Elder flower champagne - batch guidance required

[Ebob01]

Out of interest how many elderflower heads do people use per gallon of Champagne?

There's a recipe on the home brew hop shop website that states don't be tempted to use any more than 3!?

Then I've seen other recipes that state to use 24.

I have the river cottage book which states 8, however on the guardian homebrew hedgerow column there's a recipe by the same guy which states to use 20.

I guess it's all personal taste but will using too many spoil it?

Also do people use boiling water first or a campden tablet?

I'm thinking if boiling water is used maybe less heads are required as this will extract some flavour.

I made some earlier this year using dried Elderflowers which turned out very bitter.

Also do people rinse them to remove the bugs and stuff? I read that getting rid of the pollen reduces the flavour but mine are full of tiny tiny little bugs...

 

[Tony Palmer]

Hi, Depends on the size of the heads . Three large for 1 gallon is OK that's 8 small ones. Don't use boiling water under any circumstances. Have some acid in the sugar solution Citric will do as that aids extraction.

 

[Ebob01]

Hi, Depends on the size of the heads . Three large for 1 gallon is OK that's 8 small ones. Don't use boiling water under any circumstances. Have some acid in the sugar solution Citric will do as that aids extraction.

Thanks, I rehydrated the dried elders I used earlier this year with boiling water so I wonder if that's what extracted the bitter flavour...

 

[ThePhysicist]

I'm going with two batches, one which I'll just let run dry and enjoy along the way, and for the second I'll try a sweetner.

Although after the sugar tax was introduced good luck finding lemonade without added sweetener and reduced sugar.

I know right?! It's a joke. Genuinely haven't seen lemonade with JUST sugar since.

 

[Ebob01]

I'm going with two batches, one which I'll just let run dry and enjoy along the way, and for the second I'll try a sweetner.




I know right?! It's a joke. Genuinely haven't seen lemonade with JUST sugar since.

Ye I'm going to do most of mine dry and some with a sweetener.

I actually found some classic lemonade without sweetener in Sainsbury's, for £1 a litre. All of the kind of artisan cloudy lemonade are just sugar but I reckon they will be too strong and take away from the elderflower bubbly.