Elderflower champagne fermentation.

[Koshington]

Hi, New to this but I have done this brew once before about 10 years ago. I’ve gone full into it this time with a proper 25ltr fermenting vessel, hydrometer & airlocks from Wilko .
I’m following the River cottage recipe (as it’s the one I did successfully before) and this recipe, like others says to strain it off after 6days then bottle it.
My question is this: If I strain it and return it to the cleaned wilko fermenting vessel is this as good as sticking straight into bottles to continue fermenting without the hassle of having to keep‘burping’ the bottles?? Excuse my ignorance but I can find anyone else doing it this way anywhere and it seems logical to me to only Bottle it just before I intend to drink it?!
Any help would be hugely appreciated!
Thanks
PS my hydrometer had a reading of ?35? Where the scale is red and says ‘start beer’ (going to have YouTube how to use it!) When I strained it.

 

[QED]

The reason it’s done in the bottles is that the co2 from the secondary fermentation force carbonates the champagne because there’s nowhere else for it to go. (I didn’t bother “burping” the bottles, just left them to it)
If you stick it back in your FV, the co2 is just going to escape and not carbonate your champagne. I’m assuming your FV is a bucket and not a pressure vessel?

 

[Koshington]

The reason it’s done in the bottles is that the co2 from the secondary fermentation force carbonates the champagne because there’s nowhere else for it to go. (I didn’t bother “burping” the bottles, just left them to it)
If you stick it back in your FV, the co2 is just going to escape and not carbonate your champagne. I’m assuming your FV is a bucket and not a pressure vessel?

Thanks for that my FV isn’t a bucket as such and it’s not going to be pressurised as such as it has hole where the airlock fits. I’ll bottle it now today then. It’s just on the hydrometer it’s not dropping low enough to the ‘bottle’ stage. That’s what threw me. It’s at 0.35 (6%abv) at present.

 

[QED]

Hugh FW’s recipe is great. We used plastic bottles so we could tell if it was over carbonating (hence hugh’s comment about burping them) but they were fine and the end result really was like champagne. Good luck, worth the effort.

 

[An Ankoù]

I’m following the River cottage recipe (as it’s the one I did successfully before) and this recipe, like others says to strain it off after 6days then bottle it.

My blood runs cold every time I see this recipe. Just googled it again to find that the opening lines are: "Quick and reckless recipe: This method for making sparkling elderflower is the one that can result in all that collateral damage"
...and that's River Cottage saying that!
If you're going to follow this recipe, bottle it in PETs. It won't change the flavour of the wine, It'll be a lot safer, and you can check on the carbonation be squeezing the bottles. Pay a little bit more and get some decent PETs; Perrier bottles are ideal.
I've just made 9 litres of elderflower champagne this morning and my recipes quite different. I'll post it on Brewday later on.

 

[Daz29]

My blood runs cold every time I see this recipe. Just googled it again to find that the opening lines are: "Quick and reckless recipe: This method for making sparkling elderflower is the one that can result in all that collateral damage"
...and that's River Cottage saying that!
If you're going to follow this recipe, bottle it in PETs. It won't change the flavour of the wine, It'll be a lot safer, and you can check on the carbonation be squeezing the bottles. Pay a little bit more and get some decent PETs; Perrier bottles are ideal.
I've just made 9 litres of elderflower champagne this morning and my recipes quite different. I'll post it on Brewday later on.

I removed my flowers after 24 hours and ferment for 2 weeks then bottle always works for me

 

[Shirley Bassett]

Two years ago I made 10 litres of EC.

Recipe was 160g of sugar per litre of water.
15 good sized Elderflower heads. I read if you pick them on a sunny morning then contain more pollen / flavour. I pulled the flowers from the stalks using a fork, as you would if they were berries, for wine. I also read that adding too many flowers can make the brew gloopy.
4 lemons zested and juiced.
1 tsp of yeast nutrient.
1 sachet of sparkling white wine yeast. I couldn’t find any champagne yeast, and I’ve had a few bad experiences with natural yeast on pears.

I fermented this for a few days and when the gravity got to 1.030 I strained the brew through muslin.

When it got to 1.010 I bottled it into 1 litre plastic sparkling water bottles. I wouldn‘t put this brew anywhere near a glass bottle.

It kept well for over 1 year.

 

[Koshington]

I’ve bottled it into PETs but I’ve noticed after a couple of days I’m getting a white ‘scum’/froff appearing on the very surface in the centre?!? Any ideas what that is (yeast??)

 

[Drunkula]

My blood runs cold every time I see this recipe.

Me, too! It drives me crazy. Those instructions come from the days of applying leeches, drilling into your head to let out demons and pulling out your teeth because there are worms in them. When I hear of people bottling it that way it's like in films where there's somebody sane watching their friends and colleagues go mental.

Anyone doing the recipe do this : wait for the champagne to FINISH fermenting completely. Get a hydrometer or wait a few weeks.

Work out how much sugar you want for carbonation using this calculator - I like it fizzy and go for 3 volumes and my beer bottles scavenged from everywhere handle that fine but you can use what you want.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

 

[Daz29]

Hi, New to this but I have done this brew once before about 10 years ago. I’ve gone full into it this time with a proper 25ltr fermenting vessel, hydrometer & airlocks from Wilko .
I’m following the River cottage recipe (as it’s the one I did successfully before) and this recipe, like others says to strain it off after 6days then bottle it.
My question is this: If I strain it and return it to the cleaned wilko fermenting vessel is this as good as sticking straight into bottles to continue fermenting without the hassle of having to keep‘burping’ the bottles?? Excuse my ignorance but I can find anyone else doing it this way anywhere and it seems logical to me to only Bottle it just before I intend to drink it?!
Any help would be hugely appreciated!
Thanks
PS my hydrometer had a reading of ?35? Where the scale is red and says ‘start beer’ (going to have YouTube how to use it!) When I strained it.

Hi I leave the flowers , lemons, limes in for 24 hrs remove them then ferment for another 2 weeks then bottle

 

[Koshington]

Great, Thanks for the advice.
Any ideas what this skin is forming in the bottles?

 

[Daz29]

Great, Thanks for the advice.
Any ideas what this skin is forming in the bottles?

Take a picture

 

[Koshington]

Here’s the image requested.
thanks again for your help!

 

[Koshington]

Here’s the image requested.
thanks again for your help!

It’s been in the bottles 3 days - it’s like sediment floating on the top? There is some building on the bottom of the bottle now too.
just worried in case it’s ‘mould’ and has spoilt

 

[Daz29]

Here’s the image requested.
thanks again for your help!

Hi Is that in a bottle or demijohn

 

[Koshington]

Hi Is that in a bottle or demijohn

I strained it through muslin twice and bottled it Saturday. This is the bottle.

 

[Daz29]

I strained it through muslin twice and bottled it Saturday. This is the bottle.

Just wondering if it fermenting again. I wouldn’t worry to much store in a cool place

 

[johncrobinson]

I saw the river cottage series on elderflower champagne
All i can say is its crap
You can tell he has NEVER made wine or brewed in his life

 

[Daz29]

I saw the river cottage series on elderflower champagne
All i can say is its crap
You can tell he has NEVER made wine or brewed in his life

I don’t do that recipe.
I put 5 litres hot water 3 kg sugar top up with 10 litres of cold water 45 flower heads 3 lemon 5 limes 4 tbsp white wine vinegar yeast remove everything after 24 hours and ferment for 2 weeks

 

[Shirley Bassett]

Can anyone tell me the purpose of adding white wine vinegar to elderflower champagne.