How to make Sloe Wine by Brewbitz Homebrew Shop
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- Опубліковано 15 кві 2016
- Watch as Davin shows you how to make an amazing Sloe Wine from scratch. This wine is simply stunning so go pick some sloes and give it a try, you will be pleasantly surprised!
This is an amazing deep red wine that so full of amazing flavours with a nice little kick from the acidity. The moulding process gives it a really spicy note.
Yes this wine does involve a mould. But like lots of other foods a mould can add a huge amount of flavour. Take a Blue Cheese, the mould helps to add note only flavour but texture too and even changes the way the cheese feels in the mouth. The mould in this wine adds flavour and without it, yes it will be a nice wine, but not an amazing wine. If you are at all concerned about growing a mould, then you can skip this part of the recipe. Instead: - Pour on the boiling water. Put on the lid and leave somewhere cool for 7 days to allow the fruits to infuse their colours and flavour. After the 7 days, strain the sloes off the liquid and continue the fermentation process at straining steps.
It's pretty easy to make such a great wine at home, follow Davin's steps and you'll be making a wine to be proud of.
As well as the usual brewing equipment, to make this wine you will need:
Ingredients
4lb Sloes
3lb sugar
1 Gallon Boiling Water
Campden Tablets
1 tsp All Purpose Wine Yeast
1 tsp Yeast Nutrient
1 tsp Pectolase
muslin bag
For the full recipe on how to make sloe wine at home, please visit our website - www.brewbitz.com/pages/sloe-w...
Give it a go and let us know how you get on. - Навчання та стиль
Very clear instructions. Thank you.
Bottled my sloe wine last night.
2 months in the fermentation bucket to get a mould & 3 months in the carboy. Made 23 bottles all together.
Flavours are beautiful and it's drinkable straight away ( I had one glass left over). But there is one BUT. It turned surprisingly sweet. I wasn't expecting it to be so sweet. It taste more like a liquor than a wine.Flawour and sweetness is very close to sloe gin. Wery interesting how flavours are going to change after few months.
Very nice wine after all but I'll try to make some dry slow wine next year.
Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Excellent. Glad you like it! As for the sweetness, try using brewing sugar rather than the sugar you get in the supermarket. This has less sweetness so will help make a dryer wine. You could also add some extra tannin as this will create a dryness as well.
Happy brewing!
Made this and opened a bottle a few weeks ago. Amazing stuff! Very unique flavours. Thanks for the recipe and instructions - @brewbitz homebrew shop.
Hi and thanks. You can see why it’s my favourite!
You are excellent. Thank you.
Thank you ☺️
Great videos - I am gradually filling a wine rack with your recipes. I am currently trying this recipe. I have had my sloes (and some bullaces too) in the bucket for coming up to 2 months, and I have very meagre mould growth - there are some little cloudy patches here and there but that's it. Why might this be? Should I just start fermentation anyway or keep on hoping for some mould growth? Thanks!
Fantastic, just checked after 10 days and fermentation seems to be going, some sloes are on the surface and I have a small patch of green mould. Looking forward to checking again after 8 weeks
Hi Davin, I've had my sloe wine in a demijohn for nearly 2 & 1/2 months and the hydrometer reading has settled around 1.019 and activity has slowed a lot. The wine is still very sweet and while I'm not against this, I'm wondering if this is the way it should be (according to your instructions). I suspect the wine is now so alcoholic that's it's inhibiting the function of the yeast. Is this wine meant to get down to 1.000 on the hydrometer or is 1.019 around what you'd expect for a final-ish reading?
I have just opened my first bottle bottled in May, I left in the bucket for 4 months which just seemed to enhance the flavour . followed all your instructions and it is just amazing. The rest is for Christmas .
Thank you i will be doing this again in October. Even the wife liked it ( She thinks i just have a nasty hobby)
The moulding process is what helps make this wine AMAZING.
Absolutely disgusting
Hahaha. If you think so. But just leave the moulding step out. It’s only disgusting if you don’t understand it.
Ahh! That's the stuff!😁👍
hi davin i have my sloes awaitng to get said mould. do we need to use pectolase and campden before the yeast goes in and wait 24 hours?
