Elderflower Champagne

[Stevesmit]

Hi All,
Just adding my experience to the Elderflower thread.
Brewed it for the first time about 4/5 weeks ago. It was following inspiration from Hugh FW, and so I followed his recipe which turned out to be outrageously wrong in sugar content, Elderflower content and fermenting timescales.
To cut a long story short; I ended up with PET bottle bombs that I had to carefully diffuse three times, and the brew still tasted like syrup after 2 weeks, so I bunged it all back in the FV and pitched in new yeast and nutrient. The result after another week or two is quite nice, and a positive side effect of all the original sugar and secondary full ferment seems to be an alcohol content more akin to cider, rather than the 5%ish it should have been.
Does mean the Wife's virtually slaughtered after one glass though, but she is a lightweight!

[Tequilla6]

One warning. Wine yeasts are not like beer yeasts. They often form a whispy sediment.

I noticed that Simple One, I guess I'm getting a little impatient with the Elderflower champagne myself. As all the fermentation has now stopped I ended up adding some finings to the brew yesterday once it had cooled down and will be racking off again soon. I guess the need for patience on wines is the key and if so I need some more FV's to allow me to keep the brews in storage for longer. I will take your advice although the thought of waiting 8 months

Unfortunately my Elderflower beer is showing the same propensity to haze, will I have to re-fine my first beer or should it be labelled as a Hazy beer

[timothio]

Thought I'd give my Elderflower Champers a quick taste yesterday. I, like stevesmit, went down the HFW route of bottling it after a week with fermentation still in full swing.

I'll certainly not be doing that again, it was absoultely rank, like drinking foul tasting ultra fizzy sugar syrup. Couldnt be arsed to try and sort it out so the remaining 9 bottles went down the sh!tter.

Take heed my friends... If you didnt already know it, I can now confirm that HFW is, in fact, a complete dick.

Think I'll stick to TC's in future, at least you cant go wrong there!

[DREADSKIN]

NEVER Trust a HIPPY! lol hugh strikes again.! lol

[crafty john]

Here's a picture I took of one of my attempts at this last year:



The grubby stuff is on the outside, as were the bottles (I didn't want them exploding in the house).

Try this one (from elsewhere on the forum if my notes serve me correctly):

2kg sugar
3 unwaxed/well washed lemons
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
Lots of elderflower heads
10 litres water

Juice the lemons and put that with the sugar, water and white wine vinegar in your FV. Add the elderflower and quartered lemons in a muslin bag. Let it ferment out (you can fish out the bag after a couple of days) and bottle and prime.

I'm not too sure on priming rates but would hazard a guess at around 6g sugar per litre.

I did 2 batches from the above recepie, one batch I fermented out and then primed with 50 grams dextrose per gallon & bottled in champagne bottles, the brew has cleared but there is an awful lot of sediment in the bottle which clouds the wine a bit when opened, I opened a bottle on saturday and pored it straight in to a jug without disturbing the sediment, it was quite nice but needs more time to mature. I have got 6 bottles turned upside down in my garage to take through the champagne process, I will probably leave it till early winter before I freeze the necks and remove the sediment then I will top up with a bit of elderflower wine from my 2nd batch and refit the corks and wires.

The 2nd batch Is now really clear so I will rack off one more time add some sulphite and leave to mature for 6 months at least then I will make a champagne starter, disolve 65 gram dextrose per gallon add the starter and as soon as it shows signs of fermenting it's going straight in the bottles, leave to mature again for 6 weeks then I will do the champagne thing.

Nice recepie anomalous_result the batch I have left to clear tastes great a a still wine

[leon103]

My partner wants Elderflower champagne for our wedding next year so I thought I would have a little practise this year to get it right. Now I know I am to late for the flower heads but have seen this - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 2759.l1259 Has anyone used dried Elderflower? Anyone have a recipe using them?

[crafty john]

My partner wants Elderflower champagne for our wedding next year so I thought I would have a little practise this year to get it right. Now I know I am to late for the flower heads but have seen this - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 2759.l1259 Has anyone used dried Elderflower? Anyone have a recipe using them?

