Ideas for a newcomer

[BeerJam]

Hi , i'm just getting into homebrewing. This week will be the beggining of some of my first attempts.

I live in rural Suffolk so have an abundance of wild growing fruits and berries to make into varies concoptions out of. iI have about 5 + demijohns lying around so i figure i'll have a go at making a load different brews and see what turns out !

So far i plan to (attempt) to make:
Blackberry wine. - I have looked up a load of recipies for this and think i have a good idea of what to do and what not to do ( hopefully)
Sloe gin - Not really brewing; i'm going to add it to some cheap gin and use that technique i keep reading so much about.
Cider - Have enough apples to make a lot of cider. Although from readin up it seems a bit more technical - due to having to press the apples etc.

So those are some ideas i have come up with so far.
Any suggestions?

Also hawthorn; there are absolutely loads of these berries on various hedgerows near me and i was wondering if there was anything that could be done with them? I have tried researching it came up with a couple of mentions to hawthorn wine but it does not sound that promising. I was wondering the berries could be added into a beer as they have a nutty bitter taste? Anyone know what can be done with them?

i also have a friend who has an orchard they do not use in their garden , from looking there briefly last time i believe they have pears plums and a whole host of other fruit. So i shall have a look and see what i can find .

Can anyone think of anything i may have overlooked that can be made into another kind of beverage?

Cheers

[HighHops]

Have enough apples to make a lot of cider. . . .
Any suggestions?

Hi Beerjam - My suggestion is buy a cider press and make a lot of cider. You could add the pears too - sounds nice.
Plums make nice wine. I'm no expert but I am making Blackberry wine at the moment. I've added apple juice as I've been told that it matures more quickly. You can drink it in 3-4 months instead of 12 months.

[fatbloke]

Hi Beerjam - My suggestion is buy a cider press and make a lot of cider. You could add the pears too - sounds nice.
Plums make nice wine. I'm no expert but I am making Blackberry wine at the moment. I've added apple juice as I've been told that it matures more quickly. You can drink it in 3-4 months instead of 12 months.

Plum wine can be a total SOB to get clear properly.

If you google for Luc Volders blog (Wijnmaker - and yes, you have to scroll down for the english translation), last year or the year before, he did an excellent piece on plum wines.

You do all the normal stuff i.e. ferment on the pulp, remove the stones, etc etc etc, but he did include one, seemingly important suggestion. That was to soak the fruit in a solution of "soda ash" for 24 hours first, before doing anything else with the fruit - this is, apparently, because part of the clearing problem/issue that can happen with plum wine, is that they have a natural waxy substance on the outside of the skin and it's that that can create havoc with getting plum wine to clear. The soda ash solution dissolves that and makes it practical to just rinse the fruit then, for the further processing.....

regards

fatbloke