For about 16 years, I've made Scandinavian #glögg every holiday season. Tonight I'm making 6 gallons. I originally got my recipe from @aefjohnson via @lukas42. I'm gonna tweet a bit about my process here tonight.

I start with everything in there: raisins (brown and golden), craisins, ginger, orange zest and orange slices, sugar and wine, and spices in a cheesecloth bag.

The original recipe has you simmer the spices, water sugar and raisins first, I assume to avoid boiling off the alcohol. But alcohol is a good solvent and is actually pretty hard to cook off in bulk. So I do it all at once.

This is 6 gallons of glögg with ingredients, minus the water in the recipe for simmering. I can add water later if desired.

In the future I may experiment with making an "elixir" (making that word up) and then diluting it with fresh wine. But I'm not sure if I'd like the brightness that would likely provide.

I break up whole cinnamon with a Leatherman. Raaaa!

Lots of cardamom, because cardamom! Whole is better (less dusty) shell-less is fine, but powder is ok too. Don't stress about it actually, I've done pretty much all powders and it's still good.

Cracked pods!

I also throw in some juniper berries, coriander, allspice, vanilla, and a tiny bit of almond extract. Time to make a big teabag out of cheesecloth.

A brewing bag works well too... I'm going to take a second and see if I can find mine...

Yes! Thanks to @Aunielisa we have a brewing bag. Or, you know, an old sock. (Mine is a brewing bag, really!) Much easier and more effective than cheesecloth.

6 gallons worth of spices...

Bombs away!

There's not a lot to see, now.... Let it get up to almost boiling and then let it sit for a day or so.

Per gallon of cheap wine (I use Carlo Rossi Burgundy but Paisano works too), add 1.5C sugar, 1.5lbs raisins, 1T whole cloves, 1T cinn bark, 1T cardamom seeds (less if powder or not if you love it like me). I use about a cubic inch of ginger and one(ish) orange, zested and sliced.

I also add some coriander, juniper, allspice, vanilla and almond extract but they are minimal compared to the other spices.

After it sits, you need to squeeze out the raisins, which is hard work even with cheesecloth. It's not up to the task and I'm kinda serious about getting all the delicious juice out.

A chinois-style food mill works better than cheesecloth imho, although you may want to later strain the results.

What I do is lightly pulse in a food processor and then press the results in a small juice press. So much easier and less messy. (But I don't press for 12-24 hours.)

Anyway, I think that's about it for now. When it's all pressed and you mix that juice back in with the wine, you heat it up and optionally spike it with brandy. People often serve over a few almonds and raisins in a small cup. Beware, this stuff is hi-test!

I made a "color it yourself" #glögg label, which this year was colored by my 4.5 y.o. (My favorite one so far, of course.)

Ok, night #2. Since I'm making so much, and using a press that I can't really sanitize, I will have a 3rd day where I bottle after another reheating phase. But tonight's job is to separate and squeeze the solids (sans spices).

I wish you could smell this...

I use a pot to get started dumping and later the ball valve on my brew pot. (To early and it gets clogged by energetic raisins.)

Now most of the liquid is in one pot and most of the solids in another. Hi spice bag! We'll see you again next year.

Time to squeeze!

I scoop solids into the food processor and pulse it until it's chunky to break up the fruit. Then I squeeze it in the press.

Squeezing takes a while, even with the press. You have to tighten it let it drain, and tighten more. But it's wayyyy easier than by hand.

I can get all the fruit from 6 gallons of glögg in the press if I squeeze some down first. (Taking notes here; this thread is also for my own benefit!)

I'm reheating everything now to kill off any germs that I introduced tonight. (To save time, all the juice is back in the pot except the stuff coming out of the press.) I'll sanitize bottles tomorrow but probably not reheat.

Done pressing.

Cleanup is kind of a sticky mess. Someday I'll come up with a use for spicy raisin mush. Tomorrow, I'll bottle back into the Carlo jugs.

I decided not to bottle until after an event this weekend, since I can just dispense from my brew pot. So stay tuned.

Finally bottled it. I've never waited this long, so hopefully it will stay good.

Washed and sanitized the original Carlo bottles using good 'ol Star San.

That funnel has a fine mesh to get chunks.

I got somewhere in the ballpark of 5 gallons, and that's after a party and giving away a gallon in "exchange" (not really) for some lefse yesterday.

Warm it up and splash some brandy on top. Now that tastes like the holidays! Skål!

/thread

PS: cookie pairing: pepparkakor (e.g., Anna's thins)