sparkling elderflower wine

[Nicos]

Sadly no hydrometer.
We'll just have to do what Scarey suggests

How do you know when it's ready?.....just keep opening a sacrificial bottle?

[the big lebowski]

how longs a piece of string ? erm i had my 1st batch in the fv for about 2 weeks then bottled it ,(5/34 bottles exploded) the next batch was abit longer maybe 2 and a half 3 weeks and they are fine ,iirc your using plastic bottles ? give them a squeeze every day and if they are rock solid then unscrew the cap (v v v slowly) and just let some gas out ,if you whip the cap of too quick it will be more eldershowers than elderflowers ,hope that helps ,cheers

[the big lebowski]

it will be drinkable after a month, well my 1st batch was but gets better with time so in a couple of months it should be nice

[Nicos]

Oh...OK...looking forward to it!

Just wish we'd had time to do it a couple of weeks earlier so we could have put a lot more pink blossom in it.
Still, it smelt wonderful when going into the bottles!

[the big lebowski]

im ordering one of those pink elders soon myself ,if you still have lots of pink heads left on the plant then just wait and try making elderberry wine in a month or two

[Nicos]

Actually, they are mostly in old cider bottles with plastic/ ceramic tops like these....




I presume I can/ don't need to release the pressure in those then?

[the big lebowski]

nice bottles 750ml or 500ml ?cant help there afraid i`ve never used the pop top type lids although if they do survive you will look like a pro when you pop it as it will spray out like you have just won a grand prix ha ha

[Nicos]

Well, they look like wine bottles so, I guess 750 cl.

You can buy those tops here all over the place- with plastic stoppers, and they fit onto all types of reinforced bottles.
Ours were kindly donated by an old guy who had stopped making his own cider....bottles n all!

[the big lebowski]

nice they look good ,once i`ve got 2 more barrels for my lager im going to get 30 of those type from this lot sen5esbottles.co.uk check em out they have lots of diff types ,not as good price as what you got yours for tho ,cheers

[pandasyard]

Is it too late to collect elderflowers now?

[Nicos]

Gosh....are yours still in flower?

I would imagine if they have the sweet scent still and are just opening they'd be OK!

You sure they are elderflowers?

[pandasyard]

I haven't got them myself I was going to see if I could find any, I didn't know about the season so thought I'd ask if I had missed it. I will be ready for next year now

[scarey55]

You can look out for Elderberries, you can make jam and wine with the berries, they won't be ready yet but you should be able to see them starting about now from.

[pandasyard]

That sounds great! I will keep an eye out for them instead! Thanks

[the big lebowski]

hi you can order dried elderflowers from homebrew shops ,so that might be worth looking into if you want to try to make some this year and like scary said the berrys are coming along nicly and will be ready in about a month to 6 weeks,cheers