# Dandelion Time !!!!!



## Luc (Apr 1, 2007)

It's time !!!!
They are out there, go get them !!!!!

I just (read yesterday) picked a 10 liter bucket of dandelions for my first Dandelion wine.
I have put them in the freezer because I want to pick some more.

Anybody who wants to do the same be carefull and beware.
The first time I picked the dandelions I put the whole flowers in a bucket and
went home. 




At home I started to take off the yellow leaves because I want a wine made with no greens. But to my amazement the flowers at the bottom of the bucket were closed or were starting to close...... And at that moment were not usable anymore.




So if you want to make a wine with only the yellow leaves, clean the flowers 'on site' instead of waiting until you get home.

Luc


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## smurfe (Apr 1, 2007)

Too bad I don't care for Dandelion wine. Lord knows I have an ample supply of them in my yard.

Smurfe


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## Caplan (Apr 1, 2007)

Luc,

The picked flowerheads in the bottom of the bucket that closed - did they not re-open when the light hit them again? 
I know some flowers 'close' during darkness. I just wondered if picked dandelions did it?


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## Luc (Apr 2, 2007)

Caplan said:


> Luc,
> 
> The picked flowerheads in the bottom of the bucket that closed - did they not re-open when the light hit them again?
> I know some flowers 'close' during darkness. I just wondered if picked dandelions did it?



No, I put them straight under a lamp and they did not open again.

The phenomenon is quit strange, because I picked a few days ago a dandelion which was totally open and put it in a dark drawer. This one would not close !!!!

Now there is a possibility that these little critters have a sense of time !!!!
The one I picked and put in a drawer was picked at 11 o'clock in the morning.
The ones in the bucket were picked at 6 o'clock in the evening.
Now ain't that strange.........

Luc


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## Caplan (Apr 2, 2007)

Luc,

I've managed to free up a few demi-johns by (finally!) bottling some wines from last year. So what recipes are you considering for your dandelions?


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## Luc (Apr 3, 2007)

Caplan said:


> Luc,
> 
> I've managed to free up a few demi-johns by (finally!) bottling some wines from last year. So what recipes are you considering for your dandelions?



Well I didn't quit decide yet.
I thought of making it from scratch. 
Loads of recipes are available on the net and from reading I learned
that best is to soak them in boiling water. I now have 20 liter flower petals in total so I should be able to make 20 liters wine of that...... And maybe I decide to make 2 batches of 10 liters. I am sure I will pick some more in the next days.
I think about adding banana's for body and some lemons for acidity. But I will certainly
do some calculations on sugar and acid myself.

I am open for suggestions.

Luc


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## Caplan (Apr 4, 2007)

Luc,

Like you I've never made one but like to experiment so I wondered what you had planned!  

The few recipes I've read include lemon juice for acid as you say and not a lot else really - raisins or banana for a little body and that's about it. I can't recall tasting anything with dandelion petals in so have no idea what goes. 

Let us know what you come up with!


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## alley rat (Apr 5, 2007)

*dandelion intrest*

i'm anxiously awaiting dandes as well. I'm thinking about enhancing the body with rhubarb, and wondered if anyone had any thoughts regarding this. Also curious about what yeast would be best and why. Keep the faith, Alley Rat.


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## Luc (Apr 7, 2007)

So I thought I start a small batch to experiment.

What I did so far:
At picking I measured that 75 grams dandelion petals is 1 liter.
So I took 340 grams (I made zip lock bags of 170 grams) and put them
in a nylon stocking. I added 3 liters of boiling water.

The plan is first to add lemon juice of 2 fresh pressed lemons and the juice
of 2 fresh pressed oranges and some pectic enzyme.
I also plan to add 50 cl of banana juice (made with the steamer and left over from a previous experiment).

Then after 3 days I plan to add the sugar, remaining water and a yeast starter.

But now the problem:
It smells like someone just had mowed the lawn and boiled the weed, not very attractive. And the color is not yellow but a bit brownish.
Any thoughts ???


