# 2013 Elderberries



## ffemt128 (Jun 9, 2013)

Well it's that time of year again. Elderberry bushes have been coming into bloom for the past 2 weeks. While out driving around yesterday I found 5 more locations which based on the flowers look to be very promising. Hoping to double my harvest this year. Boy would that be nice to get 160 lbs of Elderberries. I guess time and the birds will tell. Anything above last year is a bonus in my opinion.


----------



## Julie (Jun 9, 2013)

Last year was a bad year, all I got was about 16 gallon. Hopefully this year is better.


----------



## pwrose (Jun 9, 2013)

Too bad your so far north of me, I could probably get you 160 lbs in one trip on one rd. Then theres the back of the fields that have another 1000's of plants in them. I wont be after any this year though, and if I do get any it would only be enough for 3 gallons or so.


----------



## pjd (Jun 9, 2013)

ffemt128 said:


> Well it's that time of year again. Elderberry bushes have been coming into bloom for the past 2 weeks. While out driving around yesterday I found 5 more locations which based on the flowers look to be very promising. Hoping to double my harvest this year. Boy would that be nice to get 160 lbs of Elderberries. I guess time and the birds will tell. Anything above last year is a bonus in my opinion.


 Doug, I have not seen a blossom yet! all of my prime picking spots have yet to blossom. I am beginning to think our last frost killed them. 
I planted 30 elderberry plants that I bought from Double A Vinyards on some land at my office so hoping in a year or so not to have to depend on wild ones.


----------



## Julie (Jun 9, 2013)

pjd said:


> Doug, I have not seen a blossom yet! all of my prime picking spots have yet to blossom. I am beginning to think our last frost killed them.
> I planted 30 elderberry plants that I bought from Double A Vinyards on some land at my office so hoping in a year or so not to have to depend on wild ones.



You probably have about another one to two weeks before you see any buds and about a three to four weeks before you see any blossoms. Doug's elderberries are usually two weeks ahead of me and mine here at home are about one to two weeks ahead of the ones at camp and that is in Tionesta and you are not that far from Tionesta.

So far all I have are buds starting to form


----------



## pjd (Jun 9, 2013)

Julie said:


> You probably have about another one to two weeks before you see any buds and about a three to four weeks before you see any blossoms. Doug's elderberries are usually two weeks ahead of me and mine here at home are about one to two weeks ahead of the ones at camp and that is in Tionesta and you are not that far from Tionesta.
> 
> So far all I have are buds starting to form


 Maybe there is hope! Great!


----------



## captainl (Jun 9, 2013)

Can anyone post some pictures of what elderberry plants look like easily?


----------



## Julie (Jun 9, 2013)

captainl said:


> Can anyone post some pictures of what elderberry plants look like easily?



Here you go

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f25/elderberries-7552/


----------



## Downwards (Jun 9, 2013)

You guys are truly inspiring! We have the Mexican elderberry trees out here, they grow everywhere and this time of year I'm noticing them more and more as the fruit is on. Thing is, I cannot even imagine the patience it must take to pick all those little berries and destem them all (ours are slightly toxic in the stems, don't know if yours are the same). I did an elderberry from dried a few months ago and nobody I've served it to has been able to tell that it isn't a grape wine. It's our favorite so far by a long shot. 

How much can you get off of one tree? I probably have a very limited amount of time left to pick them here, but I'm really curious. 

Is wine made from fresh berries noticeably better than from the dried? One way or another we're making a big batch soon. The last was only four gallons and it's disappearing very fast!


----------



## Julie (Jun 9, 2013)

freeze them and then the berries will fall off the stems


----------



## WVMountaineerJack (Jun 9, 2013)

We have pics of the bushes and ripe fruit on our website as well as several different ways to pick them. My favorite way is to scrape the berries across a baking rack over a bucket and then wash them with cold water to float out the bugs and unripe berries. 

We really like the dried ones, and really like elderberry mead! Add some oak and a lot of berries and you got a great county wine. 

