sparkling elderflower wine

[the big lebowski]

hi all,just been and picked my 1st lot of elderflowers and setaway my 1st batch of the year really chuffed its just started to rain and im sat down watching the bubbles come through the airlock,anyone else started theres yet ? how long do you all leave it before you drink it ? most i shall leave till at least christmas but i have some mates coming over for my birthday (jul 18th) would it be ok to let them try a few bottles or would it be better to wait till next year ? i dont want to put them off homebrew ,any advice welcome ,cheers

[muddled]

swap you my tip for your wine recipe?

Elderflower cordial takes only a few days and if you freeze it needs no chemical sterilisation at all. (I freeze mine in rinsed out pop bottles)

On your birthday, mix cordial with ice, lemonade, a squeeze of lime and a shot of vodka for possibly the most refreshing and delicious summer drink you will ever taste.
You can even freeze the cordial in an ice cube tray and add it that way!

[the big lebowski]

deal ! 8 elderflower sprays,pared zest and juice of 2 lemons,900g sugar,250ml tin white grape concentrate,1/2tsp yeast nutrient ,5g champagne yeast (i just used normal wine yeast) this recipe is by john wright and him and hugh fearnly-whittingstall show you roughly how to make it on you tube, this recipe makesa gallon/4.5 ltr hope it helps and god luck wiyh your own,cheers

[scarey55]

As Muddled said, cordial can be ready within the next couple of days and elderflower champagne only takes a couple of weeks until it is drinkable.
I have about 6 x half litre bottles of cordial already in the freezer and I plan to make another load, I love it. I also have a batch of elderflower champers on the go. Thank you for the recipe elderflower wine was next on the hit list, we seem to have loads here this year.

Looking forward to doing something with the berries too a bit later on.

[Hazel at the Hill]

Elderberry wine is about the nicest that you will ever make, Scarey.

[the big lebowski]

your welcome im really looking forward to trying it,i`ve just watched it again on you tube and it leaves a few things out so here`s the instructions,put the elderflower florets,lemon zest and juice,sugar and grape concentrate in a sterilsed bucket,pour over 2.5 liters of boiling water and stir until the sugar is dissolved,add 2.5 liters of cold water and the yeast nutrient.leave until cool.aerate the must,pitch the yeast,cover and leave to ferment for 5 days,stirring every day for the 1st 4.strain the must into a sterilised demi john and fit airlock,the bubbles in the air lock should appear at about 1 per second,this will slow down after about a week this is time to test your brewwith your hydrometer.remove the air lock and carfully drop in your sterilised hydrometer,the goal is 1010. if it is not down to this level,then replace the air lock and leave your brew abit longer,once the magic number has been achieved,siphon off into whichever bottles you are using,leave for several weeks to allow the fermentation to add fizz to the wine before drinking,hope this helps,cheers

[Nicos]

We're hoping to make some in the next few days as our elderflower is almost 60% out.

We've made HfW's before and it was great!

My question is that we also have a purple leaved elderflower ( pink flower heads) ...can we add these flowers to the mix to make a pink champagne....or do they taste different?
We don't want to waste a batch!

[the big lebowski]

hi ,not sure mate never seen or heard of it ,sorry

[Nicos]

Ah...OK...I've looked it up and found a recipe for pink elderflower cordial, so if it's OK for cordial, I suspect it will be fine for champagne?

https://snapguide.com/guides/make-pi...lower-cordial/

Here is what the Elderflower Black Lace looks like ...

[the big lebowski]

wow that does look nice ,that looks like all you need to do is add yeast and your all good to go ,only got the white ones round my way ,just racked 5 gallons making another 10 gallons this week ,love making wine me ! cheers

[Nicos]

Wow!...good for you mmmmm...

Ps....I bought the plant at a garden centre 3 years ago and it's getting a very decent size already and at the moment looks and smells utterly stonking!

[the big lebowski]

is that in your back garden ? brilliant ! i`ll have to look into getting one myself ,just trying my 1st batch of rhubarb wine (for research purposes) its cracking !

[Nicos]

I love the rhubarb schnapps made with vodka and rhubarb etc.
Used to be a bit of a joke on here as so any of us used to make it.
Absolutely delish!

I used to have 4 enormous rhubarb plants back then...now I'm over here, I only have one small one.....one day eh?

[the big lebowski]

is that vodka infusions ? i havent done any of that yet but i`ll get round to it at some point,i planted 3 rhubarb plants this year,some of the more established ones up the allotment are monsters

[the big lebowski]

hi all,i just bottled my 1st 5 gallon batch of elderflower wine 33 750ml bottles !!!!!!!! and i`ve got 10 gallons more on the go !!!!!! chuffed to bits with that ,hows everyone else doing ?