I don't have a recepie but I do know that you have to be really careful with dried flowers as they are far more pungent gram for gram. I have a recepie for elderflower wine and it says 25g grams for 1 gallon. Hope this helps

[leon103]

My partner wants Elderflower champagne for our wedding next year so I thought I would have a little practise this year to get it right. Now I know I am to late for the flower heads but have seen this - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 2759.l1259 Has anyone used dried Elderflower? Anyone have a recipe using them?

I don't have a recepie but I do know that you have to be really careful with dried flowers as they are far more pungent gram for gram. I have a recepie for elderflower wine and it says 25g grams for 1 gallon. Hope this helps

Thanks. Hopefully someone will have a recipe. How different is making wine to champagne. Total newbie

[crafty john]

My partner wants Elderflower champagne for our wedding next year so I thought I would have a little practise this year to get it right. Now I know I am to late for the flower heads but have seen this - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 2759.l1259 Has anyone used dried Elderflower? Anyone have a recipe using them?

I don't have a recepie but I do know that you have to be really careful with dried flowers as they are far more pungent gram for gram. I have a recepie for elderflower wine and it says 25g grams for 1 gallon. Hope this helps

Thanks. Hopefully someone will have a recipe. How different is making wine to champagne. Total newbie

No diffrence champagne is just a sparkling wine.

[lollypopp]

I suppose you could always de-gas it, then call it wine?

[leon103]

I am going to give this a go using dried elderflowers. Would brown glass bottles be best(heard they are stronger). I was thinking of using swing caps on them. Should I release the gas in the bottles every couple of days to prevent them exploding?

[crafty john]

I am going to give this a go using dried elderflowers. Would brown glass bottles be best(heard they are stronger). I was thinking of using swing caps on them. Should I release the gas in the bottles every couple of days to prevent them exploding?

I use Cava bottles,champagne corks and secure with wire muslets, some people do use swing tops, I would advise fermenting to dryness then adding some priming sugar, that way you can control the amount of CO2 and avoid bottle bombs.

[leon103]

I am going to give this a go using dried elderflowers. Would brown glass bottles be best(heard they are stronger). I was thinking of using swing caps on them. Should I release the gas in the bottles every couple of days to prevent them exploding?

I use Cava bottles,champagne corks and secure with wire muslets, some people do use swing tops, I would advise fermenting to dryness then adding some priming sugar, that way you can control the amount of CO2 and avoid bottle bombs.

Thanks for the reply. How do you ferment to dryness? I have made ales before

[crafty john]

I am going to give this a go using dried elderflowers. Would brown glass bottles be best(heard they are stronger). I was thinking of using swing caps on them. Should I release the gas in the bottles every couple of days to prevent them exploding?

I use Cava bottles,champagne corks and secure with wire muslets, some people do use swing tops, I would advise fermenting to dryness then adding some priming sugar, that way you can control the amount of CO2 and avoid bottle bombs.

Thanks for the reply. How do you ferment to dryness? I have made ales before

Just leave it to ferment right out, SG somewhere near 0.990 but make sure your OG in no higher than 1.075 so that the yeast can ferment the priming sugar, and be careful with the amount of dried elderflowers you use as they are very pungent.

[crafty john]

I have had some elderflower champagne in my garage turned on its head since I bottled it this summer, I am taking advantage of the snow to disgorge and re-cork it so I have some nice clear bottles for xmas, I am freezing the necks of the bottles in a snow and salt mixture so I can remove the encapsulated sediment, top up with some elderflower champagne that hasn't been primed yet then re-cork. Fingers crossed and goggles at the ready I am just off to disgorge my first bottle.

Edit, well my first bottle went completely wrong, I removed the cork and a big lump of sediment dropped to the bottom of the bottle, the next 2 however have worked a treat, just needed to refine my technique a bit, it's the first time I have done this so I am really pleased Nice clear champagne for xmas