Ooo... Tomato Wine and Absinthe...

OK, long damn time since posts have been made.

Today I put together a tomato wine! (huh?)
 ~ 6lbs of tomatos chopped up
 ~ 4lbs of honey
 - 1 lb of sugar
 - 5 tsp acid blend
 - 3/8 tsp tannin
 - 2 yeast nutrient tabs (DiAmmonium Phosphate)
 - 2 tsp GhosteX yeast growth enhancer (yeast hulls)
- 1.5 tsp pectin enzyme
I put the tomatos in the Mr. Beer thingy with the tomato chunks in a straining bag. Gordon helped me boil some water with the honey and sugar in it. I poured it over the tomatoes and almost scalded my feet off by spilling a bunch of it all over the place, thereby lowering the sugar content somewhat. I mixed up the acid, tannin, and yeasty helpers in a big glass of water and then poured it in. I topped it up with water to fill the container up way past the 10 quart mark, probably about 11 quarts total. Once it was cool (not very long) I added 1.5 tsp of pectin enzyme. In a week or two I'll rack it into a 3 gal glass carboy.

On a side note, I started a small thingy of fake absinthe. I got a kit from the brew store of wormwood and other spices. I got a bottle of Burnett's Vodka and put the wormwood in it to steep for a few days. I need to strain it out tomorrow, and then add the other spice stuff.

I don't think it's gonna turn out very good though. I did some reading about absinthe after it started it, and found that I should have gotten stronger stuff, like everclear.

What I've read tells me that absinthe should be made by soaking wormwood and other spices in a very high alchohol liquor, like everclear, and water. Then, after straining out the materials, it's supposed to be re-distilled. The idea is that the alchohol content needs to be high enough to keep the oils from the wormwood disolved and the liquid clear. When served, it's supposed to have very cold water poured over a sugar cube into it so that the oils start to precipitate out and cloud up the drink.

I don't intend to try to distill at all, but I'm gonna do this different next time.



happy birthday to you
you smell like a jew
chicken stock and the matza
mixed up in a stew