elderflower champagne shelf life

[Jax]

I made some elderflower champers last year and made 2 bottles. Bottle number one still feels quite squishy (they are in pop bottles) so presuming thats a no go but bottle number 2 is rock solid so fingers crossed. My concern is that they are a year old (forgot about them) so are they still ok to drink

[Flummery]

Try them! They don't have a very high alcohol content but they are usually fairly sweet - and sugar's a preservative. You'll soon know if they've gone off. I reckon they'd be sour.

[BigShot]

Flummery - wouldn't that depend on the kind of champagne? It's confusing that they both have the same name but there's the very-low alcohol ones otherwise known as elderflower fizz and the ones made like wine and then fizzed up in the bottle by the addition of a bit more sugar.

If it's the latter could it be a stuck fermentation?

[pdblake]

My elderflower champers usually gets drunk with in a weeks of making it (me too for that matter)

It's the same principal as wine making though so I would have thought that it would last for years.

[Flummery]

Flummery - wouldn't that depend on the kind of champagne? It's confusing that they both have the same name but there's the very-low alcohol ones otherwise known as elderflower fizz and the ones made like wine and then fizzed up in the bottle by the addition of a bit more sugar.

If it's the latter could it be a stuck fermentation?

If it was elderflower wine that was made into fizzy stuff by the champagne method then there shouldn't be a question. It wouldn't go off. It would have high alcohol.

If it's the light summery drink that's usually called elderflower champagne, then you'd have to suck it and see.

I wouldn't think you'd make a champagne from full strenth elderflower wine and put it in a plastic pop bottle though, which is why I assumed it was the light stuff.

[shirlthegirl43]

I kept a few bottles (2 litre pop bottles) from last summer. Like yours, one had gone soft and lost all its fizz - when tasted it was sour and nasty. The other bottle is yummy though and because it has been standing the residue doesn't seem to float up as badly making it a crystal clear drink.

[BigShot]

Flummery - that's what I thought too... but some people do some crazy things with homebrew though so I thought I'd ask.

[Jax]

oh sorry its elderflower fizz

[Scottishnewbie]

i found a bottle the other day too! and our friends celebrated their 25th wedding anniversay so we took it over to help them celebrate! none of us are big drinkers so it suited everyone fine - never had 'champagne' out of an old coke bottle before though!!

[jackyspratty]

I had a first go at making the fizz last year. I made it in a sort of red plastic dustbin thing. Then Hugh FW came on and said that coloured bins shouldnt be used as they can leach toxins!! Consequently I have 6 large grolsh bottles of the stuff in the garage that Idarent drink!! Cant bring meslf to throw it tho, what a waste!!

Hey ho, have brought a proper wine bin this year, so need to get rid so I can use the bottles again! BUt thenagain I saw him on river cottage last night making the gorse wine ina black dustbin, so maybe....?