Alternative yeast nutrient for elderflower sparkling wine

[Tanglefoot]

Hi all,
I'm planning a batch of elderflower sparkling wine. I have succesfully made fully fermented out white and red fruit wines many years ago and as I have a spare FV and have seen some croppable flowerheads whilst out walking the dogs I thought I'd give it a go.
I have everything I need apart from yeast nutrient and tannin, I read an article which used 1/2 tsp marmite, yeast extract or malt extract as an enhancer and for tannin half a cup of cold strong tea per gallon.
Has anyone experience of using any of these ? I'll be ordering supplies of both for future use but want to get a batch going now so will most likely give it a go anyhow on a nothing ventured, nothing gained basis.
Cheers !

 

[Mr_S_Jerusalem]

I always use tea for tannin, don’t matter if it’s hot or cold if it’s only a half cup.

Marmite though?! I mean I’ve heard it works but Jesus there are limits right? Marmite in wine?!!??

For me the nutrients have gotta be that nice bottle of shiny crystals lol, not some wierd brown goo.

 

[Drunkula]

Squirt of tomato puree, some boiled up teaspoon of bread yeast per gallon, crumbled random multivitamin tablet.

Don't worry, the tomato puree won't add any colour or flavour and is a very established nutrient.

 

[parpot]

I have done two batches and have another three on the go currently. I just use Wilko Yeast Nutrient and both Champagne yeast and Sparkling Wine yeast.

 

[Hew's Brews]

Weird. I am literally going to make my first batch of elderflower champagne (ahem) today. Off to Wilko's this morning to buy a fermenter as my others are in use.
A friend shared this recipe to me as it has worked for him in the past:

Elderflower champagne
· * 4 litres hot water

· * 700g sugar

· * Juice and zest of four lemons

· * 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

· * About 15 elderflower heads, in full bloom

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 so you have 6 litres of liquid in total.

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 its 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 strong glass bottles with champagne stoppers (available from home-brewing suppliers) or Grolsch-style stoppers, or sterilized screw-top plastic bottles (a good deal of pressure can build up inside as the fermenting brew produces carbon dioxide, so strong bottles and seals are essential)

5. Seal and leave to ferment in the bottles for at least a week before serving, chilled. The champagne should keep in the bottles for several months. Store in a cool, dry place

 

[parpot]

This is the one I use every time:

Elderflower Champagne recipe

30 Elderflowers Heads.
2kg Sugar.
Zest & Juice of 5 lemons.
250ml White Grape Con.
Water to 3 gallons (15 ltrs )
Yeast & Nutrient

OG between 1.062 &1.070, fermented out to between 0.986 & 0.992,

If bottling in glass you MUST use proper Champagne/Cava/Sekt bottles, or you can use plastic pop bottles with screwtops.

Put them in a sterilised FV and thoroughly mix in the dissolved sugar. Leave for about an hour to extract the flavour. Add the water and stir. Add the grape concentrate, yeast and yeast nutrient. Halve and squeeze the lemons, then throw in the peel as well.

Lid the FV with bubble trap and leave for a week, shaking occasionally for the first three or four days.

Remove the bubble-trap and carefully drop in a sterilised hydrometer. It should read around 0.990-0.986. If not, then replace the trap and leave your brew a bit longer.

Once the magic number has been achieved, siphon off into PET bottles, I add half TS of brewing sugar per bottle.

Leave for several weeks to allow the fermentation to add fizz to the wine and clear. Keep the bottle in the fridge then decant carefully into a chilled jug just before serving.

 

[Tanglefoot]

This is the one I use every time:

Elderflower Champagne recipe

30 Elderflowers Heads.
2kg Sugar.
Zest & Juice of 5 lemons.
250ml White Grape Con.
Water to 3 gallons (15 ltrs )
Yeast & Nutrient

OG between 1.062 &1.070, fermented out to between 0.986 & 0.992,

This is pretty much the recipe I ended up putting together for 3 gallons on friday, after the advice at top

1/2 carrier bag fresh washed flowerheads, stalks removed
2kg dextrose
1kg sugar (approx)
.2 kg extra dried spray malt ( wanted to bump up OG, had used everything else up )
4 lemons squeezed/zested
1 cup black tea ( for tannin )
1 cup chopped apricots ( for pectin )
1cup baking yeast/boiled water ( for nutrient )
1 litre grape juice ( for fructose )
squirt tomato puree ( for nutrient )


I adjusted the mix until I had an OG of 1084 and pitched Muntins GV10 sparkling wine yeast at 20 c.
Lag time was about 24 hours and it's now fermenting steadily.
My plan is to rack it off at around 1.010, bottle a third for sparkling wine and put the rest in demi-johns
to carry on fermenting/racking out for a dry wine.
The spray malt was a last minute addition as the gravity was a little lower than i wanted, so hopefully
it'll be a beneficial addition - time will tell !

 

[Hagrid]

I’ve spotted loads of elderflowers too and have a DJ set aside for some wine. Would apple juice work as nuitrent?

 

[Drunkula]

Would apple juice work as nuitrent?