Luc


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## smokegrub (Apr 27, 2007)

I started a 2 1/2 gallon dandelion using a Jack Keller recipe. I also used the petals, although a bit of greenery is almost impossible to exclude. I poured boiling water over a straining bag containing the petals and the zest from 4 lemons and 8 oranges. As you experienced, my must started looking like very dirty, brown dishwater and smelled like stale grass clippings. Now, 24 hours later, the dominant smell is citrus and not nearly as bad. A lot of labor goes into this wine so I hope it turns out well.


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## Luc (Apr 28, 2007)

The smell gets better afther a few days smokegrub. 
And the color becomes yellow. 

I made last week a second batch of 25 liters. 

The procedure is as follows: I took 25 liters of dandelions, put them in nylon stockings and poured 20 liters of boiling water over them. 
Then I stirred the mesh 3 times a day for 3 days. 
I added juice of 15 lemons and 10 oranges. 

In the meantime I made a starter from 1 liter apple juice, nutrient and 150 grams sugar. 
It started fermenting vigorously after a day. 
Also with my steam extractor I made 1.5 liter banana juice from 3 kilo banana's. 

Tuesday I strained the nylon stockings, added the starter, some extra nutrient, and 4 kilo sugar dissolved in 2 liter water to the batch. 
The acid test showed me that acid was 1 gram per liter so I added acid. 
As there is no acid in dandelions I added a mixture of 1 part tartaric, 1 part malic and 2 parts citric acid. I made the mixture myself. 
I also added the banana juice and the yeast starter which was still fermenting vigorously. 
I put this all in an open fermentor covered with a cloth. 

Wednesday it sounded like it was raining like hell. 
But is was the dandelion must fermenting, you could really hear it from the other side of the room  

Sunday I will transfer it to a glass carboy and add the last bit of sugar (about 1,8 kilo). 

The boiled grass smell has been gone since it started fermenting. 
The color is still a bit brownish but I know from my last batch it will turn out yellow when I rack it to the carboy. 

I will rack it through a funnel with a nylon stocking in it. First this will bring in for the last time some extra oxygen, and the nylon stocking will prevent any dandelion petals left in the must to transfer.

Luc


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## smokegrub (Apr 28, 2007)

Excellent post, Luc. Your recipe appears almost identical to mine except that I am doing 2 1/2 gallons. Picking and removing petals from all those dandelions was such a chore that I did not do more until I had an opportunity to evaluate the final product. If it turns out well, I will probably do 6 gallons next spring.

I just finished a Vintner's Choice Chardonnay and the color is beautiful. However, it has too much oak for my taste. I will age it and see if it improves. If not, I will have to make another batch and blend.

Up next, strawberries, wild blackberries, apples, wild elderberries and, hopefully, enough wild strawberries to make a least a gallon.

Best wishes.


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## Luc (Apr 28, 2007)

smokegrub look at my post on 9 march: making wine from jam.

I just made 7 bottles of strawberry wine from strawberry jam.
It is really awesome. I bottled it and will be making another
batch -- but now 20 liters --- because it is a fast fermenting blush wine
which could be drank in the summer. 

Luc


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## smokegrub (Apr 28, 2007)

Very interesting. I had wondered whether or not you would have had problems with clearing given the amount of pectin used in jam.

Did you use bentonite and/or a fining agent such as Sparkaloid or Isinglass?


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## Luc (Apr 29, 2007)

smokegrub said:


> Very interesting. I had wondered whether or not you would have had problems with clearing given the amount of pectin used in jam.
> 
> Did you use bentonite and/or a fining agent such as Sparkaloid or Isinglass?



It cleared fantastic on its own.

The only thing I used was extra pecto enzyme at the start of fermentation
about 3 to 4 tea spoons.

Luc


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## smokegrub (Apr 29, 2007)

Doggone it! Now you've compelled me to start yet another wine! I will experiment with about 1.5 gallons which should easily yield 1 gallon to bulk age plus some for early use.


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## Luc (Aug 1, 2007)

Today it is about three months after this thread had started.

It is also three months after I made my dandelion wine.
And as you know I am the hasty one so I bottled a 5 liter batch
today. It is perfectly clear, no gas in it and a dry wine.

The taste is like nothing I have ever tasted before.
Mind you: not awfull but quit enjoyable.
This is a perfect wine when cooled for a lazy sunday afternoon, in the summer time (sorry couldn't resist with such a kinky wine).

