Wine and Cheese

Labor day weekend and a few days off to lay around the house and experiment. I dusted this post off because being a lazy weekend, I thought that I would post something fun that the whole family could enjoy. It was orginally posted in November 2005 and I have added comments (in pink) to it.

Other cheesemaking links: http://makinghomemadewineandbeer.blogspot.com/2005/10/cheese-and-wine.html

Our household has decided to switch to eating more organic and preservative free foods. In my neck of the woods, this requires us to make a lot of our own foods. One of the things that we have decided to make has been cottage cheese. It does take some time to do, but if you plan correctly, it should only take about an hour to make a batch.

Here is the process that I use to make simple cottage cheese.

Night before, put 1 gallon milk into pot with starter, (For a starter you can use cultured buttermilk since it has the enzymes needed to convert milk to cheese) cover and let it sit overnight.

Next morning, add 1/8 teaspoon calcium chloride diluted in 1/4 cup water. (if you don't have calcium chloride, you can use non-idoized salt)

Add 1/2 teaspoon liquid rennet diluted in 1/4 cup of water. Mix with a slow up and down motion. Cover and let stand for 4 - 8 hours. If have used the rennet that is found in the grocery stores and have had great success. Generally, I use 1 tablet per 1 gallon.

The curd should be rather soft at this point, cut the curd and allow it to sit for 10 minutes.

Slowly heat the curds to 110 degrees. I usually use the lowest setting on the stove.

After the curds have reached 110 degrees maintain this temperature for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, cover and let stand for another 5 minutes.

Line a colander with cheesecloth, drain the curds into the colander and tie into a ball.

Dunk the ball into cold water a couple of times and then let drain for 10 minutes.

Untie the bag, place curds in a bowl and break up the pieces. Add any salt, herbs, fruit that you desire. I have been using cumin along with caraway seeds, sort of a southwestern rye taste.

Store covered in the refrigerator. This will keep for about a week and will make about 1 1/2 pounds of cottage chess.

Just another thing that you can enjoy with your homemade wine or beer. Make a couple of different ones and have a cheese and wine tasting party. Bottom line, just enjoy

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Technorati Tags : Wine, Winemaking, Cheese, Cheesemaking, Recipe

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George Washington's Porter

 

I was out at a local, historical landmark this weekend called the Jean Bonnet Tavern.  They have been selling beer and food since about 1762 and it is a cozy place for either lunch or dinner.  Being a historical place, they usually have at least one "period" type beer on tap.  I was able to enjoy a Yard's George Washington Porter.  So, I thought it would be fun to post George's original recipe.  Basically, it is just hops and molasses and I added a few things that I would do.

 

To Make Small Beer:

Take a large Siffer [Sifter] full of Bran Hops to your Taste.

 

Boil these 3 hours then strain out 30 Gall[ons] into a cooler put in 3 Gall[ons] Molasses while the Beer is Scalding hot or rather draw the Melasses into the cooler & St[r]ain the Beer on it while boiling Hot.

 

Let this stand till it is little more than Blood warm then put in a quart of Yea[s]t if the Weather is very Cold cover it over with a Blank[et] & let it Work in the Cooler 24 hours then put it into the Cask - leave the bung open till it is almost don[e] Working - Bottle it that day Week it was Brewed. F for 7-10 days. Cool and consume.

 

Things that I would add to the recipe:

 

Barley Malt

Chocolate Malt

Biscuit Malt

Roasted Barley

 

My Recipe for George's Porter

 

I worked this recipe out on my Promash software.  I haven't brewed this one yet, but it will be one that I try during the fall.  This recipe makes a 3 gallon batch or about 1 case of beer.

 

3.5 pounds Amber liquid malt (1 can)

1 ounce Biscuit Malt

4 ounces Chocolate Malt

1 ounce Roasted Barley

4 ounces Molasses

1 ounce Cascade hops

.5 ounces Fuggles hops

Irish Moss

Yeast

 

Original Gravity 1.050    

Hop IBU's  25

 

Crush the Biscuit malt, Chocolate malt, and Roasted barley and steep for about 45 minutes.  Strain and pour liquid into your brew kettle.

 

Add enough water to your brew kettle to make 2 gallons of liquid.  When the liquid has reached about 140 degrees, slowly begin to add the Amber malt.  Make sure you stir while adding since this will prevent scorching the malt.

 

Once the wort has begun to boil add the Cascade hops.  After 15 minutes of boiling, add the Fuggles hops and Irish moss and continue to boil for another 15 minutes.

 

After 30 minutes of boiling, begin chilling down your wort.  Once the wort is cool enough, transfer to your primary fermenter and add enough water to make bring it up to 3 gallons.

 

Pitch your yeast.  Use whatever yeast strain that you are comfortable with.  I use Doric yeast and it seems to make a very good beer.  Personally, I pitch my yeast at about blood level, the same as George, which is anywhere from 98 - 100 degrees.  I also do an open fermentation for the first 12 hours before sealing it up.  I usually let my beers go through a week of primary fermentation before either sending them to a secondary or bottling them. 

 

Sounds like an interesting beer to make.   I think my recipe would be taste better than George's.  So, if you do brew the old recipe with just molasses, let me know how it tastes..

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Technorati Tags : Beer, Homebrewing, President, Washington, Jean, Bonnet

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Brewing Procedures

With September just around the corner, it is almost time to begin brewing again.  I do like the real old-timers used to do and that is take the summer off from brewing.  Summer seems to be a better time to drink the beer than to make it.  Well, anyways, I was reading my latest copy of Brew Your Own magazine it it has a great article on the proper procedures for extract beers.  The four procedures are:

 

No-Boil Brewing - I have never tried this but looks like a great time saver.  The extract is added at the end.

 

Concentrated Boil Method - This is what I normally use.  You boil a condensed wort and then dilute it in the fermenter.

 

Extract Late Method - This is where you add the 1/2 the extract towards the end of the boil

 

Texas Two-Step - This is where you essentially boil 1/2 the wort at 1 time.

 

On my next batch of beer, I plan on using the No-Boil Method.  Bascially to see if it saves time and if that method makes good beer.

 

If you would like to read the whole article Click Here.  There are also 5 recipes that you can try.

 

 

 

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Technorati Tags : Beer, Homebrewing, Methods, Brewing

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Beer and Wine Survey

It's been almost a year since I started this blog and I would like to get an idea of what you, the reader is looking for.  The survey listed below will give me some idea of what you want.  Being to cheap to buy survey software, (it all goes into making wine and beer), you will have to copy the survey and e-mail me your responses.  Or, you can post your responses in the comment section at the end of this article,

 

Thanks.

 

Survey

 

Do you make?

 

A:  Wine

B:  Beer

C:  Both

 

Do you want more?

 

A:  Wine articles

B:  Beer articles

C:  Everything is just fine

 

Do you want more?

 

A:  Recipes

B:  How to's

C:  General articles

D:  My adventures in making wine and beer

 

Would you be willing to send in and have published on this blog?

 

A:  Recipes

B:  Articles

C:  I'm too busy drinking what I have made

 

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