After a very cold and wet January, February is hopefully going to be better.

I have chosen 2 recipes from my folder which will help pass the dark nights away.

Firstly:

• 15g/1level tsp coffee granules
• 1.25kg/2¼lb granulated sugar
• 15g/1tsp yeast nutrient
• 1pkt Young’s all purpose White wine yeast

1. Into a 2 gallon, clean brewing bucket, put the coffee, sugar, Citric acid and yeast nutrient and pour over 2lt/4pt of boiling water. Stir well then allow to cool.
2. Pour into a clean Demi-john, top up to the shoulder with warm water. Now add the packet of yeast. Fit an airlock and leave in a warm place for 5 days.
3. After 5 days top up to the bottom of the neck. Refit the airlock and allow fermentation to continue until complete.
4. Rack off (transfer to another clean Demi-john) allow fermentation to complete fully, ie. 1 bubble per 30 seconds.
5. Bottle up using good bottles, quality corks, an attractive label and spend some money on neck sleeving. The small amount spent on the last few items will lift your wine into a new league.

This will make, after 6 months, a beautiful golden drink.

Put the dried fruit into a clean bucket along with the wheat and sugar. Pour in the boiling water and allow to cool. While the mix is cooling, make up the yeast starter with half a cup or tepid water, add the yeast and yeast nutrient, cover and set aside for 20mins.

Once the temperature of the mix is below 21°C add the yeast starter and the citric acid. Loosely cover the bucket and stirring daily, leave in a warm place (17-21°C) for 3 weeks. At the end of this period, strain into a sterilized Demi-john and fit a bubbler/airlock. Return to the warm place to finish fermenting and clearing. Once the clearing is finished "rack off" (transfer into another clean Demi-john leaving behind as much sediment as possible.) Now the clearing is complete, syphon into good quality bottles and seal with quality corks and sleeving.

Finally, as always, I advise finishing off with labels that enforce the quality of the wine, not just the fact that it is home made.

After 6 months, uncork one of the bottles and enjoy.

These 2 recipes should bring the thoughts of summer evenings, when both can be enjoyed with friends at a "barbie"