June 2009
25 posts
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2 tags
Sour Cherry Wine
The trees in the local parks are loaded with bird cherries. So I have looked up a few recipes and found this one.
3lbs Sour Cherries
1 Gallon water
2tsps Acid Blend
2 Campden Tablets
1tsps Yeast Nutrient
2.5lbs Sugar
0.5tsps Pectin Enzyme
0.25tsps Grape Tannin
1 packet of yeast
Crush cherries. The goal here is the break the skin of every fruit to help the juice leach into the water, but...
2 tags
Elderflower champagne Batch 2
Tasting.
Wow this batch is even better than the first one.
Less alcoholic than the first brew. But much cleaner taste, less yeasty. Good bubbles very smooth almost creamy finish.
Going to tuck into another one.
Marcus
Lime Flower Wine
I have decided to try out a flower wine. Seeing as we have had so much success with the Elderflower Champagne.
The recipe I have found is as follows
3 pints lime flowers, snipped from their stalks 2 lemons 3lb sugar water to one gallon wine yeast, yeast nutrient Make a gallon of over-mashed lime flower tea; so, get a straining bag, put the lime flowers in with zest from the two lemons, dissolve...
2 tags
Elderflower Champagne Batch 2
Bottled the Elderflower champagne yesterday. This was approximatly 9 - 10 days from the start of the process. I will give it a taste test this weekend.
Marcus
Elderflowers etc...
Sorry for the late post, just got back from a short family holiday. We had lovely weather on the beach in Pembrokeshire….BTW the elderflowers were starting there, there were thousands to be had and I couldn’t resist so I started another batch for Sarah’s parents to finish off later this week. OTT! But they love the stuff too so it won’t go to waste.
I can’t really...
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Elderflower Champagne Batch 2
Removed Flowers, there was a tiny bit of mould on top.
This is approximatly 6 days from the start. It still seems to be going, not very many bubbles, but it is a cold day.
Going to wait for it to clear a bit more before decanting into bottles.
Marcus
2 tags
ElderFlower Champagne Batch 2
At last we have bubbles, All the flowers have floated to the top and I can see lots of little bubbles appearing around them. I think that the extra warmth of keeping it in the conservatory has really helped. It has taken 4 days to get going.
Marcus
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Elderflower Champagne Update
Tasted and tested it today.
SG 1017, implying ~3.4% alcohol.
It’s mellowing and not nearly as sweet!
dylski
3 tags
ElderFlower Champagne Batch 2
I also started a 2nd batch on Sunday. I found it hard to find fresh new Elderflowers.
I decided to follow Jason’s recipe this time. But I tweaked it a bit.
2 gallons of hot tap water 0.5 gallons of cold
1 kg of sugar
Grated zest and juice of 4 lemons 40 elderflower heads, with most of the stems trimmed off (harvested from stourbridge grove Allotment) 1/4 cup of white wine...
2 tags
ElderFlower Champagne
On Saturday I re bottled the Champagne. Hopefully the pressure in the bottles will turn out just right.
Marcus
elderflower champagne - batch #2
2009-06-14 Sunday - This morning I gathered elderflowers for a second 5 gallon batch of champagne. The flowers are starting to fade around our house so I’m glad I didn’t wait any longer. I’m also collecting more 2 L plastic soda bottles and hope to find about six more to get ready for bottling.
Same recipe and technique as before, except only using the natural yeast this...
WatchHere is what happens when you open the bottle. All fizz no drink!
2 tags
ElderFlower Champagne saga
After reading your comments I tried to let the gas out of a couple of bottles but I can only release a tiny bit before it all comes flooding out. So I have decided to decant all the bottles back into the fermentation bucket.
Until it calms down a bit. maybe 2 days should do it. Then back into the bottles.
Marcus
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ElderFlower Champagne bottle 2
So much gas in the bottle had to hold the lid on with alot of pressure and release the gas as slowly as possible.
Tastes good. Still sweet with a hint of bitter lemon, you can taste the elderflower.
Nice and fizzy.
In fact it tastes a bit like a fizzy pop drink.
Still a bit cloudy but great.
Pretty pleased with the results!
Marcus
3 tags
Elderflower Champagne grand tasting
Oh My God. First opening very very explosive, both myself the kitchen floor, walls and ceiling are covered in Champagne. The whole bottle is empty, I think we could use this stuff as rocket propulsion.
I am going to open the next one with great care!
Marcus
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Elderflower Wine
Started 31 May 2009 following the advice for making flower wines in Terry Garey’s book “The Joy of Home Winemaking”
1 L of flowers mostly trimmed from stems 1.3 kg sugar 1 tsp of citric acid 1/2 tsp of tartaric acid 1/4 tsp of wine tannin 1 tsp of yeast nutrient 1 tsp winemaking yeast 1 gallon of water
In a large pot put the flowers and half the water, heat until...