Making Red Kidney Bean Wine
Knowing that making Red Kidney Bean wine had not been openly done before, either disastrous results buried away in hazy memories for good reasons, or a fantastic result kept secret from the masses - I wanted to give it a try!
As with any experimental recipe, I don't expect perfection with the first attempt- I'm going to need to drink my way through several gallons worth of kidney bean wine before I master the perfect recipe!
Onto my first attempt - my aim for the first gallon is to see if it has the potential to turn into a half decent wine with further tweaking. I decided to use tinned red kidney beans for this wine, as uncooked kidney beans contain a toxin called Phytohaemagglutinin, which can cause vomiting and other adverse effects. At least the tinned kidney beans have had this toxin removed. Another aspect to check when choosing the tinned kidney beans for the wine is to make sure that there is no salt or other preservatives listed on the ingredients of the tin. Such things could hinder the fermentation process.
Below is a quick video of the process of making red kidney bean wine :-
As with any experimental recipe, I don't expect perfection with the first attempt- I'm going to need to drink my way through several gallons worth of kidney bean wine before I master the perfect recipe!
Onto my first attempt - my aim for the first gallon is to see if it has the potential to turn into a half decent wine with further tweaking. I decided to use tinned red kidney beans for this wine, as uncooked kidney beans contain a toxin called Phytohaemagglutinin, which can cause vomiting and other adverse effects. At least the tinned kidney beans have had this toxin removed. Another aspect to check when choosing the tinned kidney beans for the wine is to make sure that there is no salt or other preservatives listed on the ingredients of the tin. Such things could hinder the fermentation process.
Below is a quick video of the process of making red kidney bean wine :-
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Ingredients:-
Method:-
As this batch of red kidney bean wine is fundamentally an experiment to see if the resulting drink is worth recreating and perfecting, I wanted to keep the ingredients and method simple.
I pitched the kidney beans, raisins and sugar into a pan and bought to the boil with just under a gallon of water and let simmer for an hour. I presumed that boiling would help break down the bean starch into usable sugars - and if not, at least extract a good amount of flavor.
After the hour of simmering / near boil, I allowed the beanie goodness to cool and stand (covered) over night before straining into a primary fermentation bucket and adding the yeast and nutrient.
3 days later, I transferred the must into a demijohn.
- 5 x 250g tins of Red Kidney Beans
- 500g Sultanas or raisins
- 1.25kg sugar
- 1 gallon of water
- Yeast and Nutrient
Method:-
As this batch of red kidney bean wine is fundamentally an experiment to see if the resulting drink is worth recreating and perfecting, I wanted to keep the ingredients and method simple.
I pitched the kidney beans, raisins and sugar into a pan and bought to the boil with just under a gallon of water and let simmer for an hour. I presumed that boiling would help break down the bean starch into usable sugars - and if not, at least extract a good amount of flavor.
After the hour of simmering / near boil, I allowed the beanie goodness to cool and stand (covered) over night before straining into a primary fermentation bucket and adding the yeast and nutrient.
3 days later, I transferred the must into a demijohn.
Initial thoughts
At the stage of transferring the must into the demijohn, the main feature of the wine is the colour - a thick dark brown, bilge water colour that, I hope will lighten up with time.
Taste wise, it's still very sweet - which will ferment out in due course. Behind the mask of sugar, kidney beans jump out, pretty much like drinking a kidney bean smoothie. . .
And so the experiment continues!
Taste wise, it's still very sweet - which will ferment out in due course. Behind the mask of sugar, kidney beans jump out, pretty much like drinking a kidney bean smoothie. . .
And so the experiment continues!
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Three months later
The red kidney bean wine has taken an age to ferment out, so long I had actually forgotten that its existence was a reality. It has now been sat in the caravan for a couple of months whilst it clears - it's still looking pretty murky, thick red orange akin to the peat ash that comes out of the multifuel stove.
I have not given up hope on this interesting wine, I might even go as far as giving it a helping hand by adding some clearing agent - not that I particularly like using additives in my wines.
If the clearing agent can't clear it, then I am afraid that this wine may need to be disposed of on the compost heap - demijohns are at a premium here at Happy Homestead!
Several months later and the end result was not that brilliant. . . not a wine I enjoyed drinking - but, for the full taste test, the video is below!
I have not given up hope on this interesting wine, I might even go as far as giving it a helping hand by adding some clearing agent - not that I particularly like using additives in my wines.
If the clearing agent can't clear it, then I am afraid that this wine may need to be disposed of on the compost heap - demijohns are at a premium here at Happy Homestead!
Several months later and the end result was not that brilliant. . . not a wine I enjoyed drinking - but, for the full taste test, the video is below!