Our cultivated berries are almost ready to open up. So far no sign of any fungus hitting the blossum like the have for the past 2 years.

WVMJ


----------



## ffemt128 (Jun 15, 2013)

Found 4-5 more nice size elderberry bushes today. Most were near the edge of a parking lot so they won't be hard to get to. Going to be a very productive year from the looks of it. I could go for 20+ gallons of elderberry in aging this fall.


----------



## ffemt128 (Jun 15, 2013)

One more bush sighting confirmed this evening.


----------



## Downwards (Jun 16, 2013)

Went to my brothers today and picked most of his tree that I could reach. That's about a 5 gallon pail full of them but still attached to their bunches. They're sitting in the freezer now. His tree had lots more fruit not yet ripe and even some flowers still. And now that I'm looking for them, I'm seeing trees with fruit everywhere I go.


----------



## garymc (Jun 16, 2013)

Can anybody tell me how much wine a gallon of elderberries will make?


----------



## Julie (Jun 16, 2013)

don't know about a gallon but I use 5 pounds per gallon.


----------



## ffemt128 (Jun 16, 2013)

garymc said:


> Can anybody tell me how much wine a gallon of elderberries will make?


 


Julie said:


> don't know about a gallon but I use 5 pounds per gallon.


 

I'm generally with Julie, however last year used approx. 7-8 lbs per gallon. I steam juice to eliminate the goo.


----------



## garymc (Jun 16, 2013)

Actually, Julie, what you told me is what I wanted to know. And between you and Doug, I could be looking at 5-8 pounds per gallon or 25-40 pounds for a 5 gallon batch. But if I wanted to make a 5 gallon batch of mixed elderberries and muscadines, and would normally use, say, 30 pounds of muscadines, then 20 pounds of muscadines and 12 pounds or so of elderberries would give me a 2/3 muscadine and 1/3 elderberry wine. I'm thinking since elderberry is low on acid and muscadines are a little high in acidity, I could skip having to adjust acidity doing this. 
To get back to the purpose of the original thread, my black lace elderberry bush has berries slightly less than bb size, but they're sparse. It's just about done flowering. But my wild ones are just now flowering. It could be because the black lace has been in place for 4 years or so and I just dug up the wild ones after they had been mowed this spring and transplanted them. If it posts, here's a pic of the black lace from 5-29-13.


----------



## WVMountaineerJack (Jun 16, 2013)

We get about a gallon of juice from 10 pounds of berries, that will make between 1 and 3 gallons of wine depending on how much you like elderberry wine  WVMJ



garymc said:


> Can anybody tell me how much wine a gallon of elderberries will make?


----------



## Downwards (Jun 16, 2013)

Wow. You guys are making me feel less good about the measly 5 gallon bucket I picked yesterday, lol. I made a REALLY rich and flavorful wine from dried elderberries though using only 1 lb to 4 gallons (though it did get a lb of raisins as well). Might be too little fruit for some of you, but I thought it tasted great. 

Wonder how fresh berries compare to dried? If you wanted to convert part of a dried recipe to fresh berries, how many lbs fresh would equal a pound of dried? My next batch will likely be a mixture, cause I don't think our tree even has that many berries, lol.

Maybe I should just make my recipe as usual and add fresh crushed elderberries on top of that without even taking anything else into consideration (other than SG)?


----------



## garymc (Jun 16, 2013)

Don't feel bad. I'm trying to grow them, but have never picked any. And if I have any this year, it will be July or August. You've already picked some.


----------



## ffemt128 (Jun 17, 2013)

WVMountaineerJack said:


> We get about a gallon of juice from 10 pounds of berries, that will make between 1 and 3 gallons of wine depending on how much you like elderberry wine  WVMJ


 
That's about what I end up with per 10 gallon as well. Last year after steaming the 85 lbs we ended up with just under 9 1/2 gallons of juice. Even at 3-4 lbs per gallon it makes a very good wine. So based on the above with a gallon of pure juice you could realistically make a 3 gallon batch. If you're using gallon ziplocks, just about 5 lbs fit in a bag for freezing.