Hi Davin. Going back to this video, I noticed you say use 4lb of sloes per gallon for sloe wine. However in your recipe on your website it says use 3lb! Annoyingly I had about 4lb of sloes that I picked originally, but I used 1lb of them to make sloe gin as I thought I had too much, lol! Would 3lb of sloes still produce a good wine? many thanks, Chris
Hi Davin & James, I have just opened by bucket after 8 weeks and half of the liquid is the normal green mould and the other half is white and furry, is this ok....Thanks
Can you do this with damsons as well?
And just 1 more question lol. I was thinking of adding raisins should I do that now or after the mold?
This wine is very rich with a good body. adding raisins wont really help make this wine better. So, no need for the raisins. But if you did want to add them, wait till after the mould stage, then soak your raisins for 24 hours, mash them and add them just before adding you add the yeast.
Hi, been using your channel loads over the last few months, love it! Using the fruit trees and hedgerows got about 5 wines on the go..... just a couple of questions.... removing the mould from the sloes in a couple of days, at what point should I add the pectolase? As I can’t see it in the video.... also, in some videos, the pectolase is added at the same time as the yeast (& nutrient) at other times it’s left for 24 hours? Is there a reason for this, still new and learning, any advise would be gratefully received :) hope you had a great Christmas x
Pectolase helps break down excess pectin so can be added at any stage. But as it does some other things too, its best used early on.
Hi Davin, hope you've had a great Christmas, i have a load of Bullace in the freezer, could i do this recipe with those....simply fascinated with the mould
Go for it!
@@Brewbitz cheers, I will get too it
Hi guys, love your videos. I’ve followed a few of to recipes and made some great wines. Just doing this one now. It’s completely covered in the mould after 10 days. Should I keep going for the 10 weeks or do you think it’s ok to remove the mould now? Cheers in advance!
Thats very fast. Perhaps leave it another week or 2 as this will help the mould stay together when you remove it.
@@Brewbitz thanks, will do!
Also why dosnt it ferment while waiting for the mould to grow? Do I need to take my SG now. Or after I take the mold off and add the yeast?
There is very little sugar in sloes, so there might be a tiny fermentation at first, or possibly a bacterial fermentation, but nothing really. Just put the lid on and leave it alone for 2 months.
Really fascinated with the idea of the mould with sloes so going to give it a go this week, one question though, have you tried to re use the mould to jump start another brew
Hi. No, have never reused the mold like a scobie. It might be possible.
You can also make this wine without the moulding process and it tastes very different.
@@Brewbitz cheers for the reply, just this minute finished the boiling water stage with some sloes I picked today and will now sit and wait for 2 months or so, will missed the Christmas rush so will have to make do with my sloe vodka.
Where did you learn about letting your sloes + water mold? I tried to find any information about letting mold grow intentionally when making wine but could not find it anywhere, neither on the internet nor in any of my books about wine making. Does this process have a name? I know that some wine makes let their grape mold though. I find this wine making process very interesting and would like to know more about it.
I am a quite unexperienced in making wine but I have been thinking about making sloe wine for a time since there are tons of them here :D.
Frozlix I have to admit, this is a recipe from a departed friend. I have tweaked it over a few attempts and now this has to be my favourite hedgerow wine.
I have seen this method used in old wine making books.
Ok, thank you for your answer! I think I will try it out.
So I'm 2 weeks into the moulding process. Just thought I'd pop the lid open to see what's going on in there, and basically, there was this inch-thick bubbly foam on top (which went down after opening it) and it smells a bit like it's fermenting. Is this normal? Sorry if this sounds like a stupid question.
Just put the lid back on. Leave it at about 20°C and leave it come back in 4 weeks.
Hey Davin, I was wondering which sugar you're using for this recipe...brewing or normal sugar? I've just put 4 gallons to start the moulding process. I came across your channel when searching for things to do with the sloes I picked, and want to say thanks for all the info you've put out. Great stuff!
Hi. I now tend to use 50/50 brewing sugar to granulated sugar. It gives a sweetness, but not too sweet.
@@Brewbitz Awesome, I'll take your advice and go with that when the moulding process is done. Cheers.
Thanks for this as I wish to start making my own wine and have absolutely no idea. Could you reuse the sloes to make anything else?
