11 Parsnip Wines all Bottled

 April/May 2020 we sowed some Parsnip 'Gladiator' F1 seed mainly for making wine. They grew really well and we dug up the first batch back in November 2020. We think we dug up and harvested around 11kg of these in total. A really large veg haul for less than £1.00 of purchased seed. If we say we average about £1.50 per Kg that's close to £16 worth of veg.

4kg of the Parsnips where used to make wine, 2 full demi-johns (4.5 litres each). The recipe is one we have done before, from the book Booze For Free by Andy Hamilton (page 260). As we had done this before and we liked the result, we just doubled the quantity's to make a 2 gallon (UK) batch. It's a real pain to make at this volume, due to all the steps involved, but well worth making. We don't even bother to rack this wine, just let it finish on all the lees/trub and it always turns out great.

The wine works out at £1.05 per bottle to make as the parsnips we grew ourself. Even if we had to buy them, this wine would come in at around £1.60 per bottle which is still a steal. You would struggle to buy this type of wine of the shelf so it's kind of hard to price match this, but lets say a bottle of cheap "grape" wine is say £5.00 that's one hell of a saving. (£43.45)

Below is a general run down of what we did to create 11 bottles (750ml) of this very good wine, but the best way to make this is to follow the book step by step.

1. Make Raisin Juice - Wash in boiling water, cool and chop - Add to a pan with 3 litres of water Simmer for 5 mins - Strain though muslin.

 

 

2. Wash and Chop Parsnips - Boil until soft with 6 litres of water.

 

 

 

3. While parsnips are cooking - Add the sugar, raisin juice, the juice and rind of 2 lemons to a pan and simmer for 45 mins.

4. Strain the parsnips though Muslin into the fermenting bucket, add the Raisin Liquid and crushed Campden Tablets - Allow to cool over night

5. Add Yeast nutrient, pectolase and then pitch the yeast.

 

 

6. Ferment for 10 days, then transfer to Demi-Johns to Ferment out. 

Recipe: Parsnip Wine
Ingredients:

Amt                      Name                                     

5.00 g                   Pectolase

2.00 Items            Campden tablets

2.00 Items            Lemons (Juice & Zest)

4000.00 g             Parsnips (Whole) 

2000.00 g             Raisins

1.0 pkg                 White Wine Yeast (Cross My Loof)

2600.00 g             Sugar, Table (Sucrose)

NOTES:

Ferment indoors at this time of year:
29/11/20 Started the Wine
30/11/20 Added Pectolase and pitched Yeast
15/12/20 Transferred to Dj's x 2 (about 4 litres each)
18/12/20 topped up with bottled water
20/01/21 Ferment starting to slow, 1 bubble per min, starting to clear a little
31/01/21 Pretty much finished fermenting.
01/03/21 No signs of fermentation.
27/05/21 Bottled into 11 x 750ml Swing-top bottles. Lovely and clear.