----------



## WVMountaineerJack (Jun 17, 2013)

Steaming changes the character a little bit, I think a lot less tannins seem to make in through the process so using 100% steamed juice makes a very nice wine. When we steam elders we also like to make mead with them, so 4 gallon steamed juice, cooled to Room Temp, 1.25 gallons of honey, toss in some pectinase and oak. We must overstuff our gallon bags because we usually cram 10 pounds of elderberries in a gallon bag, makes calculating how much we need to thaw out a lot easier on me WVMJ



ffemt128 said:


> That's about what I end up with per 10 gallon as well. Last year after steaming the 85 lbs we ended up with just under 9 1/2 gallons of juice. Even at 3-4 lbs per gallon it makes a very good wine. So based on the above with a gallon of pure juice you could realistically make a 3 gallon batch. If you're using gallon ziplocks, just about 5 lbs fit in a bag for freezing.


----------



## Downwards (Jun 18, 2013)

Guys. I was picking berries off the frozen bunches, all was going well. They pretty much just fall right off as explained. 
Unfortunately as I get down to the very bottom of the bucket it looks like lots of tiny frozen fruit fly larvae. They must have been on some of the fruit and then crawled to the bottom of the bucket as it got cold, because I didn't notice them till the end. 
Keep going or dump the bottom 1/8 of the bucket? Rinse the berries? Or just dump them in and call it yeast nutrient?  I'm leaning towards option one at this time.


----------



## WVMountaineerJack (Jun 18, 2013)

Have you checked out our videos on picking and sorting elderberries? The little larva are like catipillars? Might be some kind of sawfly. Though a lot of people do that freeze and knock off method there is a lot of unripe fruit that comes off to, you can use cold water in a bucket to sort out the ripe from unripe fruit, except after being frozen you are going to loose some juice. I think its better to knock the berries off using a baking rack and then washing them in cold water to sort out unripe fruit and bugs, most bus float pretty well. WVMJ


----------



## ffemt128 (Jun 18, 2013)

WVMountaineerJack said:


> Have you checked out our videos on picking and sorting elderberries? The little larva are like catipillars? Might be some kind of sawfly. Though a lot of people do that freeze and knock off method there is a lot of unripe fruit that comes off to, you can use cold water in a bucket to sort out the ripe from unripe fruit, except after being frozen you are going to loose some juice. I think its better to knock the berries off using a baking rack and then washing them in cold water to sort out unripe fruit and bugs, most bus float pretty well. WVMJ


 

I take the 2 bucket approach. Both with cold water. I'll give the clusters a dip in on bucket for a quick rinse. I've found the "fanning of the fingers through the cluster" to work pretty well. I then dump in to separate clean bucket for floating purposes.


----------



## Downwards (Jun 18, 2013)

WVMountaineerJack said:


> Have you checked out our videos on picking and sorting elderberries? The little larva are like catipillars? Might be some kind of sawfly. Though a lot of people do that freeze and knock off method there is a lot of unripe fruit that comes off to, you can use cold water in a bucket to sort out the ripe from unripe fruit, except after being frozen you are going to loose some juice. I think its better to knock the berries off using a baking rack and then washing them in cold water to sort out unripe fruit and bugs, most bus float pretty well. WVMJ



Where can I find the videos? I'd love to check this out.. OH! Never mind, just found your page. For some reason the link didn't work for me, but I googled it.

Another question. Is it ok to have a few teeny tiny stem bits in the must. I really rarely see one in there, but the few that there are will be nearly impossible to pick out, unless they show up for me (float) when I'm mixing my must together.


----------



## BobF (Jun 18, 2013)

I got tired of chasing wild berries, so I planted my own last spring. Here they are today:

Short, 45' row



Two 60' rows:




They're young, but are looking like they'll produce well this year.


