Milk Wine



Milk Wine, what I started with

 I read of a recipe for "milk wine" in Leon Kania's book, The Alaskan Bootlegger's Bible, and thought I would give it a try. It sounds akin to Kefir but closer to Kumis (Koumiss), which is traditionally made from the milk of a mare. Kania provides a tale of Father Engell from Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, who after having a vision telling him to turn whey to wine, brewed milk wine from powdered milk drawing the ire of the Royal Mounted Police. When living in Southeast Alaska, I spent quite a bit of time in Whitehorse, as it was the nearest place to buy underwear, deodorant, and other such necessities. The book is itself a fun read, and provides some interesting ideas for making wine out of what is available. The brewing information is however somewhat primitive, rustic, and dated (pub 2000). Definitely a a good read for "how to do it" without a LHBS and before Northern Brewer and $7.99 shipping. I wasn't brewing when I lived in rural Alaska a couple of years after this book was published but I can only imagine how creative and resourceful one had to be prior to modern convenience and likely still today. Homebrewing in Wyoming isn't all that easy either. The nearest homebrew shop to my Alpine, WY, home was an 8 hr round trip drive to Salt Lake City and neither UPS or FedEx would deliver to my mountain home. I have a LOT of complaints about my current LHBS, but I try to bite my lip because I am just happy to have one even if he is only open one hour a day if open at all.

Back to milk wine. Milk contains lactose, which is not fermentable and enzymatic action is required to convert the milk sugar to a fermentable sugar--much the same as mashing is required to convert the starch in grain to maltose. This was traditionally done in some very disgusting methods but is now achieved by using a lactate digestive aide or lactose free milk. Anymore, lactose free milk is widely available and cheaper than buying enzymes. The process can also be started from whey while making cheese, and if this turns out I may try that route the next time I make cheese. I am also thinking up some flavored versions such as adding dates or almonds if this isn't disgusting.
Tasting Notes Here:

Milk Wine Recipe: Koumiss



Racked Wine and Curd

 Specifics:
Batch Size: 1 Gallon
OG: 1.110

Ingredients:
2 Qt Lactose Free Milk
2 Qt Water

2 lbs. Cane Sugar

Yeast:

Red Star Premiere Cuvee (blue packet)

Process:

Dissolve sugar in water and bring to boil. Cool to room temp add to milk. Pitch yeast and fit with air-lock. After apx. one week, curd and whey will separate--at this time, strain through fine mesh bag, reserving the liquid for further fermentation. The curd can be eaten as alcoholic cheese curds, rinsed and consumed, or discarded. After secondary is complete, rack and bottle.

Notes:

Made on 11/4/11 by myself. OG is 1.110. Poured into 1g glass jug. Fermentation started almost immediately.



Boozy Milk Wine Curd

 11/16/11 The curd and whey have separated in the jug and fermentation has slowed but is still noticeably active. I poured the wine into a bucket lined with a fine mesh bag, squeezing out whey. I then poured the liquid through a strainer into a clean jug. Racking a one gallon batch is a pain in the ass but using the sanitized bag and pouring the wine worked really well. I reserved a good amount of curds and they are somewhere between ricotta and cottage cheese--except boozy and a little sweet. I will try to think of a good application for the curd before it goes bad.