Elderflower champagne ?

[veggiechicken]

An uncle used to make Folly from vine prunings. He helped prune the vines at a local vineyard in exchange for all the prunings!
Folly was delicious - slightly sparkling IIRC

[Deltawhiskey]

I read somewhere that there are at least 14 different sub-species of elder in the UK. Some are so beautifully fragrant while others smell like a tom cat has peed on them. One of these catty flower heads will spoil a whole brew. I always smell flowers on each tree before picking. The result is fragrant wine and a nose yellow/green with pollen. The berries don't seem to be too different between species and all make good wine.

David

[the big lebowski]

today i popped over to the place with the pink elderflower and got about 30-40 heads so i should be able to make 2 gallons worth with that ,cheers

[Nicos]

Sorry...We've pulled the posts about stills as it's illegal in the uk.

"In the UK it is not legal to distil alcohol without a licence from Revenue and Customs and this includes alcohol for your own consumption. You are free to make naturally fermented alcohol for your own use and the development of special alcohol tolerant yeasts has made the production of 'spirit and liqueur' drinks from high alcohol washes (typically 20%abv), a practical proposition. It is not unknown for some people prepared to take the risk, to make their own stills from information available on the internet. There are also some who make use of equipment intended for the purification of water or essential oils, but it must be stressed that this is illegal in the UK."

[ldsau93]

Opened my first bottle of homebrew Elderflower champagne yesterday. Suffice to say it was 'lively' once the wire cage was only partially unwound.

#repaintthekitchenceiling

[the big lebowski]

ok nicos thanks for editing the post and not just deleting it , i understand you have to cover yourself ,cheers

[Owamya]

Appreciate your decision, however it made a lovely brew.

[Nicos]

Pity really...cos they were interesting reading!

[Deltawhiskey]

Why not ask your friendly vineyard to sell you some grapes!

[Deltawhiskey]

If you freeze wine and allow it to defrost the alcohol defrosts first. No still required. Who's that official looking bloke knocking on my door?

[Deltawhiskey]

Thee gallons filtered. Gorgeous and there's a reason why they call it the 'Queen' of homemade wines. Trouble is that you find lots of friends who want to help you drink it!

David

[Deltawhiskey]

Just done some research on freeze distilling. It is far less safe than heat distillation. In heat distillation the first and the last alcohol is discarded because it contains nasties like methanol rather than ethanol. Freeze distillation retains the nasties. Do not do it!
David