White Cooking Wine

Being a rebel in chic clothing I refuse to buy cooking wine with huge taxes added to it by the powers that be.  Now I make my own since I can’t seem to cook without it.  You will need to have one or two things sent from abroad, wine yeast and the optional Campden tablets. After that it is as easy as apple pie....err.. apple juice.  It takes a couple of months for the first batch. Once that is bottled, start a new batch to have fermenting while you use the bottles you just made.  Save your old screw top spirit or wine bottles. This will sound complicated but once you do it the first time you will see how truly easy it is.

                                      White Cooking Wine

                                                                                                                                                                                         Makes about 3.5 liters

Equipment:

- 2 four to five liter glass jugs or jars. I use the glass jars with red plastic lids you see in every warung. You can buy these in almost any supermarket.
- 1 rubber band
- A piece of food grade heavy plastic big enough to cover the top of the jug or jar. I use a zip lock bag
- 1 medium sized food grade funnel - plastic or metal
- 1 chop stick or long handled wooden spoon
- 3 - 4 meters of clear plastic tubing, purchased from an aquarium shop

Ingredients:

- 2 fresh yellow lemons, juiced and strained
- 2 liters of Just Juice - Apple juice or  other 100% juice
- 500 grams of white sugar
- 1 packet of wine yeast (I like champagne yeast) - don’t use bread yeast!
- 5 Campden tablets (optional - omit if allergic to sulfides) - this is for sterilizing the jug and tubing.  Finely crush the tablets with the back of a spoon in a jar with a tight fitting lid.  Add one cup of cool water and shake. It will not all dissolve but you want most of it to dissolve.
- Or unscented bleach if you don’t use the Campden tablets
- 2 liters of boiled water, cooled with a lid over it.  You will use this only if you have a 5 liter jar or jug.

Boil 1 liter of water with the sugar making sure the sugar dissolves. Use a stainless or enamel pot and let it cool to lukewarm.

Wash and dry the jar.  Sterilize the jar by rinsing it with some of the Campden solution pouring the solution back into its jar.  You can reuse the Campden solution as long as it smells of sulfur. Turn the jar over to drain. 

If you use bleach instead soak the jug in bleach for 20 minutes - an ounce or two of bleach plus water for the 5 liter jug. Rinse it out with very hot water and turn it over to drain. 

Alternatively you can boil your jug/jar.  You will need a pot big enough for it to be submersed in water. Boil it for 10 minutes to sterilize and let it drain.

Pour the lukewarm sugar water into the sanitized jug or jar using a funnel that has been rinsed in the Campden solution or soaked in the bleach and rinsed. Add the apple juice and the strained lemon juice and finally top up with some of the cooled boiled water up to where the neck of the jar starts.  I use the red plastic topped jars and my ingredients fill it perfectly so I have no need of this boiled water. 

Sterilize the chopstick stick or wooden spoon by pouring boiling water over it.  Stir the mixture with the sterilized chopstick or wooden spoon.  Now take the square of plastic and secure it over the top of the jug/jar with the rubber band.

Store out of the light but not in the closet with old shoes or cleaning materials. I put the jar in a tall lidded stock pot on the floor in the corner of the kitchen. Ants love this brew so put the jar into a plate holding shallow water.  I just put some water into the bottom of the stock pot to keep the critters out of the sweet juice.

After 24 hours take off the plastic and add the packet of wine yeast. Stir with the chop stick that has again had boiling water poured over it. Replace the plastic with the rubber band.  Return the jar to a dark warm place and allow it to ferment for one month.  After the first day or so you will see foam called must forming on the top. This means the yeast is eating the sugar and making alcohol. It will be active for the first couple of weeks and then mellow out.

At the end of the month you will have sediment at the bottom of the jug and clear wine above it. Now it is time to rack the wine.

To do this sanitize the other 4-5 liter jar and the plastic tubing using either the Campden solution, the bleach or boiling method as described above.

Boil another cup of water and let it cool, covered. Pour Campden solution through the plastic tubing and onto the outer length of it that will be in contact with the wine.

Place the wine carefully on a table so as not to disturb the sediment at the bottom. Place the cleaned jar below it. Insert one end of the plastic tubing to a few inches above the sediment holding it in place and suck on the free end until you have the wine to the end of the tube.  Quickly put the free end of the tube in the empty jar and let the wine siphon off into the clean jar being careful to avoid the solids at the bottom of the wine jar.  Throw out that sediment.

Now put the racked wine back in its dark place for one or two more months.  You can tap the side of the jar and if bubbles appear it has not stopped fermenting.  You are ready to rack again and use it when it has stopped fermenting.

Wash your tubing well and leave it to dry for next time.