Nope.

 

[Hagrid]

Nope.

do you know why not? I’m happy to try the tomato paste idea, but thought was originally planning on using a juice instead. Obviously not now.... cheers.

 

[Ebob01]

Hi all,
I'm planning a batch of elderflower sparkling wine. I have succesfully made fully fermented out white and red fruit wines many years ago and as I have a spare FV and have seen some croppable flowerheads whilst out walking the dogs I thought I'd give it a go.
I have everything I need apart from yeast nutrient and tannin, I read an article which used 1/2 tsp marmite, yeast extract or malt extract as an enhancer and for tannin half a cup of cold strong tea per gallon.
Has anyone experience of using any of these ? I'll be ordering supplies of both for future use but want to get a batch going now so will most likely give it a go anyhow on a nothing ventured, nothing gained basis.
Cheers !

If you have a Wilko nearby they are open at the moment and sell yeast nutrient. Surely Marmite will add a load of salt, I mean I love it on toast but I'm not sure about putting it in wine. Personally I wouldn't risk the time and effort of a ruined batch on trying something like that...

 

[Applesnmore]

For yeast nutrient - are we not in the realms of vitamin B complexes so the multi vitamin should work. Equally a crushed banana, often added for body but should help on the nutrient front too.

 

[Ebob01]

Also needed is a source of useable nitrogen

 

[Tanglefoot]

This is pretty much the recipe I ended up putting together for 3 gallons on friday, after the advice at top

1/2 carrier bag fresh washed flowerheads, stalks removed
2kg dextrose
1kg sugar (approx)
.2 kg extra dried spray malt ( wanted to bump up OG, had used everything else up )
4 lemons squeezed/zested
1 cup black tea ( for tannin )
1 cup chopped apricots ( for pectin )
1cup baking yeast/boiled water ( for nutrient )
1 litre grape juice ( for fructose )
squirt tomato puree ( for nutrient )


I adjusted the mix until I had an OG of 1084 and pitched Muntins GV10 sparkling wine yeast at 20 c.
Lag time was about 24 hours and it's now fermenting steadily.
My plan is to rack it off at around 1.010, bottle a third for sparkling wine and put the rest in demi-johns
to carry on fermenting/racking out for a dry wine.
The spray malt was a last minute addition as the gravity was a little lower than i wanted, so hopefully
it'll be a beneficial addition - time will tell !

A week later the gravity is down to 1.030, an attenuation of 68% giving current abv of just over 7%.
( Interestingly my Youngs AAA which I started at the same time has fermented pretty much at the same rate,
from OG 1052 down to 1.014 - an attenuation of 72% ).
Although it's been warm I've been able to keep a steady 20 C in my shed as it's very well insulated. At the current rate I'm aiming to rack it off in about 3 days at 1.010 ; 2 gallons into demi- johns to ferment out and 1 gallon into bottles for sparkling wine with abv of around 9.5%.

The smells coming from the airlock are amazing, takes me right back to the 70's and the fine elderflower champagne produced by our 'good life' neighbours !

 

[Hytower]

This is the one I use every time:

Elderflower Champagne recipe

30 Elderflowers Heads.
2kg Sugar.
Zest & Juice of 5 lemons.
250ml White Grape Con.
Water to 3 gallons (15 ltrs )
Yeast & Nutrient

OG between 1.062 &1.070, fermented out to between 0.986 & 0.992,

If bottling in glass you MUST use proper Champagne/Cava/Sekt bottles, or you can use plastic pop bottles with screwtops.

Put them in a sterilised FV and thoroughly mix in the dissolved sugar. Leave for about an hour to extract the flavour. Add the water and stir. Add the grape concentrate, yeast and yeast nutrient. Halve and squeeze the lemons, then throw in the peel as well.

Lid the FV with bubble trap and leave for a week, shaking occasionally for the first three or four days.

Remove the bubble-trap and carefully drop in a sterilised hydrometer. It should read around 0.990-0.986. If not, then replace the trap and leave your brew a bit longer.

Once the magic number has been achieved, siphon off into PET bottles, I add half TS of brewing sugar per bottle.

Leave for several weeks to allow the fermentation to add fizz to the wine and clear. Keep the bottle in the fridge then decant carefully into a chilled jug just before serving.

Hola,

read this with great interest, my question is regarding the elderflowers themselves. . . do you have to take the flowers off or chuck in the whole head including the stalk ?
i have a massive elderflower bush in the garden , and as i already have cider, crabapple wine, sloe and damson gin on the go, i quite fancy a pop at the elderflower wine. I thin ki would have enough to do elderflower now and still some for elderberry something later on this year !

thanks for listening

 

[parpot]

I just cut the flowers off the main stems so no thick stems in but the rest is ok, don't wash them.

 

[johncrobinson]

The tiny stems on elderberrys are VERY harsh.
The stems on elderflowers less so and are often included as they are not mashed up like the berries.

 

[Tanglefoot]

Have racked this off twice more since. Now hovering just over the 1.000 mark and clearing nicely.