Elderflower Champagne anyone?

[rustylady]

Add some yeast Creemteez. Preferably champagne yeast from a wine making shop.

[Mikey]

Yes, if you put the heads in with hot water you will have killed the natural yeasts. A good way to tell if its bubbling and you can't see them, is the flowers will be floating on the surface, if its not they will be at the bottom.

You can rectify it, you can go down the route of getting wine yeast especially, or I have in the past used bread yeast which I mixed with warm water before added as it was all I had to hand. This worked fine.

Its wise to check your brew 48 hours after making to see if there is any reaction, if none add some yeast.

[Creemteez]

Ta. How much bread yeast (I have dried stuff) per ltr of liquid?? (14ltres)

[Mikey]

1 teaspoon of yeast to 1/4 pint of warm water should be plenty, leave for 15 minutes until frothy. and stir into your brew.

On the next batch if you remember to add your sugar to the warm water before topping up with the lemon and cold water and then finally adding your flower heads, you should avoid having to use any yeast at all.

[Creemteez]

Thanks Mikey! xx

[ohbeary]

I have to agree with all of the above with the exception of "swing top bottles" unless they are the Grolsch, Newquay Steam beer or other beer bottles; there are lots of decorative swing tops about that will not take pressure, even though they are not pretty Pop Bottles are the safest with Champagne type bottle a close second, look out for southern hemisphere sparkling wines with Zork closures they are reuseable, identified by a lack of wire cage under the foil.

[MrsCordial]

We had our first glasses of elderflower champagne on Sunday night and it was delicious. I made only about 4 litres as it was experimental and I didn't want to waste lots of sugar and lemons, but next year I'll be going for it big scale!

[Creemteez]

Tried one of my 1 ltr bottles yesterday and was VERY pleasantly surprised by how good it was. Lovely fizz and very floral with that lovely citrus zing.
...However....This morning, I went into the garage and thought, "Oo-o-o-h dear...." Both my two litre pop bottles-ful have gone KABOOM!! Garage smells very floral with a lovely citrus zing......

[Greenfingerpaula]

Got a batch on today. Pick flowers when creamy and NOT WHITE, as that means they are at their best/most yeasty.
My favourite recipe is this one:-

Pick a dozen full elderflower heads ideally on a sunny day when they are most fragrant.
Half fill a clean bucket with 2 gallons of cold water. Into that dissolve 2lbs (1kg) of white sugar. Shake any debris and insects clear from the elderflower heads and immerse in the water.
Cut two lemons in half squeeze juice into water and throw in the squeezed halves.
add 4 tablespoons of white wine vinegar
stir gently with a long handled spoon and cover with a clean tea towel or lid if using a brewing bucket. Leave for 24 hours, stirring occasionally
After 24 hours, sterilise plastic carbonated drinks bottles – 10 x 1 litre lemonade/pop bottles are ideal – and strain jugfuls of the liquor through a sieve or muslin cloth into the bottles and screw the plastic tops on firmly.

Leave for a week and the naturally occurring yeast on the elderflower heads begins to ferment with the sugar creating a very weak alcohol content but lots of carbon dioxide.

I'm loving the sound of this recipe thanks! Only got a young elder so hopefully will have enough flowers next year


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