Luc Volders


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## smurfe (Aug 1, 2007)

Luc, glad your wine has turned out to your liking. I tried a batch once and it was a bit to "herby" tasting to me. I used it for cooking. I always wondered what it would of been like if I had back sweetened it a bit.


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## Paco (Apr 23, 2009)

Are there a particular yeast better suited for dandelion wines? What would be two suggestions?


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## Wade E (Apr 23, 2009)

I started gathering some the other day and will gather up a whole bunch this weekend to finally make a batch.


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## St Allie (Apr 23, 2009)

I made a gallon batch this summer.. got bored with collecting up dandelions though so supplemented the batch with plums.. smelled and tasted ok on bottling.. Can't tell you what the end result will be yet.. determined to leave it at least a year before tasting..

Allie


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## Boozehag (Apr 23, 2009)

I have one batch brewing away and nearly finished, cant say I liked the initial taste I got when siphoning it but then hey it might improve, I have a whole lot more flowers ready to go in freezer but will wait to see what this tastes like first before I tie up a carboy with another lot!

The de-petaling is pretty labour intensive.


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## Luc (Apr 24, 2009)

Boozehag said:


> I have one batch brewing away and nearly finished, cant say I liked the initial taste I got when siphoning it but then hey it might improve.



You really have to age this for a year.

The dandelion-strawberry mix is much earlier drinkable.

Luc


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## Boozehag (Apr 24, 2009)

Oh will do for sure Luc, Im in no hurry to drink it yet!


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## Wade E (Apr 26, 2009)

Okay I am sunburned from yesterday as I found a nice little park just loaded with dandies. After many hours of cutting all the petals off last night I ended up with 24 cups of just petals. I am doing a 3 gallon batch with 3 lemons, 3 oranges, and 2 lbs of golden raisins. Put it all in this afternoon after adding what was in our yard this morning which was probably another cups worth as they were huge. Going to use Cotes Des Blanc yeast on this and Ill add that tomorrow night.


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## Boozehag (Apr 26, 2009)

You cut the petals off? Dont you pluck them out? So how many hours did that take you, for that amount of petals I can imagine quite a while!


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## Wade E (Apr 26, 2009)

I picked them solid sat for approx 3 hours at a park that was just loaded as far as the eye can see. I did not pluck them as that would require a lot more time then I was willing afford, It took about 2 1/2 hours to cut all the petas off. Ill probably never do it again!


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## St Allie (Apr 26, 2009)

heheheh Wade,

There must be a market for frozen petals surely?

Somebody could make a fortune off bored winemakers..

Allie


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## Paco (May 4, 2009)

Ping! Ping!


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## Wade E (May 4, 2009)

Sorry Paco, didnt see that post. This is only my first Dandy wine but can say that Red Star Cotes Des Blanc is a very god yeast for delicate wines. Lalvin 71B-1122 would be good also.


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## Wade E (May 17, 2009)

Here;s a pic of my Dandelion wine starting to clear on its own.


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## Racer (May 17, 2009)

Nice! Looks like things are coming along good for you there Wade. I only picked a couple of quarts worth of petals this year. I'm planning on starting a dandelion & strawberry wine in the near future. Until then the petals will stay in the freezer for safe keeping.


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## linuxbgood (Jun 8, 2009)

I just put my dandelion wine in the secondary (1 gal) and added a pound of raisins for body, the raisins bloated and came to the top and forced all the wine into the lock and all over the place. I removed some of the soon to be wine and the same thing happened again. Is there a trick to stop the raisins from rising to the top? Right now I put it all back in a 2 gal plastic bucket but I have alot of head room now will this hurt the wine as long as its vapor locked?


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## Racer (Jun 8, 2009)

First of all. Welcome to the forum!

Did you add the raisins to the wine after the first racking? If so there will be sugar in the raisins that will re-start your fermentation. That would help cause the over flow. So going back to a primary bucket with everything wont hurt at this point. If I mis-read please help with a bit more info.


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## linuxbgood (Jun 8, 2009)

Racer said:


> First of all. Welcome to the forum!
> 
> Did you add the raisins to the wine after the first racking? If so there will be sugar in the raisins that will re-start your fermentation. That would help cause the over flow. So going back to a primary bucket with everything wont hurt at this point. If I mis-read please help with a bit more info.



