What’d You Do Last Weekend?
Make your own bitters.
Damson Wine
We’ve made beer several times, and Todd’s even showed me how to make hard cider. But I’ve never made wine and I didn’t really think I had the space to pull it off. Grape-based wine seems intimidating in a way – barrels, fermentation, storage – and what happens if it doesn’t turn out? Seems like a heavy investment of time and money if it fails.
Enter the damsons. I’d heard of damson plums before, and even damson wine, but mostly in English or Australian cookery books. I didn’t think we had damsons in the Pacific Northwest, but when my friend Emma said she was going to pick from an overproducing tree, I offered to tag along. I looked up a ton of damson recipes, and wine seemed an easy and obvious choice. It used far less equipment than grape wine (even less than beer), and I could make as little as a gallon, a much smaller investment if it failed. That, and the plums we free to boot.
Turns out there’s a whole tradition of fruit-based wines that are fairly easy for the home brewer. This is a terrific starter wine, and it makes a bright red sweet dessert drink after 12 months in the bottle.
Damson Wine
3 lbs ripe damsons, washed
6 pints distilled water, plus 1 cup distilled water
1 packet commercial wine yeast
1 Campden tablet
3 lbs unrefined organic sugar
- Put the damsons in a large, stainless steel pan, cover with the water and bring to the boil.
- Allow to cool, then tip into a large bucket, cover with a cloth, and leave overnight.
- The following day, remove a little of the damson liquid and dissolve the yeast in it. Leave it for a few minutes until it appears bubbly.
- Add the yeast to the damsons and stir well with a wooden spoon.
- Crush the Campden tablet and add it to the damsons. Stir well with a wooden spoon.
- Cover and allow the mixture to ferment for three days, stirring well three times a day.
Note: I could only allow my mixture to rest a day before moving on to the next step because of the abundance of fruit flies it seemed to attract. - Gently dissolve the sugar in 1 cup of distilled water until it forms a clear syrup.
Note: You will need a much larger pan than you think you’ll need. You are jamming 3 lbs sugar into 1 cup of water. This takes up a lot of space in the pan. - Allow the syrup to cool, then stir into the damson mixture. Ferment for 5 days, stirring often.
Note: The sugar will start to crystallize once you turn off the heat. There’s not much you can do about this, so you’ll have to start adding the syrup as soon as you can, allowing enough time for it to cool from magma hot to ‘pretty darn hot, but the container can absorb the heat’ hot. - Once the vigorous fermentation stops, strain the mixture and transfer it to a demijohn (carboy). Fit with an airlock and store it at room temperature for about 3 months.
- When the fermentation stops, remove the airlock and siphon into bottles, cork (or cap) and leave for six months before drinking.
More Info
An awesome step-by-step of damson liqueur by my friend Emma
