400g (2 litres volume) hawthorn blossom 1.3Kg sugar 500ml pure orange juice Zest & juice of 1 unwaxed lemon 200g dried sultanas 2/3rds teaspoon tannin 1 tsp yeast nutrient Vitamin B1 tablet 1 tsp Brewmaker express wine yeast

DAY 1: 10-05-02
A gallon bucket of blossom was picked. From this a 2 litre jug was filled, selecting only flower heads and petals -any leaves, twigs and other foreign matter was carefully removed. These were placed in a brew bucket to which the following were added; 500ml fresh orange juice, the juice and rind of an unwaxed lemon, 200g dried sultanas, 2/3rds tsp tannin and 1 tsp yeast nutrient. Meanwhile 4 litres of water was brought to the boil with 1.3 kg sugar. Once boiling the sugar solution was poured over the flowers, which were subsequently covered and allowed to cool overnight. 

A starter bottle was prepared with 2 dessertspoons of sugar, the B1 tablet, 150ml cooled boiled water, 50ml orange juice, 1 teaspoon of yeast, 1teaspoon of pectolase and a pinch of nutrient. The bottle was covered and allowed to reactivate.

DAY 2: 11-05-02
To the now cooled must the yeast solution was added and thoroughly stirred in. The brew was stirred again later in the day to distribute the material which had been floated to the top by the emerging CO₂.

DAY 3: 12-05-02
Stirred at intervals through the day.

DAY 4: 13-05-02
Stirred at intervals through the day.

DAY 5: 14-05-02
The must was strained into a clean demijohn through a fine nylon straining bag, yielding a little over 4.5 litres of opaque mustard yellow liquid. The bottle was filled to just above the shoulder and sealed with an airlock and left to ferment.

DAY 19: 29-05-02
Fermentation appeared to have completely ceased! Suspecting a failure the gravity was checked and found to be 1000, indicating that all the sugar had been used up, despite going only a short time. The brew was still thoroughly cloudy, and was left undisturbed to begin clearing.

WEEK 12: 04-08-02
The brew had stopped fermenting some time ago, though so far has stubbornly refused to even begin clearing. Although the orange juice gets the yeast off to a rapid start, I think it may be responsible for the continued soupy appearance of the brew. The wine was put through the VinBrite to speed things up. Some loss was incurred, requiring 500ml of topping up solution. After filtration the wine was considerably clearer, though still rather hazy. Once the new addition of sugar has fermented out this will be tackled with Bentonite.

WEEK 14: 19-08-02
Somewhat disappointingly the brew failed to continue fermentation.

This is probably due to the inhibiting effect of the high alcohol concentration in the wine. It is also possible that over zealous use of campden tablets during the filtration exercise managed to kill the yeast!

In an effort to restart the brew 120g of sugar was dissolved into 500ml water along with ½ tsp citric acid, ½ tsp nutrient and a B1 tablet (rather like the topping up solution used previously). To this a whole sachet of "SB3 high alcohol & country wines" yeast was added, plus a teaspoon of pectin enzyme for good measure. This was put into a clean airlocked demi john and left for 12 hours to re-hydrate. Once under rapid fermentation the new demijohn was filled to half way with the stuck wine, and left for a further 12 hours. After the second pause there was still a reassuring gentle stream of bubbles issuing from the wine, and the bottle was filled right to the neck.

Clearly this left around 500ml of cloudy 'stuck' wine with no further use, which was discarded. The down side of this operation is that the original flavour, which was diluted by the initial top up solution, has been further diluted by the second. On the plus side the brew will hopefully now ferment to dryness, whereas without intervention it would have been unpleasantly sweet.

The wine was returned to the temperature controlled cupboard to continue fermentation.

WEEK 27: 17-11-02
The gravity of the cloudy yellow brew was measured at 991. The wine had a clean yet unusual flavour, which might prove to be an acquired taste. In a bid to speed clearing, a Bentonite solution was prepared by dissolving a heaped teaspoon of Bentonite granules in 100ml cooled boiled water, which was shaken vigorously in a sealed & sterilised jar at intervals for 20 minutes. Meanwhile the wine was racked into a clean bottle. Later the Bentonite solution was added and thoroughly mixed in. The bottle was then returned to the cupboard to settle.

WEEK 38: 03-02-03
The now clear pale yellow wine was given a final polish with the VinBrite and bottled into green glass after the addition of two crushed campden tablets and ½ tsp sorbate.. This brew still has a hint of Germaline in it's taste, but not in an unpleasant way. Time will tell if it improves with age.

Although the use of pure orange juice gets the yeast off to a good start, the wine suffers as it doesn't begin clearing of it's own accord. Perhaps one to avoid next time!
A perfectly respectable white, though lacking in anything really unique.