well, just to see what happens.
Please keep us updated.

 

[AkTom]

I need to start a couple of these...

 

[Shayne Edwards]

Bring it on Tom, be good to hear how you go. I will do the potato one soon.

 

[Vinobeau]

The Star Anise wine is doing very nicely. It fermented down to .992, and it seemed to be cloudy so I added some Sparkaloid and after 3 weeks it has nicely cleared. We did some tasting and decided on adding 1/2 c of sugar per gallon - dry it was too bitter. A lot of the anise flavor didn't transfer, for which I'm pleased. I will probably be looking to bottle around April.