After a month or two wash and dry four wine or other alcohol bottles such as gin or vodka.  Now you are going to rack the wine into the bottles.  Use the same technique as above to siphon the wine out of the jar into the bottles being careful not to stir up or siphon the solids at the bottom of the jar.  You want the bottles as full as possible.  I have never corked my wine but that would be ideal. However it requires a corker which you can buy from a wine supply over the Internet. I just use screw tops and it seems to keep well for the three months it has to last me for the next batch.  If you were wanting to drink this wine it should sit another six months but as it is, it is fine for cooking.

If it is still cloudy you can filter it through a coffee filter but for cooking it doesn’t have to be crystal clear. 

Bottoms up!

Note: If you want more info and more wine recipes I recommend Terry Garey’s “The Joy of Home Winemaking” which you can order from the Internet.

Anggur Putih Untuk Makanan

Kira-kira 3.5 Liter

Alat alat :

- 2 toples ukuran 4-5 liter ( pakai toples yang ada tutupnya, bisa pakai toples plastik atau toples kaca)
- 1 karet gelang
- kantong plastik, yang besar dan tebal yang cukup untuk menutup ujung toples.
- 1 corong, ukuran medium plastik atau metal
- 1 sendok kayu yang panjang
- 3- 4 meters selang plastik bening yang ukuran kecil, bisa beli di toko aquarium

Bahan-bahan:

- 2  jeruk lemon, dijus dan saring
- 2 liter jus apel, yang 100% tanpa gula seperti Just Juice - Apple juice
- 500 gram gula pasir, pakai yang putih
- 1 saset/paket ragi wine "wine yeast" , jangan pakai ragi roti  "bread yeast"!
- 2 liters air yang sudah dimasak, dinginkan. Kalau pakai 2 liter air, anda harus pakai toples yang ukuran 5 liter.

Cara Membuat :

Rebus gula dengan 1 liter air, aduk sebentar, lihat kalau gula sudah cair semua, matikan api. Taruh disamping, sampai hangat-hangat kuku.

Bersihkan toples sampai benar-benar bersih, kemudian disterilkan dengan cara direbus menggunakan air mendidih selama beberapa menit. Angkat dan taruh kepala toples dibawah, biar air mengalir keluar.

Kemudian masukkan air gula yang hangat-hangat kuku ke dalam toples, tambahkan jus apel. Aduk dengan menggunakan sendok kayu. Tutup ujung toples dengan plastik tebal dan ikat dengan karet supaya tidak ada udara yang masuk. Tutup tople, lebih bagus gunakan tutup toples yang dari plastik, karena lebih elastis.

Taruh toples di atas piring yang ada airnya supaya semut atau binatang lain tidak bisa masuk. Simpan di tempat gelap.

Setelah 24 jam tambahkan 1 saset "wine yeast", aduk dengan sendok kayu yang steril dan tambahkan dengan air yang sudah direbus sampai penuh. Tutup dengan plastik dan ikat dengan karet (pakai plastikyang baru). Kembali simpan di tempat gelap. Biarkan selama 1 bulan. Satu- dua minggu sejak ditambahkan "wine yeast" , akan terlihat busa di atas cairan, ini berarti terjadi fermentasi, dimana ragi bercampur gula dan menjadi alkohol. Semakin hari busa akan berangsur-angsur menghilang.
Akhir bulan akan ada endapan di dasar toples, dan anggur bening di atasnya.

Bersihkan toples yang lain, ingat bersihkan sampai benar-benar bersih dan kering. Untuk mensterilkan, rebus toples dengan air mendidih selama beberapa menit, juga lakukan hal yang sama untuk selang.

Masukkan selang pada toples yang ada anggurnya, masukkan ujung selang sampai sedikit di atas endapan. Sedot ujung selang yang lain dengan cepat, dan masukkan ke toples yang lain (kosong).
Sekarang anggur akan berpindah ke toples yang kosong, hati hati supaya  kotorang yang mengendap tidak ikut masuk ke toples yang lain.

Kalau semua anggur sudah pindah ke toples yang lain, tutup rapat dan simpan di tempat gelap lagi selama 1-2 bulan.

Setelah 1 -2 bulan, bisa pindahkan ke botol yang lebih kecil, seperti botol vodka atau gin. Botol harus bersih dan steril.

Kalau anggur ini terlihat agak keruh , bisa saring dengan saringan kopi sebelum dimasukkan ke dalam botol vodka. 

Catatan :
Ingat semua alat yang digunakan harus benar-benar bersih dan steril. Untuk mensterilkan, caranya dengan merebus semua alat yang dipakai dengan air mendidih selama beberapa menit.