Hi. I wouldnt reuse the sloes after this technique.
Brewbitz Homebrew Shop Will ensure I throw the sloes away after making this. Thank you for answering my newbie question. :)
Look for Patxaran
Hi, you mentioned using a Camden tablet for the racking off. However, I couldn’t see when you used it?? Look forward to hearing. Meantime great recipes and methods
Hi. You’ll need to add that when you rack the wine off. Once you start the clearing process,l and you rack your wine off the sediment into a new clean sterilised demijohn, then you add the crushed campden tablet.
Hope this helps.
I see that you answered pretty much all the questions accept the one where the guy points out that it contains aspergillus which has shown to be toxic and disease causing, any reason for that??
Mould is in many foods we eat nearly every day. This isnt bad mould.
Hi did you de-stone the sloes before you started?
No. Keep the stones. Just as in the recipe. Cheers
Hi, do I have to still use the B vitamin tablets even if I use Youngs yeast compound which contains nutrients as well?
Hi. Vit B tabs have been replaced by yeast nutrient. If you are using super wine yeast compound, then you do not need to add extra nutrient.
@@Brewbitz thank you for quick response
Hi davin, I've just today started this sloe wine following your instructions. I seen at the start of the video in the equipment you have a hydrometer when do I take the first hydrometer reading? When I add the sugar and before I add the yeast, pectolase and nutrient? I hope mine turns out good. Thanks in advance
Jonny Carson hi. Yep, thats right. The hydrometer reading comes in a couple of months just after the sugar and before the yeast.
@@Brewbitz thanks. Can I ask you (as I'm completely new the the home brewing game) what reading I should be hoping for at the start?
Jonny Carson Approx 1.080-1.090
@@Brewbitz thanks very much for the help
Hi, I have been out foraging for sloes today and picked 7lb. All washed and in the freezer. But further research has told me I have picked a mixture of sloes and bullace, a larger version. I thought the bushes looked slightly different. Anyway, as both are edible do you think it would be ok to continue with this recipe with a mixture of sloes and bullace as they are all mixed up now?. Thanks
Hi yep. Go for it!!!
@@Brewbitz Will do then, cheers.
Hi! Would it be better, after the moulding is done, to crush the sloes in a separate pot with some hot water and sugar to get more of the juices out?
What is the point of adding pectalase after the sloes are out of the bucket? There is no pectin to break down, it's all just juice. If anything, I would add it to the crushed sloes in some water, keep them separate for 24-48 hours to break em down, then squeeze off the juice into a random container and finally pass it through a few layers of muslin cloth into the main fermenter.
Hi. No do not crush the sloes. You are after flavour not juice!
Pectin will be in the morning st and so this needs to be broken down. Trust me. Follow my recipe for an amazing wine.
Hello!
Great recipe! I will try it now but have some questions.
Is it 1 uk gallon (4,45 l) of water?
3 lbs of sloe = 1,3 kg?
3lbs sugar = 1,3 kg?
I might calculate wrong but for 4,45 l 1,3 kg sugar will bet a very strong wine.
I want to do 10 l batch and have collected 3 kg of sloes.
Hi yes. We use imperial measurements. So 2.2lb = 1kg. 4.5l = 1 gallon.
Hi, looks like my sloes are fermenting. What do you do to prevent wild yeast fermenting them rather than them growing the mould?
Any natural fermentation wont last ling due to the lack of sugars in the fruit.
The mould will form. Be patient.
Hi Very interested to try this, do you wash your sloes, or would that inhibit the moulding process?
No washing needed.
Hey there! I have a batch of this in the go. After over 2 months, I have no mould, just a very thin opaque layer starting to form.. Should I leave it longer for mould to develop? Have you ever had it longer than 2 months to start forming mould? Thanks in advance - James
Exactly the same thing here, over 8 weeks in the bucket and only one tiny patch of mould, in another bucket only thin white scum on top. What are my next steps?
Hi. It doesnt always create a fantastic mould like the one in the video, so carefully scrape it off and now move on to the next steps. Happy brewing
Great video!
I've just put all the sloes in a bucket with the water and mashed them up.
One day later and its already fermenting with the natural yeast. Will this stop the mould forming?