Thanks for the welcome

I added the raisins at the first rack from primary to secondary like the recipe called for.

after soaking the peddles for 3 days and a boil (after cooling of course)
I added peddles limes, oranges and yeast let sit for 2 days then racked to 1 gal carboy and added raisins. The raisins keep getting up in the neck of the carboy and causing the wine to overflow into the vapor lock and all over the counter. So I put it back into the primary 2 gal bucket and vapor locked it, but there is alot of head space.


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## Racer (Jun 8, 2009)

Ok I see were your at now with your wine. You should leave your wine in the larger fermentor until the primary fermentation is closer to being done. Do you have a hydrometer to help you check what your wines sg. is?


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## linuxbgood (Jun 8, 2009)

Racer said:


> Ok I see were your at now with your wine. You should leave your wine in the larger fermentor until the primary fermentation is closer to being done. Do you have a hydrometer to help you check what your wines sg. is?



I do but I don't have a wine thief and when doing a gal it hits the bottom of the bucket. It has only been working for 2 days so its not even close to being done. So the 4" of head space (empty space) is ok as long as its working?


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## Racer (Jun 8, 2009)

Thats right, an active fermentation is giving off alot of CO2 that keeps oxygen away from the wine. Once fermentation is slowing down or over do you have to really watch how much headspace you have.

I started my strawberry/dandelion wine on tues. last week and its not even half way thru its primary fermentation yet. My basement is still cool enough to keep the yeast slowed down in getting the job done.


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## Wade E (Jul 30, 2009)

Well my dandy wine wasnt clearing on its own at all so I broke down Monday and added SuperKleer and its cystal now. I let that sit till probably next weekend and rack and sweeten with simple syrup. I hope it doesnt cloud it up caus i forgot to sweeten before adding the fining agent which is the way I usually do it.


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## Luc (Jul 31, 2009)

My dandelion-strawberry (this years batch) is already crystal clear and in fact has been bottled 3 weeks ago when I came back from my holliday in France.

Hope your will be as delicious as mine is.....

Luc


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## Wade E (Jul 31, 2009)

I dought it as I did not add any strawberries and have no idea what Im in for as Ive never made this stuff before.


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## Luc (Jul 31, 2009)

Wade E said:


> Here;s a pic of my Dandelion wine starting to clear on its own.



It will clear further without any help.
Have patience my friend and you will be rewarded.

Did you already took a sip by chance ??

Luc


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## Wade E (Jul 31, 2009)

It did not change any at all after I posted so no it wasnt going to clear any more unless i put it in a fridge and all my kegs are in there. I have not tried it yet but it doesnt smell that great, doesnt smell bad or anything just not something that would make me say ohhhh, that smells good.


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## Luc (Aug 1, 2009)

Hey the pic was just taken 2 months ago.
Damn you are all impatient.

Give it time.......

Luc


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## Madriver Wines (Aug 1, 2009)

I am now wondering if we bottled ours too soon. It was alittle cloudy but Jon felt it was done clearing?? Maybe not? It tastes great though. I downed almost a whole bottle while we were working on it. First try so still more to learn. Sorry about impatience Luc it is a curse, Steve
It sat for 3 months before we bottled so what do you think? More time?


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## Wade E (Aug 1, 2009)

Its been done for more like 3 months but you are right, I dont like to see a wine sit much longer then that without clearing, I dont want to bottle it yet but dont like seeing wine stay cloudy that long and 95% of them dont. There really has been no change at all since that pic was taken Luc. I think the heavy stuff just fell out after about a week, basically just the stuff that was floating on top in primary. 3 Other wines that were started after this one was done fermenting cleared by themselves with no problems and are bulk aging as we speak. I also dont really have a lot of room down there and my wife is not as lenient as yours when it comes to wine all over the place. I have those 2 rooms and thats it and more then I originally expected. I also fill up the freezer on here which she lets me do to an extent like lately with all the raspberries and crab apples but that gets old fast 2, When she comes with 15 lbs of sugar I get the hint and start a 6 gallon batch if have enough to like the other day when I finally got home from work at 8:00pm at night after leaving home at 5:00am and went picking for a few hours after work. I was very tired but knew she meant business when she bought wine making stuff for me!  She puts up with a lot though as I did take over most of the basement between the wine making adwood working shop, that only leaves her with a small area for doing laundry.


