DIY Plonk, Simple Home Brewing

This is for those who just want to make their own drinks, cheaply, with a minimum of fuss, equipment or additives.

Nature ferments the wine and beer.

All the brewer has to do is, ensure the cleanliness of the equipment, put the ingredients together and then let Nature and time do the work


The wine and beer making process is not as convoluted as some ‘hobbyists’ make out.

• The basic steps to making good drop of plonk or beer are easy to learn and practice.  

• Once you know the basic principles you too can make your own plonk or beer to your own taste and budget. 
  

"Country Wines" can be made from a wide variety of ingredients.

• Maybe you have a surplus of garden produce.

• Or perhaps you want to take advantage of nature’s abundance by foraging for wild ingredients.

There are great variety of winemaking recipes encompassing everything from wild flowers, to fruit and even vegetables and of course many recipes for beers and ales.

With a little time, patience and care, anyone can do it
.

On one occasion someone put a very little wine into a glass, and said that it was sixteen years old.

'It is very small for its age,' said Gnathaena.

(Athenaeus, Greek writer, c. 200 AD)

But beware home made wines and brews can be pretty potent, so drink them with care.

Perhaps the hardest part, for some home brewers, is having the patience to allow nature to do it's thing.

For a "Country Wine" to be reasonably drinkable will take at least 6 months, leave it for longer and it will become superb.

If you want something quick you can try one of the ‘quick brew kits’ but even they will get better if you can allow them to mature.

Plonk is an English slang term meaning 'cheap wine’.

Plonk is not necessarily a poor wine.

Plonk is one that is eminently drinkable yet affordable.

Plonk is a democratic wine, for everyone, not just for  the 'wine snobs'.

My mother’s twenty first birthday party was, so she told me (I wasn’t around at that time), quite a lively affair.

It was all thanks to a couple of gallons of a twenty one year old, home made, dandelion flower wine.

The wine was made by her grandmother, my great-grandmother, in the year when my mum was born, it was, apparently, quite a fine vintage.

And it was made long before there were any ‘home brew’ suppliers, made in my great-grandmother’s kitchen, using ordinary baking yeast, no special equipment and certainly no chemical additives.

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I can remember, as a child in the middle of last century (yea, I am that old), helping to collect dandelion flower heads, elderberries and sloes for my father’s wine making.

He also made his wine and beer without any special equipment, yeasts or additives.

And his selection of bottles would now probably be described as “collectable antiques”.

I cannot vouch for the quality of his brews, as I was only ever allowed the tiniest of sips but the adults seemed to enjoy them.
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I can however, vouch for my mother’s homemade (non-alcoholic) ginger beer and lemonade.

For my parents, grand parents, great grand parent and so on ad infinitum making their own wine, beer was treated as just something the sensible, thrifty, household did as a matter of course.

Brewing wasn’t treated as a hobby but just another way to take advantage of and preserve nature’s abundance.

Getting down to basics

There is, today, a bewildering amount of advice, equipment and ingredients available to the home brewer.

The quality of the available equipment and ingredients has improved to make home brewing easier and improve the quality of your brew.

However, for the beginner this choice can be intimidating.

The aim of DIY plonk is to try to cut through to the basics.

To show just which bits of equipment are worth having and which of those additives are necessary or even desirable.

Here’s to you, your good health and success to your brewing.

Bottoms up!

DIY plonk Blog
Blog updates for DIY plonk.com

Simple Wine Brewing at Home
Wine, how to brew your own at home, the basics of fermentation, country-wine makings and home brewing fundamentals.

Wine Brewing Equipment
The basic brewing equipment we need to make homebrew wine can be found in most kitchens, however there are various items such as demijohns, air locks and other supplies that will simplify plonk making.

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Brewing with Beer Kits
Beer kits, there are two basic types available to the home brewer wet-kits and dry-kits, both require very little special equipment, can be bought in a wide variety of beer types and they are simple to use.

Home Beer Brewing Equipment
Home beer brewing equipment needed to make your own beer, the basic necessities plus a few extras, fermenters, hydrometers, kegs, bottles, bottle cappers.

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