----------



## WVMountaineerJack (Jun 18, 2013)

You ought to get 30+ pounds this year, first year plants give bigger fruit than on older plants. I like your spacing, I put mine a little to close between rows and it dark in there! WVMJ


----------



## ffemt128 (Jun 18, 2013)

BobF said:


> I got tired of chasing wild berries, so I planted my own last spring. Here they are today:
> 
> Short, 45' row
> View attachment 8647
> ...


 
So jealous, wish I lived in a more rural are where I had the property to do that....my back yard is literally 30x30 and I have a 425 sq ft patio back there.


----------



## ffemt128 (Jun 18, 2013)

Just an fyi, anyone near the downtown area there are 2 large plants directly across from the convention center and looks to be 3-4 large plants on the riverfront walkway down along the actual river. I'll keep the status of these updated in the event anyone want's to venture down. I drive by here 2x a day so I'll let you know when they get ripe...


----------



## WVMountaineerJack (Jun 18, 2013)

If you fill in the area you are wasting on grass with elderberries you wouldnt have to mow, wouldnt have to talk to your noisy neigbhors in the back yard, could hide from your wife when she is mad, would make the whole neighborhood smell wonderfull in the spring and shade your patio. And as a bonus pick berries and make wine  WVMJ



ffemt128 said:


> So jealous, wish I lived in a more rural are where I had the property to do that....my back yard is literally 30x30 and I have a 425 sq ft patio back there.


----------



## BobF (Jun 18, 2013)

ffemt128 said:


> So jealous, wish I lived in a more rural are where I had the property to do that....my back yard is literally 30x30 and I have a 425 sq ft patio back there.



Yeah, I hear ya'. I've been there.

My current back yard is 1320' x 660'


----------



## ffemt128 (Jul 29, 2013)

Some of the bushes are starting to get ripe berries. I've picked about 2 lbs so far in 2 outings. The berries are about 3/16" in diameter from this plant. My primary plant has not ripened yet, one of the additional plants has been picked clean by birds. The other plants I've found this year as of last weekend were still green. I have a feeling I'll be very busy this year.


----------



## garymc (Jul 29, 2013)

Driving by and looking at the ones on the side of the road, I was still seeing lots of blooms last week. But some of the ones in my yard have had berries for a month. I haven't seen any ripe yet, though.


----------



## ffemt128 (Aug 1, 2013)

Checked on some bushes while out this evening. One of the bushes I checked is full of deep dark purple/black berries about 3/16 in diameter. The bush 30 yards away is still green and just getting some color. My primary bush which usually yields about 30+ lbs is red all over with very few dark ones as of yet. I'm figuring next week but will continue to check every few days. I have the clippers and a supply of blue bags in the truck.

With aldi having blue berry on sale I may have to mix up a batch of elderberry blueberry like I did 2 years ago. It was good.


----------



## ffemt128 (Aug 2, 2013)

Went out on my lunch break and picked 2 full grocery bags of elderberries. I'm guessing after cleaning close to 10 lbs. Got stung by a bee, wow does that hurt...


----------



## ffemt128 (Aug 2, 2013)

Well, ended up with just under 7 lbs of non-floaters. I'm satisfied with the quantity. We had about 3/4 lb of floaters. I have to say, some of those floaters looked awful dark in color. I'll check another location tomorrow. Hopefully there are some ripe ones there.