Thanks
Hi. You may see a small amount of fermentation if you look, but put the lid back on put it somewhere around 18°C and leave it. Have patience when making this wine.
Cheers and happy brewing
@@Brewbitz Thanks, its been going about 2 weeks now and there's a nice thick layer of white/yellow mould
Hi Davin, regarding the first step, is there such a thing as too much mould? If so, what are the consequences of allowing too much mould to form?
Good question. Sometimes mould can form in just a few weeks, other times only a little forms in 2 months. If you already have a good mould, move on to the next steps.
@@Brewbitz thank you for the reply!
When do you add the Camden tablets?
These will be used later in the racking and bottling stages
Hi Davin I’m at the stage tomorrow where I’m ready to remove the mould to my Sloe Wine
I’ve noticed that you only added Yeast Nutrient and Wine Yeast
Do I not need to add Pectolase and Campden tablets
The campden tablets will be used when racking. Feel free to add pectolase.
Hi there,
I was just wondering if you could make sloe wine without adding water (I understand the sugar is needed to get the alcohol) To make ik more like grape wine making. Ty
If you pressed the sloes to extract the juice, though you’ll need a lot of sloes, you could then ferment the juice just like wine.
I would think it would be a very acidic wine that would be quite difficult to drink.
Have you ever bitten into a sloe?
@@Brewbitz I have only bitten into cultivated sloes of varieties which dont need frost to turn sweet and did not find them that sour. I assume the ones you use are wild?
Hey just seen your video.
I've already crushed all my berry's is that going to give me problems?
Hi. As long as you havent broken the stones open, it will be ok.
Hi Davin, is this the only fruit wine you enhance with mold or are there others?
Hi. Sometimes I let Plum Wine grow a mold. not as deep as the sloe though.
Brewbitz Homebrew Shop thanks
I'm following this recipe. Kept it for 2 months to grow mold , and now its fermenting for 25 days. Bubbling is slowing down, wine is getting clearer. All looks good so far, but I'm starting to get concerned about the mold growing stage as have been warned by few people that mold had made it toxic and it's dangerous to consume it :(
There are certain molds that are toxic, but these do not occur during this process.
See this en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mold
Ever eaten blue cheese - thats mold.
Ever used soy sauce?
Hope that helps your worries.
Mould is used in lots of foods.
Great video. I'm planning on trying this very soon, the sloes near where I live are looking fairly ripe at the moment. Do you think it would work well as a sparkling wine? I was thinking I might try bottling with a little priming sugar, but of course I'd need to skip the Campden tablet as obviously that would prevent any secondary fermentation. I tend to do more homebrew beer so I have plenty of beer bottles that would be able to withstand any pressure build-up from carbonation. In any case I can always just siphon off 1 or 2 bottles before adding the Campden tablet and treat it as an experiment.
Hi. Interesting. Yeah it could be interesting as a sparkling wine.
Hi mate I have not seen you add the the pectolase or the campen tablet. And at the start your said this is needed?
Phil Hardy hi. Add the pectolase at the same time as the yeast & yeast nutrient.
Phil Hardy The Campden tab will be needed when you rack off. See our video how to rack off.
Thanks buddy it's smelling nice...
Never heard of allowing mould grow on any fruit wine. I think I'll stick with my tried & tested Boots 'bible' of wine making . Was going to make elderberry again, but for some reason it's not been a particularly good year for them & there's more sloes this year - so it's wine & gin ! 😄
Feel free to skip the moulding process.
Hi, would it be ok to use frozen sloes (thawed first)?
Sloes tend to be best if picked after a frost. So yes. A lot of people pick, freeze, defrost, then use them.
So I've been using this recipe for 3 years now, it's absolutely one of the best wines I make! Two points for those reading the comments:
1) For those who are worried about growing a mould on the wine - I'm still here 3 years later 😁Trust Davin (and now me), the mould is what makes this wine!
2) For those that say the mould hasn't yet grown - be patient! The first two years I made this, the mould came after 3 months. This year however, I made two batches in separate buckets of this wine at the same time, 3 gallons in each bucket. The first batch, it took 4 and a half months for the mould to grow. The second batch, it took 6 months! Yet I made both batches at the same time side by side, and with the same batch of sloes I picked. I've noticed that the second batch is a bit richer and deeper in flavour, I'm guessing due to the extra time the sloes were sat in there. The first batch will be labelled as "Quite Sloe," while the second batch will be labelled "Very Sloe." I know, I'm hilarious 😅🙃Good things come to those who wait!
