· James Torr · Personal · 1 min read
Blackberries and wine made by myself from Sussex dornfelder grapes. About to blend these with 2 different portions of my 2018 solera sour. Nearly wrote the dornfelder off as it had quite a musty aroma 4 months ago but that has rounded out and turned into spicy/leathery aromas. Will bottle some of the straight wine and blend the rest 1:3 with the solera.
Today's haul from the community orchard up at race hill, Brighton. 2hrs picking, 2kg blackberries (for adding to a lambic style beer), 300g elderberries, mugwort, tansy and mint (for a gruit style beer I'll be brewing tomorrow).
Cheeky haul on the way back from work. Crab apples (for use in a Brett saison) and a nice big parasol mushroom.
Cats not really helping much with my faux-gruit. 1.050, 15 IBUs Magnum hops (just in case of LAB infection), Muri kveik due to be pitched when down to 32C. 80% pale, 8% aromatic, 8% wheat, 4% carabelge. List of herbs: mugwort, mint, tansy, wild carrot seeds, salad burnet, lovage, wild marjoram, feverfew. All taken from the garden or foraged locally all pretty easy to find in the UK.
Hay and dandelion , or should I say . 57% pils, 21% Vienna, 10% wheat, 7% carabelge, 4% oats, oh and around 400g of hay, presoaked. 6.5kg grains total. EKG bittering 15 IBUs. All non hop plants taken from my garden.