----------



## WVMountaineerJack (Aug 3, 2013)

You can always squeeze the dark floaters to see if they were actually ripe or not. I wonder if some of them started fermenting inside the fruit so had some CO2 or just hadnt converted enough sugar yet to sink? Nothings perfect, you just sorted a few thousand berries in few minutes, would you want to do that by hand? WVMJ


----------



## cintipam (Aug 3, 2013)

Hi all

I've enjoyed reading about your wild pickins. Last year I picked up a Purple tower elderberry and after during research it seems that elderberries which produce red berries are considered not safe for human consumption. I'm guessing that means no wine making too. Stated all varieties of the racemosa elderberry in that red group. Said for eating purple berries one needs canadensis or nigra variety. Yet I have read a few times of folks making wine from the red ones. I was hoping you experienced folks could tell me for sure if my red berries could make wine or not.

thanks for the help

Pam in cinti


----------



## dessertmaker (Aug 3, 2013)

Many species of elderberries do have a cyanide inducing chemical in them. And very rarely, people will report getting sick from eating large amounts of them. European black elder is the only species that does not contain this glycoside in "toxic" amounts, but it is still recommended to cook them before consuming them.

The american red elder is known to produce mature "toxic" berries but ive heard of people making wine with them (destemmed, cooked and always aged) You just have to be careful if you're using anything that's not European black elder. 

Heat and time are both supposed to cause the "poison" to degrade.


----------



## WVMountaineerJack (Aug 3, 2013)

Somebody always posts on elderberry threads that you have to cook them or you will get sick. People have been eating and making wine from them for centuries, how many records can you find of anyone really getting sick from them? The one that is easy to find was because the idiots crushed the fruit and leaves together, one old dude got the schlitzes. Green apples will do the same thing to you. We have fermented raw ripe berries, steamed them, boiled them and made wine from the dried ones (we like the taste of the dried ones best). No problems to us or anyone who has tried them. Not saying some people might not be more sensitive, just like sulphites, less 1% of the population is actually sensitive but everyone thinks they are. 

IF YOU ARE PICKING WILD FRUIT YOU HAVE TO MAKE SURE WHAT YOU ARE PICKING. 

Black elderberries are red before they are ripe, are you sure you are not seeing black ones that are not ripe yet?

WVMJ


----------



## Downwards (Aug 3, 2013)

Well, my fresh elderberry came out just plain awful. I dumped it (even though I never really dump imperfect wines- usually reserve for something..). It smelled and tasted very strongly of some kind of chemical. I think I simply had too many unripe berries in it. Smelled like a cleaning product of some kind.
My hastiness in sorting/cleaning has foiled me here. BUT, I also made a double batch of my dried elder which came out very nice indeed. In other positive news I bought 6 elderberry trees of my own, so this will not be my last attempt! They are tiny little things now but growing very well.


----------



## dessertmaker (Aug 3, 2013)

Here's the article he's talking about. 

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00000311.htm?mobile=nocontent

And here's the reason why it doesn't happen often, the levels of the cyanide producing glycoside in the berries vary from bush to bush in the same species and even vary by time of day.

http://elmu.umm.ac.id/file.php/1/ju...tics and Ecology/Vol28.Issue7.Aug2000/722.pdf

But like I said earlier, heat and time causes them to break down on their own. Fermentation might do this anyway, since the glycosides are actually sugar groups.

At any rate, it's obvious that they're there in the berry when you pick them. My great uncle told me they always picked them in the evening because there was less of the "bad stuff" in them then. Then that night they would mash them into paste and cook them at just below a simmer with local honey. I read an article about the local Indians doing something similar for the same reasons. 

So while it is true that people have been using them for hundreds of years, it's also obviously true that occasionally people get sick from them if they don't cook them down a little.

We still love elderberry syrup in my house. It's the cure for everything. I've thought about fermenting our syrup and making elderberry melomel but it almost seems sacrilegious to "waste" our "medicine."


----------



## Downwards (Aug 3, 2013)

Ironically, it's probably the toxins that are the reason for it's claimed health benefits. People have eaten and revered elderberry as a tonic since before written history, and most of what we call medicine is also toxic. I'm not saying anything but a very general thing here- everyone should do their own research with uncommon foods and should be comfortable with their procedures. But just about _everything_ we consume has toxins in it, including all wines. Intoxication is a similar word for a reason, as I'm sure we all know. There may be some truth to what you've read, but I put more faith in what so many others have already been making and drinking for years (centuries probably!) without ill effects.


