Elderflower wine

[Newbie Mel]

Any suggestions on a elderflower wine? I think I have enough to do a gallon test batch. Wondering what kind of yeast? Any additives needed?

 

[BigDaveK]

I'll be doing elderflower for the first time in a week or so myself. Mine are just starting to bloom so I can't wait!

Most recipes call for a pint to a pint and a half of fresh flowers for a gallon. They mention that in this case more is not better. Oh, and smell them. Don't use the flowers if they smell like cat pee.

I've seen 71B mentioned for yeast. Beyond that nothing special, just a regular wine recipe with the usual ingredients.

Good luck!

 

[BarrelMonkey]

I just bottled my elderflower 'shampagne' from this season, and I have 3 gallons of still elderflower wine fermenting. My previous attempts over the past few years have not been great, but I have high hopes for this year.

Some comments:
- All elderflowers are not the same. I have a European cultivar (I think Korsor) and 2 American cultivars (Nova and York). Only Korsor has a strong scent, and that's all I have used for my elderflower wines.
- I used ~30 elderflower umbels (~2 US quarts flowers stripped from stems, loosely packed) in a 3-gallon batch. That's plenty for me, but I think it will vary depending on your cultivar, growing conditions and how much you want of that elderflower flavor.
- I recommend 150-200mL grape juice concentrate per gallon, to provide some yeast nutrients and texture to the wine. You will need to add supplemental sugar as well.
- I think many different yeasts will work. I used QA23 this time, I've used DV10 in the past and I'm sure other white wine yeasts will be fine.
- I adjusted pH to 3.17 (targeting 3.1-3.2) using lemon juice, citric acid and tartaric acid. I also included lemon peel (no pith!) for the first ~1 week of fermentation.
- I used my standard grape nutrient addition scheme: 20g/hL Fermaid-O at ~3 brix drop and 20g/hL Fermaid-O at 1/3 brix drop. At the second FMO addition, I racked from primary into a carboy.
- If possible, keep the fermentation relatively cool. Mine has been from 58-63F. This will help to preserve the aromatics.

Some references for elderflower wine (there are many more for elderflower 'shampagne':
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/elderflower-winehttps://novocastrianvintnersgazette.wordpress.com/elderflower-wine-recipe/https://www.brewbitz.com/pages/elderflower-wine-recipe
Let us know how it turns out! I hope to post my full recipe if it works out this year...

 

[Newbie Mel]

I missed my opportunity . Was going to harvest flowers today, but when I got to tree/bush most of the flowers had dropped. I would have had barely enough to do a gallon as it was. I have two trees, that I have found so far. One is in full sun and the other in shade. The one in sun has an amazing smell, the one in shade is much more subtle. I’ll have to wait to see what berries look like and how many I get to see if there is a second opportunity. In any case, I’m going to start a calendar for next year of when to start looking for different things so I don’t miss out. @BigDaveK, I’m bummed I missed the redbuds and chickweed. And I was too intimidated to try dandelion, but next year maybe I’ll be up for the challenge.

 

[bearpaw8491]

I have a recipe for elder flower and berry wine but can't get 'em to post for some reason. Will be happy to share if I can figure out how.
I plan to start my flower wine this week if nothing happens. Harvested flowers about 3 wks ago and place in the freezer.

I and others finally determined that 4 ounces of fresh stripped flowers was equivalent to the 1 pint of flowers per gallon most recipes call for. I found everything from 2 oz of dried flowers/gallon to 1 gallon (loosely packed) to the gallon!!! I much prefer using ingredient weights as opposed to some nondescript term. Kinda like "how long is a piece of string?"

FYI, the Elderberry wine is 6 yrs old and just coming into its prime. Believe folks have said that the flower wine matures much more quickly.

 

[BigDaveK]

I missed my opportunity . Was going to harvest flowers today, but when I got to tree/bush most of the flowers had dropped. I would have had barely enough to do a gallon as it was. I have two trees, that I have found so far. One is in full sun and the other in shade. The one in sun has an amazing smell, the one in shade is much more subtle. I’ll have to wait to see what berries look like and how many I get to see if there is a second opportunity. In any case, I’m going to start a calendar for next year of when to start looking for different things so I don’t miss out. @BigDaveK, I’m bummed I missed the redbuds and chickweed. And I was too intimidated to try dandelion, but next year maybe I’ll be up for the challenge.

Bummer!
I lucked out this morning and found a bush in full bloom just a bit down the road. That means the ones on the property will be earmarked for berries. Fingers crossed on collecting enough. Soon I'll begin trying to outsmart the birds.
BTW, this is embarrassing - turns out I have elderberry bushes everywhere and the seedlings I thought were weeds. I've been cutting the bushes in early spring for 10-15 years. A discussion with @bearpaw8491 opened my eyes! (Tip o' the hat!) Of course I learned I have bushes AFTER I bought and planted 4.

Redbud and chickweed will be worth it. And harvesting is easy! And yes, dandelion can be work.

 

[Newbie Mel]

Bummer!
I lucked out this morning and found a bush in full bloom just a bit down the road. That means the ones on the property will be earmarked for berries. Fingers crossed on collecting enough. Soon I'll begin trying to outsmart the birds.
BTW, this is embarrassing - turns out I have elderberry bushes everywhere and the seedlings I thought were weeds. I've been cutting the bushes in early spring for 10-15 years. A discussion with @bearpaw8491 opened my eyes! (Tip o' the hat!) Of course I learned I have bushes AFTER I bought and planted 4.

Redbud and chickweed will be worth it. And harvesting is easy! And yes, dandelion can be work.

I see so many smaller shrubs that look similar and wondering if they are too young to produce. It’s hard to wait for next year, but amazing how fast time passes! Ugh I hate waiting for next year, but hoping it will be worth it with the knowledge I gain over the next year

 

[ChuckD]

FYI, the Elderberry wine is 6 yrs old and just coming into its prime.

I opened the first bottle of my 2021 Elderberry a few days ago. It was much improved from bottling day. I would say it is equal to any commercial elderberry I have tried. Of course most of those have been very meh. I’m hoping that a few more years will help. My flowers are still a week or so out but I'm too busy with other projects to even think about winemaking for a while.

 

[BarrelMonkey]

After 3 weeks fermentation, I racked my elderflower to secondary. Tastes pretty good already; a little grippier than my sparkling elderflower (by design, since I added a little wine tannin).

 

[bearpaw8491]

Looking good!
Wondering about your S/G-Temp-Day chart. Is this your creation or is it a readily available template? I created mine but would like to take a look at a better model.
Followed a recipe with a blind eye (that's my story and I'm stickin' with it!) and overshot the OG by miles!! Have a dilution to do tomorrow and will see where I stand then.

 

[BarrelMonkey]

Wondering about your S/G-Temp-Day chart. Is this your creation or is it a readily available template? I created mine but would like to take a look at a better model.

It's just a simple chart that I made in a spreadsheet (I use LibreOffice, but Excel would work just as well). Looking again at my chart I see I didn't label the axes... will do in future though I think it's obvious which is brix and which is temp

Brix seemed to level out at -1.7, though when I tested again today before racking it had gone down to -1.9 (0.993 SG). I went ahead and racked/sulfured it anyway because it was smelling a little reductive.

 

[bearpaw8491]

Thanks for the info, I created mine in Numbers and it does the job but needs refinement.