Cheers. Glad you love the wine.
Thanks, you gave me hope 😉
A very different method, but I think I will stick to the more traditional country method in Margaret Vaughn's Fruity Passions.
If you are at all concerned about growing a mould, then you can skip this part of the recipe. Instead, Pour on the boiling water, Put on the lid and leave somewhere cool for 7 days to allow the fruits to infuse their colours and flavour. After the 7 days, strain the sloes off the liquid and continue the fermentation process at the straining step.
How does Margarets version differ?
After almost 3 months in the fermentation bucket I have removed the mould and my liquid is a brownish red. Is it still ok to use?
Send us a pic to sales@brewbitz.com. But i expect it will be good to go!
Thanks for the pics. That looks just right as expected.
Happy brewing!
Ive got 2 mixs in the back bedroom and its been there 5 weeks but not much mould any ideas
Yep. Leave it a few more weeks.
@@Brewbitz just checked it again and a loght mould film on the tom and some white mould cube shapes like half an ice cube
Would it be okay to get it ready for fermentation do you think?
Hi Davin, is it important that the bucket is airtight during the moulding stage?
Hi. It doesnt need to be totally airtight. Happy brewing.
@@Brewbitz I have fitted a lid with an an open airlock hole (spigot?), about the thickness of a pencil circumference. Is that fine?
Ideally you want it sealed so nothing can get in. So put an airlock with some water in, in the hole.
@@Brewbitz Thanks!
Hi i have left mine for 6 weeks and hardly got any mould on
I did do a double mix and it smells great but some white mould patches and black the size of a 50p
Help lol
Leave it for a couple more weeks. It can take some time.
@@Brewbitz cheers
Would this recipe work for damsons?
Hi. Yes it could. But i would suggest using the plum wine method for damsons. Cheers
I didn’t see you add the camp den tablets… did I miss that step? I don’t like adding anything if I don’t need to so I’m ok with not adding it 🙂
Hi. They’ll be needed when you rack off to help when you clear your wine a bit later in the process.
Hi, I’ve watched your video loads of times and am just about to make the wine but can’t see when you added the pectolase.
Hi. Add it when you add the yeast.
@@Brewbitz Thank you for your reply. I made one lot last year which is still maturing. Is it too late to add the Pectolase now? Love you videos 👍
Just a little late. Lol. Though not usually needed in this wine.
Hi! wine/berries have been in bucket for month but no sign of mould forming, followed your method to the letter, any advise please.
Hi. Patience. Perhaps put it somewhere a little warmer. I usually keep mine at about 20°C
@@Brewbitz Thanks for that, I've kept it at around 20 c nothing yet just berries floating on surface, does it need air circulating I have had lid sealed tight as I think you did in video. Cheers!
Be patient.
@@Brewbitz Hi there! Well it's now been 3 months since mixture has been in bucket and still no mould forming, what am I doing wrong? any idea's please!
Hi Davin, how much pectolase per gallon do you suggest adding?
Usually its 1 teaspoon.
@@Brewbitz thank you!
I've had my sloes in water for 9 weeks and only a little scum starting. Have I done something wrong???
Hi. Sometimes a full mould like in the video might not be achieved. Make sure your temp is around 20°C
@@Brewbitz Thank-you. It smells sooo good and just wanted to get on to the next stage. Keep up the great vids👌👍
Hi. I am writing from Istanbul. I want to try this recipe but most of sloes on the trees are too mature in here at the moment. They are still juicy even though they wrinkled. Can I still proceed you with your recipe in this situation? By the way, do you grow them yourself or they are from the wild? I have never seen them so big.
Yes. Use them!
@@Brewbitz Thanks mate!
they are some massive sloes!
will this work with damsons ?
Yes you can mould damsons too.
Hi davin, my mould is pink, is this still a good mould?
I suspect it's a wild yeast.
Hi. Ive not seen a pink mould on top of this fruit before. It could be due to tye colour of the underlying liquid. Pop us an email with a pic and we’ll take a look.