----------



## dessertmaker (Aug 3, 2013)

Hey I'm not saying I don't have "faith" in tradition. I'm saying in my family for generations we've cooked the damn berries before we eat them. That IS the tradition. LOL


----------



## WVMountaineerJack (Aug 3, 2013)

Cooked elderberry wine is ok, 50% raw juice is better, dried elder melomel you wont want to tell anyone you made it so you dont have to share it, give them the cooked stuff  WVMJ


----------



## cintipam (Aug 3, 2013)

Lots of good info to think about. I do appreciate that.  And yes, I mucho agree that it is important to know what you are picking. I'm talking about a plant I purchased at a nursery that said elderberry that I planted thinking I'd be able to use the berries. To decide where best to plant I did research on web and that is where I found the info about my specific plant (Purple Tower Elderberry, var. Racemosa) producing red berries that are not safe for human consumption. Looks like there is a basis to that. Since I just planted the thing I got years before I need to make a decision tho. Unless of course I rip it out and replace with a variety known to be safe. I got lots of other wine making stuff growing already so it would not be a big loss at this point.

Thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences with the berries along with preparation methods cause it sounds like it matters quite a lot on this subject. 

Pam in cinti


----------



## WVMountaineerJack (Aug 3, 2013)

HI Pam, BTW welcome to the group here. If you have room why not keep it, they are very nice looking plants, just dont eat the berries, leave them for the birds. If you only got one plant it might not set much anyway, not sure if they need more than one bush to set fruit. WVMJ


----------



## Julie (Aug 3, 2013)

Downwards said:


> Ironically, it's probably the toxins that are the reason for it's claimed health benefits. People have eaten and revered elderberry as a tonic since before written history, and most of what we call medicine is also toxic. I'm not saying anything but a very general thing here- everyone should do their own research with uncommon foods and should be comfortable with their procedures. But just about _everything_ we consume has toxins in it, including all wines. Intoxication is a similar word for a reason, as I'm sure we all know. There may be some truth to what you've read, but I put more faith in what so many others have already been making and drinking for years (centuries probably!) without ill effects.



I couldn't agree more with you. I have eaten elderberry jelly all my life and have been making elderberry wine for bout six years, never once have I gotten sick. This is my most favorite wine. And there have been studies that claim elderberries helps you immune system.


----------



## ffemt128 (Aug 5, 2013)

Oh the elderberry jelly we made 2 years ago was great even though it didn't gel well and I absolutely love elderberry wine. I picked another 7 lbs on Sunday. Not many floaters this time around. I'll be checking the primary bush this week. I'm figuring it will be ready about Wendesay. My other location was all cut down this year. No berries from there. I'll be ckecking the new location this week as well. May not be as good of year as I had hoped....


----------



## ffemt128 (Aug 6, 2013)

Need to get out tomorrow and check on elderberries. Should be some ripe ones based on what I saw last weekend. Need to get enough for at least one batch. Home projects coming up that I don't think I'll be sneaking away from anytime soon.


----------



## wood1954 (Aug 28, 2013)

I took my time this year and picked only ripe berries over about a week. 
what a difference over the last time when i wasn't so picky. I ended up with about 30 lbs of berries. i did add 3.5 gallons of water to get almost 6 gallons of wine after straining out the cap. My butt was really sore after sitting and destemming them for 3.5 hours. after straining the must and tasting after it's been fermenting for 4 days it's worth it. really nice flavor and for extra body i added two bananas. the ph is 3.6 after adding 54 grams of tartaric acid, I'm going to leave the ph alone now and see where it goes when it's done fermenting.


----------



## WVMountaineerJack (Aug 29, 2013)

There are much easier ways, we have compiled a description of many different ways that people have kindly shared with us on our elderberry webpage. Our favorite is scraping them across a baking cooling rack and then adding cold water to chill the fruit quickly and then the fruit that isnt ripe will have a lower specific gravity and float, ripe fruit has a higher specific gravity and sinks to the bottom. 



wood1954 said:


> I took my time this year and picked only ripe berries over about a week. what a difference over the last time when i wasn't so picky.menting.


