Elderflower Champagne - controlling the fizz

[modofodo]

I did a bastardised version of the HFW recipe crossed with the BBC recipe and twisted with my own misguided input.I added a sachet of Champagne yeast. I fermented it for about 5 days then strained it into 1litre PET bottles. These bottles did get a bit wonky - though I released a little gas every now and then on the ones that looked like they would blow!

All in all it was a success, a dry sparkling finish and everyone who tried it wanted to take a bottle away. Opened the last bottle a few weeks ago - still plenty of fizz and very drinkable.

I have a few CAVA bottles kicking about - was thinking about using them with some plastic corks and cages - will this be safe, I mean it's pretty uncontrolled?

[Nobby Novice]

I had just seen River Cottage spring on More 4 last Sunday. HFW was making the Elderflower champagne for a spring festival (repeated a few times), and produced Elderflower Champagne for 100 guests. He said the brew did not need yeast to be added as the elderflower heads have their own yeast. His brew was divided in to two bins, one of which was fermenting and the other had bearly started. He decided to combine to mix the two rather than use yeast on the bin which had not started. We did not get to see him bottle the champagne, whether he used priming sugar or not. However at the festival he had 100 bottles of Elderflower Champagne ready to drink. It is unlikely that he or the makers of the programme will admit failure and so we have to accept that artistic licence makes for good television.

[Cider Rich]

Would somebody be kind enough to post a recipe for Elderflower Champagne here? I fancy the sound of this, what with summer looking fairly promising so far!

[boingy]

Here ya go matey:

http://www.channel4.com/food/recipes/ch ... e_p_1.html

[Cider Rich]

Here ya go matey:

http://www.channel4.com/food/recipes/ch ... e_p_1.html

Cheers mate -will give this a go

how much would 15 elderflower heads (in full bloom) be if i was to get dried elderflowers (as the LHBS sells these)?

[modofodo]

how much would 15 elderflower heads (in full bloom) be if i was to get dried elderflowers (as the LHBS sells these)?

I had this conundrum the other year for cordial. If it is any help, the CJJ Berry book recommends 1/2oz dried in place of 3/4pint fresh for WINE and also suggests that the recipe could be tweaked for a sparkling wine.

The flowers are starting to open properly here now (Neath), I fetched about 20 or so heads and have a 10 litre batch on the go with Champagne yeast. Mine will be going into 1L PET bottles again. Need to get some sparkling water and drink it within the next week!

[ashhorner]

Have just started making my first ever batch of elderflower champagne. At the start of the first fermentation I measured the gravity as 1065. I let it ferment with the elderflowers for 6 days and then transferred to a demijohn with an airlock fitted. I measured the gravity again and it was 1010. A quick taste confirmed that it was relatively dry.

Is this right? Should most of the sugar have been used up in a week?

I’ve now added some more sugar (0.5kg to 25 litres) and will monitor…

Any help would be really appreciated.

[GrafVonJon]

OK,

so this years' batch is underway. 30 litres of the stuff as champagne, and 4 demijohns worth of wine.

I'm still intending to ferment out and prime. I'm going to use a full teaspoon per bottle after hearing about Thirsty Paul's slightly flat brew.

One question though, and I know it's a daft one 'cos I never question it when making beer, but once the champagne has fermented dry will it definitely start fermenting again when it come in contact with the priming sugar? I'm worried I'll get flat brews now!

@ ashhorner....

I would expect to see the sugar to get used that quickly, especially if you have a nice strong fermentation in the summer weather.
Are you intending to make wine or 'champagne'? 1065 is a lower starting gravity for a wine, but should be OK for champagne. However, you say you transferred to a demijohn and fitted an airlock. Is this to make wine, or are you using it to ferment the champagne dry?

If you ferment it dry you will have to prime the champagne to make it fizzy again (my experiment for this year). If not, then you need to bottle it while it is still cloudy and fermenting in order to keep the fizz, but this is quite unpredictable and could explode if you intend to keep it long term.

Cheers.

[ashhorner]

Hi GrafVonJon,

I am planning to make champagne so am fermenting to dryness. I added some more sugar before I fitted the airlock cos I was worried that there wasn't enough sugar left to turn into alcohol. I've never done this.

Like you, I have the same question about priming. I have read some recipes that suggest adding yeast + sugar, others just say sugar. I may give both a try. Let me know how you get on.

I am planning to use 750ml grolsch style bottles, do you know if these will take the pressure? If not, can you buy champagne bottles, so far I have only found wine bottles for sale.

[leon103]

After a successful year brewing last year I decided to make up 50 330ml bottles as favours for the female guests for my forthcoming wedding. Unfortunately they all exploded yesterday in the garage. They had been there for approx 8 weeks prior to this and the first tasting session of the extra ones went well. I have to start from scratch now but will control the amount of sugar.

[GrafVonJon]

leon,

What method did you use that led to your exploding bottles?

Did you ferment the initial brew out dry and then prime? Or did you follow the strange advice of bottling it all mid ferment, after only a few days?
I would expect the latter method to lead to exploding bottles.

My first batch had a starting gravity of 1044 and is still fermenting strongly over a week later. I would have expected a beer wort to have finished by now.
My 30l batch is getting primed, put into my beer bottles and crown capped... so I really hope they don't explode. Took me a long time to gather the bottles.

Anyone else got anything to report on this year's elderflower brews?

[smoking_gun]

Hello,

Thought I'd pitch in with what I'm doing this year with my Elderflower and would be interested to see what you fine chaps think...

40-50 elderflower heads de-stalked as much as possible. 20 litre of water, half a dozen lemons squeezed in than pitched in, 100gr citric acid, OG up to 1095, one sachet champagne yeast. The intention is to ferment it out dry then into 2 ltr PET bottles with probably 2 teaspoons of sugar. The ferment is not exactly ferocious at this point one week in, but it is ticking along...