Elderflower wine/Champagne .HELP!

[Vivha]

Warning, this maybe long winded !
I'm a total newbie to wine making.
I've decided to make use of the elderflowers we have and make wine, after doing an internet search I was confused by so many different recipes so concocted a hybrid recipe. I have a pint of elderflower heads 3lb sugar, lemon zest and 8pints of water in a very large plastic bowl covered with a clean tea towel. To that I was going to add some yeast and some nutrient which i have purchased from someone on Ebay, but it hasn't arrived yet. It's been like this for 4 days is this ok ? Also it looks very green, it's been like that from go one.
The other point is I don't understand the difference in making champagne to making wine, the recipes seem the same or similar so how does one become champagne and the other wine ? It's just that I would liked to have made Champagne, is it too late ? I wish i'd seen the Hugh F W recipe first as it looks easy and I remember him doing it on TV, I would start again but the Elderflowers in the garden have started to go brown.
Lastly, I also purchased two plastic demi johns and a couple of things that look like contraceptive devices, but i'm not really sure what i'm meant to do with them, at what point do I use them ? I have saved some champagne type bottles and bought plastic corks and wires for them. I feel like I should apologise to you all as I sound like one of those people who decide to take up Squash or Tennis, buy all the fancy equipment but can't even hit the ball.

Many thanks in advance.
Viv

[rustylady]

Don't get too hung up on the techie stuff. People have been brewing almost as long as man has been on earth. Some stuff works well, and some doesn't. Even with the best of recipes and ingredients things can go wrong. Your mix sounds OK, if a little bit heavy on sugar. You don't really need wine yeast, you can use the yeast sold for breadmaking. If I were you I would add some sort of yeast asap to start fermentation.

Elderflower champagne isn't really champagne - we're not really supposed to call it that - it's just wine that has been bottled before it has finished fermenting, so it carries on making bubbles in the bottle, resulting in the fizz when you open it (that is if the bottles don't blow their corks off before then). I always use plastic bottles with screw lids for mine - safer than glass.

The "contraceptive devices" sound like airlocks which you insert into the neck of the demijohn and part fill with water. This lets the gas bubble out and keeps insects and dirt out of your brew. Found the following link - if you open it and scroll down there is a diagram of how they work Wine Making Journal

[Vivha]

Thanks, could I add some more water to the mix at this point to lessen the sweetness ?
I have bread yeast so will use that.
So, if I want fizzy should I not use the demi johns and just bottle it ?

[Two_Sheds]

I wouldn't use bread yeast, it doesn't give you as strong a brew as wine yeast can handle

It is vital that you keep fruit flies out of your brew, or you'll get vinegar: get it in a DJ with a proper airlock asap

[Vivha]

The wine yeast arrived yesterday so I added a little to the mix,left it over night covered, it was bubbling away nicely, this morning i have put some in a plastic drink bottle and the rest in a demijohn with an airlock, tried a little of the mixture and it tasted good. I'm thinking of leaving the plastic bottleful for a couple of weeks and then drinking it as fizz and leaving the demijohn mixture to brew as wine, not sure if this is how it works but hey ho, i'll give it a go.

Viv

[rustylady]

Sounds OK Viv.

[rustylady]

I wouldn't use bread yeast, it doesn't give you as strong a brew as wine yeast can handle

I agree, but it's better than nothing.

[Vivha]

Thanks again everyone for your input.

Viv

[ohbeary]

Here I go again, try these guys,

http://www.homewinemaking.co.uk/forum/YaBB.pl

The HomeBrew Forum • Index page

Wine Making Discussion Forums

Wines at home - Powered by vBulletin the first three are good fun but this one is like the Encyclopedia Britannica, brilliant tutorials, easy to navigate, nice friendly people and very good advice.

Personally I would recommend getting a hydrometer to check how much sugar you have in your brew and CJJ Berry's book "First Steps in Winemaking", to make a wine of around 10% (SG 1080) ferment out to SG990, allow to clear then siphon off the sediment and add about 5 tsp sugar, disolve and bottle in PET pop bottles, keep for around 2 months before trying.