2014 Elderberries

[WVMountaineerJack]

What is the specific gravity of the juice, if she just cooked them enough to juice them you might want to make just a gallon of really good rich elderberry wine say if the sg is around 1.04 which is about as ripe as most elderberries get. If she cooked it down though to concentrate the berries you might want to dilute to juice down to about 1.040 to get a feel for how much real juice you have to start with. When we steam juice our berries I tend not to dilute it, when we use fresh fruit we dilute them down some. The cooking does affect the taste a little so they are not as intense as the fresh berries. By taking the gravity readings you will have a reference point for future batches vs just taking a guessed at concentration and diluting it. This also makes an incredible mead and takes oak very well. WVMJ

So I am totally new to elderberry wine making and have a quick question. All of the recipes that I have found call for x amount of pounds of elderberries. A friend of mine gave me some elderberry juice that she was going to use to make jelly and didn't really feel like it. It is just straight cooked down and juiced elderberry, nothing added to it. Is there any way to know how much juice to use per pound of elderberry that the recipe calls for? She gave me 4 quarts of juice.

 

[Jerry1]

Mountaineer, do you not keep track of how much juice you get from a pound of berries? I keep track of it so I know how much juice equals 15 lbs, etc. That way if the recipe calls for 30 lbs of berries I know how much juice to use. If I'm a little short of liquid I can either add more juice or add a little water. Recipes differ and they are in accordance with the writers taste. I find most recipes call for 5 lbs of blackberries per gallon and that's a little heavy for my taste. Four pounds suits my taste best.

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

Jelly makers boil and boil and boil their juice so this juice from a jelly maker could either be concentrated and just not made into jelly or it can be just straight uncooked juice, who knows, our posert is not very specific, easy way to tell is with the hydrometer. Yes we keep track of how many pounds of berries we start with and how much juice we get, and how much weight gets lost when we dry them and what equivalent weights are. But then we adjust the recipe for the juice we have, how it tastes etc vs just putting in a specific poundage. As an example, we put in the equivalent amount of dried elderberries to match fresh ones at 3lb/gal, then did more and a lot more dried elderberries. We found the equivalent to be too light, the lot more was to much, Goldilocks preferred the one in the middle, if we just went by poundage of raw fruit we would have missed a better wine made with more fruit. WVMJ

 

[j_fleming]

Thank you guys for the advice! I am not sure how much she cooked them down, but will be sure to check the SG before we start to have a better idea of what to do. They are sealed in the jars right now and I don't want to break the seals until we are ready to start (have pear and plum wine going right now). Just trying to get all of our ducks in a row before hand so I have an idea.

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

You could also add the elderberry juice to your plum and pear, it goes well with both. So if your juice is sealed in mason jars it means some cooking was done on it to at least heat it up enough to process and seal the bottle. You really cant go wrong diluting it to 1.040 and then adding sugar or honey, or even 1:1 or 1:2 parts juice to water (or cider even better). A typical elderberry recipe uses about 3 lb/gallon, not enough berries for people who really like elderberry. Did you check out our webpage devoted to making elderberry wine yet? WVMJ

 

[spunk]

Ok I want to know what you think
1 lbs bannans
10 oz elderberries
2 oz blackhaw berries
10 oz blackberries
All previously frozen
3lb honey
8 oz grape juice
1/2 tsp pectin
1 campton tab
1/2 tsp yeast nutrient
Champagne yeast
Boil bannans for 25 min last 15 of that add elderberries and blackhaw. Add that to the blk berries already in primary. Or could add blk berries to the boil. Could I leave out grape juice. I think I will oak it to.

 

[spunk]

Ok so I started this mead SG started at 1.09. I juiced the blk hawk berries first by cooking on stove. It seems to be coming along. I pulled the elderberries out on fourth day. I am trying a second run on them with more bannana water and a can of pears and a cup of grape juice. I added around a fourth cup of the original mead and yeast nutrient along with sugar to see if I could get this to start formenting. This morning it is formenting away. :thumbup:

 

[Frognostic]

I made elderberry wine in September 2013 but never got around to picking them last year, which I'm kicking myself about.

 

[spunk]

I racked it to secondary nice color.sg down to 1.00. Slow forment this morning.

 

[ffemt128]

I made elderberry wine in September 2013 but never got around to picking them last year, which I'm kicking myself about.

I picked them last year, just haven't had time to start the batch. It will be about a 15 gallon batch made with 110 lbs of berries. I already can't wait to start picking in August this year..

 

[jamesjr]

Anybody familiar with the wild elderberry in Florida? Ive been looking around alot and just read it may be poisonous? I just planted a whole fence line full lol any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

The common sambucus canadensis is native to the east coast all the way down to Florida. You have to specifically identify your plant as to the species as there is also red edlerberry which is not so good for you. Locals call things different names so that is not really a reliable source sometimes, but there is no shortage of information at the USDA and extension services for plant ID. Find a reliable identification source for your plants. WVMJ

Anybody familiar with the wild elderberry in Florida? Ive been looking around alot and just read it may be poisonous? I just planted a whole fence line full lol any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jamesjr]

Your the one ive been actually waiting to comment but here's a pic if that helps at all u seem to kno your elderberry

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

Sorry, I dont do plant IDs, its very easy to do your research on the USDA plant database, plenty of plant ID websites out there, unless I can see something in my own hands, I gave up trying to help people ID elders when some ********* made wine from pokeberries claiming to be elders, never heard back from them, guess those pokeberries are toxic after all WVMJ

 

[jamesjr]

Haha ok completely understandable ill do my research.

 

[botigol]

I have a whopping 11oz of elderberries that I harvested from my neighbors tree last year. They're frozen in a zip-loc for now. I was thinking to make one gallon of melomel with them, but would like your opinions on if I should even bother since it's such a small amount.

Thanks!

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

Go ahead, it will be a rose but probably turn out nice anyway and encourage you to take better care of your neigbhors bush! WVMJ

 

[RegarRenill]

Hey Jack, any advice for someone about to get his first elderberry bushes? I was planning on getting 2, a Nova and a York. I have two options, I can plant them at mom's mountain land along her tree line(about 17 miles from my house) or I can try them in my yard(about 30' long and 10' wide). Which do you reccomend?

 

[botigol]

Go ahead, it will be a rose but probably turn out nice anyway and encourage you to take better care of your neigbhors bush! WVMJ

Thank-you sir!

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

How am I supposed to know really, dont even know what state you are in right? Probably put them where there is more sun and where they can be watered if they need it. Good luck with them. WVMJ

Hey Jack, any advice for someone about to get his first elderberry bushes? I was planning on getting 2, a Nova and a York. I have two options, I can plant them at mom's mountain land along her tree line(about 17 miles from my house) or I can try them in my yard(about 30' long and 10' wide). Which do you reccomend?