brewing 2ne1

Elderflower Champagne

30 May 2009 

I started a 5 gallon batch of elderflower champagne last night.

My method:
4 gallons of hot tap water in a 5 gal bucket
2 kg of sugar and stirred until dissolved, this took a couple minutes. SG ~ 1.04 which is near the starting gravity for beer. I expect a small temperature error, but the idea is to determine % alcohol at the end - I’m curious what it really is.
The peel and juice of 4 large oranges and 4 lemons
40 elderflower heads, with most of the stems trimmed off (harvested from Ramsden Square recreation area)
1/2 cup of white wine vinegar.
Top up to 5 gallons with tap water. Mix well

SG ~ 1.04. This year I sprinkled 1 tsp of my dry winemaking yeast on top just in case, but haven’t needed it in previous years. We’ll see if there is any advantage.

Note added on 3 June 09 - Removed flowers and citrus peels using the kitchen strainer. The champagne is fermenting nicely, obvious bubbles rising to the surface. It tastes good at this stage, still slightly sweet, so I will leave a bit longer before bottling into my collection of 2 litre plastic soda bottles.

Jason