I've decided on my recipe. I had spent an hour yesterday painstakingly piecing together a recipe from a book on my kindle where the recipe was kind of like those pick-a-path books. To make Elderberry wine use this recipe but replace this with that then follow the method over there and in that method over there you have to find the explanation on how to do this thing with that, unless of course you're doing this with that, then you must start again. You get the idea and it's made even more difficult on a kindle. Then I hadn't even got around to converting imperial to metric before I realised I was way too sick to be at school and made my way home to bed. Anyway, then this morning, when I came home from my presentation to my class about my project, I came home to the glorious site of a parcel in my letterbox. My grandma has sent me her two recipe books for home brew and wine making and in "Home Brewing and Wine-making for New Zealanders" by Chris Reading is the perfect recipe for me, and it's even in metric measurements.
This is my recipe,
1.8kg elderberries (strip from stalks)
1.3kg sugar
1/2 tsp citiric acid
yeast, nutrient, pectin enzyme, vitamin B1
water to 4.5 litres
-Crush elderberries and add boiling water. Cool.
-Add 5ml SMS [one Campden tablet], plus pectin enzyme.
-Leave for 24 hours. Take specific gravity reading with hydrometer.
-Add yeast and other ingredients (except sugar).
-Leave two or three days, or longer if you wish to use as blending wine for port style (high tannin).
-Strain, add sugar and ferment.
There are a few more tricks to that but I'll explain them as I do them.
My mission for tomorrow is hunting and gathering. I need:
- A large plastic bucket
- Glass fermenting vessels/ carboys/ demi-johns
- Corks and bungs
- Fermentation lock
- Hydrometer
- Syphon tubing
- Corking machine (possibly, I'm actually going to worry about bottles later)
- Bottle brushes
- Muslin
- Campden tablets
- Yeast
- Nutrient
- Citric Acid
- Pectin enzyme
- Vitamin B1
- Bottle sterialising stuff (this is a technical term)
- Spring water
- 200 grams more elderberries (though I might collect more to make a cough syrup for winter coming up).
For a lot of the equipment, I'm hoping to borrow off my Mum or eldest brother. I'll then make my way to a brew shop to get the last of the things I need. Then I should be able to get stuck into it tomorrow or Sunday.
The presentation went well for considering how unprepared and sick I felt.
I read through the assessment to come at the end of the year and I did wonder how I will make an appraisal of the potential value of my learnt occupation within a service that focus on on-going participation in occupation. Somehow, I don't imagine that making homemade wine would be seen as a valued occupation in most community services. However the wine isn't really the focus of my interest, it's more about using the resources available to me in my environment. As far as I'm aware, a huge component of occupational therapy is about using the resources available to the service-user in their environment (social, physical, economic, institutional) to the full potential to provide well-being for the service-user and community. So there's one correlation and I'm sure I'll find more as I go and learn more about occupational science.
Already this small topic has had me interested in other topics somewhat related.
Yesterday as I tried to piece together my recipe I listened to a couple of different interviews with Kim Hill
(oh wow, I just about flipped out as I accidently closed the window to this as I was writing it. I only swore a couple of times for trusting technology for my record keeping. However, technology is more clever than I am and it autosaves! I'll carry on now )
So as I was saying, I was listening to Kim Hill interviews. The first one was about a guy, Michael Reynolds who makes Earth Ships, self-sufficient houses made of largely recycled materials (bottles, tyres) with incredible heating systems (as in none by the sun and good design) and recycling of water systems. He's made a doco which I've seen so I was only half listening but is certainly worth sharing. And it's all about using the resources available to their best potential.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2547960/michael-reynolds-earthships.asx
I also attempted to listen to this interview but I was too sick to concentrate, it does sound very interesting though. Discussing the true value/monetary value of food. I'm going to try and listen to it again tomorrow.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2547288/frederick-kaufman-financialised-food.asx
Now for the best medicine against colds, off to bed.
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