Elder Flower Champagne......New To This.......Please Help

[Werdna]

Hi
Apologies for the long post .
I am totally new to this.
I thought I would have a try at making Elderflower Champagne.

Followed a recipe.

Sterilise everything........
Used around 2 pints of elderflower heads (lightly compressed into a pint measure jug), they was so fresh and fragrant, definitely no bad odours and our kitchen smelled fantastic.
Heated 5ltrs of bottled mineral water and placed in a large plastic fermenting bucket.
Added 4 kg of granulated sugar and stirred until sugar dissolved.
Topped up with 15ltrs of room temp mineral water.
Stirred in a 1 sachet of Champagne yeast.
Added zest of 6 lemons & 2 limes plus the juice and dropped the scrunched lemons and limes into the bucket
Added 6 table spoons ish of White wine vinegar
Added the elder flower heads

Gave the concoction a good stir then initially covered with a muslin.
Could actually hear slight fizzing.

1 week later strained off the liquid through a clean sterile muslin
Placed the mixture into the fermenting bucket with sealed lid and a air lock.

Incredibly active bubbling for a week and was told let the mix ferment out.....took that as meaning to virtually stop bubbling.

No I am embarrassed to say I forgot the mixture for about 2 weeks......family health issue long story.

So now I am wondering what do I do next and have I messed this up.

The mixture smells wonderful and the flavour for me is a to full on strong.

When sampled it has a very strong flavour, not nasty just intense but zero fiz.

Please advise on what best to do now as really would like to have some home brewed Elder Flower Fizz ready for 20th July 24 for my daughters laid back country wedding.

Not concerned about a strong alcohol content and to be completely honest I cant understand a Hydrometer but do have one.

Just looking for fresh tasting glass of fizz and if has an alcoholic kick all the better and to be served chilled.

Not keen on the idea of PET bottles so any advice would be good and based in the UK.

As I say just looking for a fresh tasting cold fizzy drink.

Your advice would be appreciated as the mixture is sitting in the fermenting bucket screaming at me to do something with it.

Best regards

 

[old dog new tricks]

if you want it carbonated you either need bottle prime in bottles capable of holding pressure such as PET or actual champagne bottle that will need the cork and cage, most wine bottles are not made to hold pressure.
To do this you will need to add priming sugar to react with yeast still present, the champagne yeast is goof for that although some say its a bit dry? This method will leave some sediment in the bottle once the yeast is used up will go fizzy if the yeast is still viable should be fine a 2 weeks i would imagine.

other option if force carbonation, will leave to the experts as i do not do this but the most simple method is a soda stream type device or the beer guys have many other ways of carbonating.

It wont go fizzy itself in the FV that just gases created from fermentation, not mentioned degassing as you are looking for fizz but wines do benefit from degassing this is where they are different to beer or cider.

going off topic if you want to age it there is always the option to bottle carb by adding priming sugar and small amount of champagne yeast once it has aged. my understanding id that what champagne yeast is meant for except with a different technique to freeze the sediment in the neck of the bottle that gets removed like plug way above my skills and equipment haha

 

[Werdna]

if you want it carbonated you either need bottle prime in bottles capable of holding pressure such as PET or actual champagne bottle that will need the cork and cage, most wine bottles are not made to hold pressure.
To do this you will need to add priming sugar to react with yeast still present, the champagne yeast is goof for that although some say its a bit dry? This method will leave some sediment in the bottle once the yeast is used up will go fizzy if the yeast is still viable should be fine a 2 weeks i would imagine.

other option if force carbonation, will leave to the experts as i do not do this but the most simple method is a soda stream type device or the beer guys have many other ways of carbonating.

It wont go fizzy itself in the FV that just gases created from fermentation, not mentioned degassing as you are looking for fizz but wines do benefit from degassing this is where they are different to beer or cider.

going off topic if you want to age it there is always the option to bottle carb by adding priming sugar and small amount of champagne yeast once it has aged. my understanding id that what champagne yeast is meant for except with a different technique to freeze the sediment in the neck of the bottle that gets removed like plug way above my skills and equipment haha

Many thanks for your help with this.
I do need to sort out some Champagne bottles, now looking online.

Do you know if taking a fermented out mix and simply adding sugar when bottling will result in a fizzy brew or do I need to add anything else as in a little more yeast or is that a definite no as I am wondering if I have left this mixture too long now in the fermenting bucket as just the odd occasional gurgle can be heard now and again.

Also is there an acceptable way to tame down the flavour of this drink s to me it is quite intense and not the light drink that I envisaged.

Thank you.

 

[old dog new tricks]

You will be fine with the time scale you talked about if you leave it months then it could be an issue.

There are various priming calculators but for a wine bottle a tsp per bottle should do it.

If you can much easier to rack to a new fv add the priming sugar and mix evenly then bottle with suitable bottle and caps and keep at room temp for a week or 2

Generally speaking if you allow it to age it will get smoother take the edge off and allow the flavours to come through.

Other thing to consider if you feel its a bit too much is degassing, some say you do not need to with fizzy wine with still wine it removes that homebrew smell an and twang