----------



## ffemt128 (Aug 29, 2013)

I'm bummed this year. Due to household projects I only managed to pick about 30 lbs of berries. Oh well, I cam make a 5 gallon batch or a very full bodied 3 gallon batch...


----------



## WineYooper (Aug 29, 2013)

Can't believe what a difference a few hundred miles makes in the growing season, the berries here (Mn.) are not close to being ripe. From reading it sounds like the berries are about the same size, around 3/16 dia. Last year was my first year picking the wild ones and I thought it was a huge undertaking but after reading tips here I may do it again. My neighbor has a bunch of plants around the horse pasture. Definitely like the wine made from these. Thanks.


----------



## Julie (Aug 29, 2013)

I have about 60# thanks to a friend who got me 30# and we got the other 30 at camp


----------



## Sammyk (Sep 5, 2013)

We started 5 gallons from juice from Home Winery. It has kind of a medicinal smell. Is that normal?


----------



## WVMountaineerJack (Sep 5, 2013)

Value those elderberries you picked this year. It seems those dam spotted drosophila also host on pokeweed and its been a very good year for pokeweed, I was looking at some and they also had flies on them as well. WVMJ


----------



## ffemt128 (Sep 5, 2013)

I always value any Elderberries I can get...Still bummed I didn't get more....


----------



## wood1954 (Sep 9, 2013)

elderberries do have their own peculiar smell. It gets better after it's aged a while and then ends tasting really good, still has it's own smell tho.


----------



## ffemt128 (Oct 21, 2013)

Well with the various projects that were going on at the house this year I didn't get to pick near the elderberries I wanted to. Yesterday I steamed the berries so that I could defrost the freezer. I ended up with 2 1/2 very full gallons of Elderberry juice. I had a total of about 30 lbs. I'm thinking of making a 5 gallon batch which I will likely start this week. Juice has been dosed with kmeta and is in the cellar now near the door where it is cool.


----------



## ffemt128 (Oct 22, 2013)

Mixed up all the ingredients for a 5 gallon batch of Elderberry from 2 1/2 gallons of steamed juice. This should work out to be about 6+lbs per gallon. Starting SG 1.086 and ph 3.32. I'll adjust TA post fermentation to taste.


----------



## dessertmaker (Oct 23, 2013)

Thinking of taking some elderberry syrup made with elderberries and honey and making an elderberry melomel. What's the SG you guys normally start with?


----------



## Julie (Oct 23, 2013)

Mine is usually around 1.080 - 1.085


----------



## dessertmaker (Oct 23, 2013)

Cool. Anything outside of normal juice wines that I need to take into consideration before I attack this project? It'll be my first mead. Local lady makes the syrup and sells it for like $5 for 16 oz. so it's pretty much gonna be a lot like a kit wine for me.


----------



## ffemt128 (Oct 24, 2013)

dessertmaker said:


> Cool. Anything outside of normal juice wines that I need to take into consideration before I attack this project? It'll be my first mead. Local lady makes the syrup and sells it for like $5 for 16 oz. so it's pretty much gonna be a lot like a kit wine for me.


 
Not much different than any other juice wines. Sugar and acid are usually very low if using juice or berries. Check both of those and go at it.


----------



## WVMountaineerJack (Oct 24, 2013)

If we steam elderberries we like to use the straight juice, if we press the juice from berries it can be used at 100% juice but diluting it to 75-50% can be better. What does the lady use to make her syrup sweet, any preservatives? You might be better off trying to buy berries from her instead of her syrup. WVMJ


----------



## fivebk (Oct 24, 2013)

I would suggest that you make a straight mead and when it's done then add the elderberry syrup. I think you will retain more flavor from the syrup if you add it post fermentation.

