bottling elderflower champagne

[Hilary B]

I have tried to read all the theads in this group but have given up as there is so much miss or partial information about.
I posted that I had brewed a gorse flower brew on this site about four years ago.
You just need to follow basic rules.
Never bottle untill the basic ferment has finished, then you can control the fizz that will be made in the bottle.

Never exceed the amount of sugar in the recipe for bottling, usually about half a teaspoon of sugar per pint.

Use bottles that previously contained fizzy drinks, I use glass italian lemonade bottles and plastic lemonade and cider bottles.

Wash bottles with hot water and washing up liquid then rinse and drain, don't let them sit about damp, I store them, lid off upside down.

Always rinse them out after you have drained them.

Very important, chill the brew before decanting, you will never have a bubbling over brew if you chill it first.

I used gorse flowers, sugar beet and oats and it was lovely.

The main rules are about cleanliness and sugar ratios.

This is how to make sparkling wine. The elderflower 'champagne' most people are talking about on here is low in alcohol, high in sugar, and a very different drink from sparkling elderflower wine, with similarities to the results from a 'ginger beer plant'.

[ohbeary]

Just a small addition to Brewer's missive, rinse your bottles with campden tablet in solution, (sodium metabisulphite), and remember to read C.J.J.Berry's "First Steps in Winemaking" before attempting any winemaking.......
Ps, bakers yeast is fine for making ginger beer and elderflower shampoo if you don't want it too strong, I made the mistake of using wine yeast for ginger beer, intended for our friends children, many of whom were to accompany their parents to an all day 40th birthday party complete with bouncy castle (kids only!!) it was so strong and so dry!!, I didn't think my friends would appreciate drunken children , so much fizzy pop was obtained from the local garage. Some of us "adults found that mixed with the slightly oversweet "Peach Schnapps" (that I had nurtured for many weeks) made from a kit, it became a pleasant drink ......... sadly too pleasant!, beer abandoned, we caned the lot!!,(there were some sore heads), the older kids/young adults? took advantage of the "old boys" preoccupation with achieving the correct balance of peach and ginger and made off with a quantity Danish lager in green cans ( know the one I mean?) hmmmm, obviously my fault. A lesson well tearned.

[LostGoddess]

Well, I opened my first bottle of elderflower shampoo last night and, for my first atempt at making any kind of wine, I was pleased with the result. It tasted pleasant,although I would have preferred more of an elderflowery taste. It was mildly fizzy and very mildly alcoholic from what I can tell from the slight effect it had on me (I am an alcohol lightweight though). I don't know why, but I was surprised that it tasted 'champagney'

Anyway, I am proud of my first foray into making wine from the hedgerow and I am looking forward to cracking open a few more bottles the weekend and making rhubarb bellinis with it

Thanks to Saracenia for an easy and bomb-proof method