Will do. What's your email?
Yeeeuw, don’t know if I dare!!
It's a gorgeous wine!
From the size, they look like bullace to me, rather than sloes. Is that possible?
These are sloes. A bullace is larger and looks like a small damson.
So just putting my notes here for posterity. I doubled up quantities from the website and I'm working in metric.
3kg sloes (picked in 2018 and frozen after washing). 10l of boiling water and stuck the lid on the bucket at the start of september. I then checked it every few days at first, then every week. Then sometimes I'd forget about it for a couple of weeks. At 2 months there was still not even the slightest hint of mould growing. Finally around mid-november it started to grow a nice furry layer which I then removed after Christmas. Meaning that it took nearly 4 months... It would appear that my sterilisation procedure is up to scratch.
So I strained the must, added sugar, pectinas and yeast nutrient and took a gravity reading
1.106! Given that a potential 15-16% abv seemed a little on the high side, I added boiled water to take it down to an only slightly less terrifying 1.096. I then pitched my hydrated yeast and stuck the lid on.
Either I didn't actually make 10l originally (we'll find out when I rack it into demi-johns in a week) or my sloes were particularly sugar-rich.
I've also done a more "conventional" sloe wine this year so in 12 months or so I'll be able to compare.
And just for the anecdote. My dad had a wine making competition with his neighbour. They took the harvest of grapes from his neighbours vine, split them, and both made wine. After some period of time fermenting, both batches had a nice thick layer of mould on them. The neighbour, disgusted, through his batch down the drain. My dad scooped of the mould and let the fermentation run its course. It was apparently one of the best wines that he ever made! I am intrigued to understand the mechanism though. This method is also a highly prolonged cold soak which you would expect to extract lots of water soluble flavours.
So the moulding process is used in noble wines. It adds a spicyness.
Once fermenting it’s unlikely a mould will form as the alcohol created usually makes the environment inhospitable to the fungus.
Sometimes the mould takes a long time. If its about 20°c it forms quicker.
But i prefer the long slow process (pardon the punn).
It will be good to hear the differences you get.
@@Brewbitz Thanks for the reply. Our house tends to be at around 19-20°C. I understand "noble rot" in the sense of botrytis. But I've not seen it in any other context. In any case, I'm looking forward to seeing what it does. I don't intend to tell my other half how the wine was made until after she's decided if she likes it!
@@Brewbitz I let it ferment for about 2 weeks, then racked it into 2 5 litre demijohns. In the end I had enough left over to fill a couple of 1 litre swing-tops. I put airlocks on the two demijohns and left the lids loosely on the swingtops so as to let the gas escape. The racking process seemed to kick things up a notch and they bubbled pretty hard for another week or so. At some point I decided that the fermentation was over and closed the two swingtops. On a whim I just loosened one and was surprised to hear it fizz. So seeing as they were bonus bottles, I poured a glass. And frankly, it's not bad at all. Fairly light, a little acidic with a light fizz on the tongue. Not completely dry which may be related to the SG. The nose is amazing; fruity and spicy, and a little of that spiciness seems to make it through on the tongue as well. In a few days I think I'll bottle this. I certainly would like to get it off the lees. I'm now very tempted to prime a couple of the bottles to make a sparkling sloe.
I'll leave the head-to-head with the other sloe wine for another day. Given general opinion is that it needs at least a year so it would perhaps be unfair to compare now.
slooes not doors, sorry
Some of that mould is aspergillus... A neurotoxin... I wouldn't drink that, the mould is highly contestable
Are you trained in fungus identification or are you guessing?
Look like bullaces to me.
Why not crush the doors before adding got water, the way you do with other berries before starting the process, seems like you're wasting quite a bit of juice. And why not simply remove the mold, not strain what's left though a bag, simply add the sugar (in a little boiling water will make the dissolving much quicker especially if using demerara) then yeast. Am starting my first batch today, in a few hrs would love a quick reply.
Hi. Trust me. Its easier this way and you get a great wine. Dont sqish them.
Does easier mean better, because I don't mind the time and effort, I enjoy it, hands on gives that extra special magic touch no?
Not awlays.
Depends whose hands perhaps ☺