BOB


----------



## dessertmaker (Oct 25, 2013)

WVMountaineerJack said:


> If we steam elderberries we like to use the straight juice, if we press the juice from berries it can be used at 100% juice but diluting it to 75-50% can be better. What does the lady use to make her syrup sweet, any preservatives? You might be better off trying to buy berries from her instead of her syrup. WVMJ



Honey, hence the melomel. Literally all id have to do is add water and mess with the TA if necessary and then pitch the yeast


----------



## WVMountaineerJack (Oct 25, 2013)

One of our local wineries sells an elderberry syrup made with his own elderberries and he adds a special chocolate syrup (also one without the chocolate), you have to be carefull to balance the amount of ice cream you have in the bowl filled with elderberry chocolate syrup. It is also an awesome backsweetener AND the milk in it acts as a fining agent! If you knew the gravity of the syrup you could calculate how much you would need for a whole batch, you might have to dilute it by 30-50% to get a fermentable level of honey. Good luck. WVMJ


----------



## ffemt128 (Nov 4, 2013)

Edlerberry went into the carboy. Looks and smells great so far. I ended up with 5 1/2 gallons from about 36 lbs of berries. I'm happy with that ratio.


----------



## mainecr (Nov 4, 2013)

My wife and I picked, processed, and froze until we ran out time. We never went to pick from "the mother load", a 10 acre parcel I spied during spring bloom. No idea how much we processed until I pulled them out to ferment. Seems we had froze 127 pounds. 6 gallons of blackberry elderberry, and 30 gallons of elderberry in secondary.


----------



## Julie (Nov 4, 2013)

mainecr said:


> My wife and I picked, processed, and froze until we ran out time. We never went to pick from "the mother load", a 10 acre parcel I spied during spring bloom. No idea how much we processed until I pulled them out to ferment. Seems we had froze 127 pounds. 6 gallons of blackberry elderberry, and 30 gallons of elderberry in secondary.



Nice haul! The elderberry/blackberry is a nice blend another good blend is elderberry/cherry


----------



## mainecr (Nov 4, 2013)

I was given and processed 200 pounds of Bing and Ranier cherries. Never thought of a cherry elderberry. I was thinking of an elderberry blueberry. 
We have a blueberry pear going right now as the last fresh batch of the year!


----------



## ffemt128 (Nov 4, 2013)

Elderberry-Bluberry is another nice blend. I made that once. Man was it good.


----------



## ffemt128 (Aug 17, 2014)

I bottled my 2013 Elderberry this am. I back sweetened to 1.008 and did not oak this batch. Labels are printed and will go on the bottles later today.


----------



## WVMountaineerJack (Aug 17, 2014)

What doesnt elderberry enhance? We did an elderberry plum, so good I planted some plum trees to see if we can make it even better with our own plums and elderberries. Elderberry and apple cyser is on the list for this year. Elder + currant, Elder + Red raspberry, Elder + Black raspberry, fresh elders + Dried elders, Elders in chocolate, Elders in Bochet, elderberries in your pancakes, they go with everything. WVMJ


----------



## Julie (Aug 17, 2014)

WVMountaineerJack said:


> What doesnt elderberry enhance? We did an elderberry plum, so good I planted some plum trees to see if we can make it even better with our own plums and elderberries. Elderberry and apple cyser is on the list for this year. Elder + currant, Elder + Red raspberry, Elder + Black raspberry, fresh elders + Dried elders, Elders in chocolate, Elders in Bochet, elderberries in your pancakes, they go with everything. WVMJ



If you can get some fredonia grapes or juice blend that with elderberries.


----------



## WVMountaineerJack (Aug 18, 2014)

We take a WE port kit, add 2 gal of elderberry juice to their 3 gal kit, add extra nutrient/oak etc, toss the instructions in the trash and let it go for as long as it needs, I can see why the port makers of old used to boost the color and tannins of their ports with elders, this is almost thick! WVMJ


----------

