How to make our homemade Strawberry Wine in a jar | 如何釀造我們的草莓酒

INGREDIENTS A:

1 kg Strawberries, cubed (please do use good quality ones)

1.5 cups Sugar

2 litre Water

INGREDIENTS B: 

1 Sachet of Wine Yeast EC-1118 (about 5 gram)

3/4 teaspoon Sugar

1/2 cup Warm Water

材料 A：

1 公斤   新鮮草莓 (切粒後計算)

1.5 杯   糖

2 公升   水

材料B：

1 包   釀酒酵母 EC-1118 (約5克)

3/4 茶匙   糖

1/2 杯   暖水

DIRECTION 做法:

Mama's Fermented Sweet Rice Wine ｜ 媽媽自家甜酒釀做法

This summer when my parents came to visit, I asked my mom to teach me how to make sweet rice wine.  The fermented sweet rice wine sold in stores can never be as good as the one mom makes at home.

There are so many different ways to make fermented sweet rice wine out there, but they all sounded so complicated or vague.  This time, when my mom came and we did two batches from start to finish.  Both batches were a success.  I saved one batch for drinking as it is and saved the other one to make tang yuan.

All the ingredients listed should be possible to find in old style Asian stores.

Mama's Fermented Sweet Rice Wine

媽媽自家甜酒釀做法

My mom was showing the first batch of our successful  rice wine.

Ingredients:

2 cups White Glutinous Rice

4 Wine Yeast Balls

How to make it:

1. Blend the yeast into powder; set it aside.

If you don't have a processor, using the back of the knife to smack the yeast balls until they become granulate.

2. Rinse the glutinous rice in two changes of water; drain well.  Pour the rice in a dish evenly and then sprinkle about 4 tablespoons of water over it.

3. Cook the rice in a pre-heated steamer over high heat for 30 minutes, or until the rice is totally soften and cooked.

4. Remove the rice from the steamer; allow it to cool until luke warm.  (yeast needs the warmness to ferment, but hot rice can kill the yeast).

5. Sprinkle the yeast over the rice a few times while stirring the rice.  Make sure they incorporate very well.

6. In a sterilized jar, add the rice to fill half of the container.  Cover the bottle with a kitchen paper towel and close the lid. 

(I used spaghetti container to ferment my wine and they came out just fine)

7. Leave the bottles in a dark place.

8. After about three days, you will see some wine starting to form on the bottom.

9. Stir the rice once, and continue to allow it ferment for at least three weeks before drinking it. 

Both the wine and rice residue are edible.  You can use the rice to make sweet soup or steamed chicken.

The wine after three weeks.

10. To store the wine, remove the paper towel and close the lid tight. Store it at room temperature for up to a year.

Home-brew Ginger Ale ｜ 自釀農村味薑酒

You don’t need any fancy equipment to make this delicious beverage.  All you need is a pasta container.

I started to make my own alcoholic drinks a few years ago.  I realized that to make your own wine is a big step to being more self-sufficient.  Also, it’s really awesome when you share your homebrew wine with your family and friends.

For this recipe, I used bread yeast and a pasta container as my brewing kit.

Perhaps it may sound a little absurd for many professional wine makers; however, my wine comes out crisp and gingery, and does not taste like bread or syrup after all.  I would say, it is a carbonated dry ginger ale.  The downside of this method is that the ginger ale is cloudy instead of clear.  However, you can always filter the beverage through a very fine cloth or paper towel.  I’ve never done it before.  I don’t mind the colour or the little residue on the bottom.

Home-brew Ginger Ale

Ingredients:

30 grams Ginger with skin, add more if you like stronger taste

 4 cups Water, filtered; or use spring water

1/2 Lemon of Juice

1/2 cup Sugar

1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

1/2 teaspoon Bakers Yeast

Equipment:

A pasta container, with lid, cleaned

How to make:

1. In a pot, add the water, sugar, and baking powder. Grate the ginger into the water. Bring the mixture to a rolling boil. Then, turn off the heat and add the lemon juice. Stir well.

2. Allow the liquid to cool down to about 23C. If you don’t have a thermometer, try to taste it with your finger. It should be slightly more than luke warm.

3. Stir in the yeast and make sure it is totally dissolved.

4. Bottle the liquid up to just more than half of the container.

*This is very important to prevent the liquid from overflowing during the fermentation process*

5. Put the lid on. DO NOT SCREW IT TIGHT!!!  You just want to put the lid on without twisting it.  It must be loose enough for the gas to escape during the fermentation.  Otherwise, the bottle will explode.  Store the bottle in a dark place and check the liquid a few times a day to monitor the process.

The ginger ale will be ready in two days. I like mine dry with higher alcohol content, so I leave it in the bottle for three days before drinking it.

To bottle the drink, just simply keep the contianer in the fridge and screw the lid tight.  However, REMEMBER TO RELEASE THE GAS EVERYDAY UNTIL YOU FINISH IT.

I hope you enjoy the drink. Cheers!