elderflower champagne

[sam c]

hello again,

found this recipie on the river cottage web site and had a couple of questions about it and was hopping some one hd the answers.

Makes 24 bottles

Ingredients
About 24-30 elderflower heads, in full bloom
2kg sugar
4 litres hot water
Juice and zest of four lemons
1-2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
A pinch of dried yeast (you may not need this)



1. Put the hot water and sugar into a large container (a spotlessly clean bucket is good) and stir until the sugar dissolves, then top up with cold water to 6 litres.

2. Add the lemon juice and zest, the vinegar and the flower heads and stir gently.

3. Cover with clean muslin and leave to ferment in a cool, airy place for a couple of days. Take a look at the brew at this point, and if it’s not becoming a little foamy and obviously beginning to ferment, add a pinch of yeast.

4. Leave the mixture to ferment, again covered with muslin, for a further four days. Strain the liquid through a sieve lined with muslin and decant into sterilised glass bottles.

5. Seal and leave to ferment in the bottles for a further eight days before serving, chilled.


could i just stick in a couple of crushed camden tablets to kill any unwanted stuff in there and then the next day pitch some yeast?
2kg of sugar sounds like alot. what sort of abv would this create?
can i just use an airlock rather than the muslin?
should i bottle this before fermentation has finished, say at 1.015, so there is some sugar left when i bottle to create some fizz?or let it ferment out and prime with sugar?
any answers to any of these questions would be much apreciated.

[DREADSKIN]

my daddy always said..."never trust a hippy"...

anyway. im gonna try this too, but wond be using a bucket and cloth. it will go in one of those big five gallon sealable buckets you get for beer brewing, but a big fv and airlock sounds even better (and far safer than muslin). the reason why there is loads of sugar is cus he drinks it sweet and young. and he doesnt show all the mess after the bottle bombs have gone off on tv...
im going to ferment it dry and try for 12% so i recon thats 1 kilo per 5 ltrs. then prime in some heavy as shit champagne bottle. my living room is still reeling from the last explosion

and as for camden tabs... hell yeah. i dont trust no 'natrual wild' yeast. kill those blighters and add some tried and tested yeast that we all know that work.

[sam c]

my daddy always said..."never trust a hippy"...

anyway. im gonna try this too, but wond be using a bucket and cloth. it will go in one of those big five gallon sealable buckets you get for beer brewing, but a big fv and airlock sounds even better (and far safer than muslin). the reason why there is loads of sugar is cus he drinks it sweet and young. and he doesnt show all the mess after the bottle bombs have gone off on tv...
im going to ferment it dry and try for 12% so i recon thats 1 kilo per 5 ltrs. then prime in some heavy as shit champagne bottle. my living room is still reeling from the last explosion

and as for camden tabs... hell yeah. i dont trust no 'natrual wild' yeast. kill those blighters and add some tried and tested yeast that we all know that work.

ha ha, your daddy is obviously a wise man

liking your approach to this, i will deffinatley go with the camden tablet and some kind of yeast, the f.v and airlock and probably use 1kg sugar in a 10 litre batch so around 6% and ferment down to 1.000 ( i take it would be possible to get that low?) like i would with a tc, and maybe sweeten with some artificial sweetener(non-fermentable).

[tatlock]

i made an elderflower wine once.
It was a long time ago now but i remember it well because it was totally undrinkable!!!
it smelt like cats p**s and tasted like (i imagine cats p**s tastes like).
hope you have better luck than me!

[DREADSKIN]

aye the aforementioned hippy talked about this in his tv program. he recomended smelling the flower heads first, and if it smells like cats piss throw it out. that could be the reason for your nasty brew...

[lollypopp]

Well the Elder will be out shortly, has anyone got a recipe for the flowers, and the bit about cats pi$$ is a bit worrying? but I would like to make up to 5 gallons, I've got some old boots plastic barrels, the one's with the 4" tops, with the little release valve on them, would it store in there? or am I going to have to bottle?
meant to also say, it's the wine I'd like to make!