Elderflower champagne

[Birdie Wife]

It depends - did you use a recipe with yeast in it or without?

If you used a yeast, then you can leave it a bit longer and the yeast will use up more sugar in converting it to alcohol. If your recipe is the non-alcoholic version (no yeast) then you'll have to try diluting the mixture to the right sweetness, but this will also dilute the taste.

With the fizziness - if you used yeast the fizz will develop when you bottle it - the yeast will still be active and the CO2 builds up in the bottle, which is why it pops when you open it. If you didn't use a yeast, the fizz is produced by the vinegar reacting with other ingredients (can yuo tell I did A-Level Chemistry?!) so if it's not fizzy enough try adding more vinegar and lemon in the right proportions and bottle again as per the recipe.

Good luck! And don't worry if you can't rescue it, don't let one set-back put you off, try again with something else! It's definitely worth persevering.

[FoxHillGardener]

oops, I've been a bit slack in replying to this. Sorry Birdie Wife, I've not been deliberately ignoring you!

I didn't use yeast, but have been drinking it anyway mixed with other fruit juices. It tastes a bit odd, but not unpleasant.

I shall continue to experiment, though, in fact, I do have a backlog of rhubarb in the freezer and need to make some room in there. I believe this rhubarb schnapps thing is a bit of a initiation thing on here so it would be rude not to wouldn't it...?