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## Madriver Wines (Aug 3, 2009)

I have a feeling she puts up with more than that ha ha. I wanted to bulk age it for 6 months and check it again but Jon wanted to go ahead and bottle. Since he was the one who picked all the flowers he had the call. Again it tasted very good already.


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## Paco (Aug 4, 2009)

This year batch cleared almost completely within a month in the secondary! I could see clearly through the carboy! Seem that the pectin enzyme worked very well. 

Unfortunately I dropped the racking cane upon first transfer and got some lees back on suspension. One more racking I guess... I will bulk age it almost to bottling time.


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## Leanne (Aug 11, 2009)

I'm wondering about making flower wines. I love the delicate flavours you get from them. Has anyone tried other flowers?


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## Beta_Grumm (Aug 11, 2009)

So what exactly does a dandelion wine taste like? Because I'm sitting here going "eww, gross."
But secretly I want to try a batch.


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## St Allie (Aug 11, 2009)

I made a rose petal wine 8 months ago.. and I'm leaving those the full year before I open a bottle. Also made dandelion wine but got bored picking the flowers so I 50/50'd it with plums.That came out ok at bottling.. again it's being left the full year before it gets opened.

Am planning on making honeysuckle wine this year.. keeping my eyes open for good sized wild vines.

Allie


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## Leanne (Aug 11, 2009)

Do you have a recipe for honeysuckle wine please? I'd like to give that a try.


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## St Allie (Aug 11, 2009)

makes one gallon.

honeysuckle Wine

2 pints honeysuckle blossom
4 oz raisins
1 lemon
1 orange
3lb sugar
1/4 oz citric acid
one cup of strong black tea
yeast and nutrient
pectic enzyme
campden tablets

Wash the flowers gently and drain them. Deseed and chop raisins, pare the zest from the citrus and squeeze the juice. Place flowers, raisins, zest and juice into primary and add crushed campden tablet. Add a gallon of hot water to the primary, dissolve the sugar into the must, add citric acid and tea. Leave 12 hours and add pectic enzyme. Stand another 12 hours and pitch yeast and nutrient, stir daily for 7 days, strain into secondary.

continue as for any wine..

classification of this wine is a medium white table wine

Allie


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## Leanne (Aug 11, 2009)

Thank you so much.


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## roussinjoe (Aug 12, 2009)

I just bottled a 5 gallon batch of Dandelion wine that i started in April. I was pleasantly surprised at how good it tastes without any aging.


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## Paco (Aug 12, 2009)

Do you all prefer the Dandelion wine dry, semi-dry, semi-sweet or sweet (or any other nomenclature would work too)?

Last year, I felt like I need to sweeten it quite a bit to offset the bitterness I got from not removing the green material. Still, this year taste way less bitter but it's really dry! Maybe I prefer my wines not too dry...?


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## Wade E (Aug 12, 2009)

This is my first year making dandelion wine so cant tell you but mine is ready to taste and clear, just havent gotten around to tasting it yet.


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## Leanne (Aug 13, 2009)

Do let us know how it tastes please?


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## Madriver Wines (Aug 13, 2009)

We sweenten it up aquite a bit. It tasted really good at bottling time so after a year it should be awesome. The taste is hard to describe, sort of like mountain dew but not really. Everyone who has tried it was pleasantly surprised.


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## Lizzybob (Feb 9, 2010)

I can't wait to try Dandelion wine. I have tons of them in the field behind my house. The only instructions I had were from my Euell Gibbons book, so I'm excited to incorporate some of these ideas!


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## Racer (Feb 10, 2010)

I just bottled my strawberry jam/dandelion wine I started last year. Had about 2 glasses of "extra" wine left over from bottling. This wine tastes great!
Thanks Luc for coming up with the combination.


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## Luc (Feb 11, 2010)

You're welcome racer.

It looks the same as mine did, beautifully cleared.

I did not use any clearing agents, time clears all my wines........

Luc


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## Runningwolf (Feb 11, 2010)

Wow does that look good. Nice job, Racer!


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