Elderflower wine Kicked off

[PenhowBrewer]

It’s been years since I did an elderflower wine - probably about 30 years
I’ve been reccy’ing elderflower trees over that last few weeks, and so went for it an picked a good few elderflower heads this sunny morning while out walking the dogs(no more than 4 heads from any one tree, though) then sat in the yard snipping the flowers off the stems for an hour after brekkie.
So got 2 gallons on the go, using the trusty CJJ Berry book recipe along with a champagne yeast getting going in the starter bottle.
Kitchen smells great!
Will pitch the yeast in the morning when it’s cooled - it’s so warm today that it’s taking ages to cool down to 20C.

 

[LED_ZEP]

I'm sure you'll be enjoying a nice wine in the near future.

 

[Drunkula]

OOoh, nice. I've got a few of Berry's books, I'll check later if they've got the elderflower. I'm going to do a 50 litre keg of elderflower champagne, keep it about 6%, though. Not going to drink it in 23 days like I did 2 years ago. Yeah, it surprised me when the keg kicked, too.

 

[parpot]

I have 2 Elderflower Champagne brews on at the moment, started the first about two weeks ago and the second yesterday. The first ABV fell from 1.070 to 1.010 in the first 8 days and is now still bubbling away after draining off the flower heads. So I am looking for around a 10% abv wine. The brew yesterday started at 1.062 using the same recipe so will have to see how that turns out!

 

[PenhowBrewer]

So, it was still 21C at lunchtime today, but I wanted to get the yeast in before any wild ‘nasties’ got in.
I added the tannin & nutrient and yeast starter, gave it a thorough stir and took a reading. I thought the hydrometer was sitting higher than I would usually see, and it was reading 1.140!
I gave it another stir, and made sure I gave the hydrometer a good spin, and I’m still getting 1.136.
I have checked the book, and I correctly followed the recipe (i.e just doubled everything to get 2 gallons), so don’t understand why the SG is so high - this works out at around 17% ABV if it ferments right out! It probably WILL ferment right out as I just happened to have used a champers yeast which claims to ferment out to 18%. Just as well, as I can’t stand a sweet wine

The only other thing is that I followed the volume marks on my FV bucket to 10 litres, and they might (hopefully) be a bit inaccurate. Once the flowers and raisins have been strained out, I’ll hopefully have to top up a bit to get the two full demijohns, so that will reduce the density.

 

[Haggisathome]

Lucky bugger , spent Saturday looking for elderflowers .... found plenty of trees but just no flowers , being up the north means we are at least a month behind . But like your self dude have now mapped were the trees are and found loads of wild raspberry patches . Good luck with the brew

 

[parpot]

As I am a beer brewer and this is my first attempt at Elderflower Champagne can any one tell me how much sugar per 500ml bottle I should use to prime for second fermentation?

 

[PenhowBrewer]

I’m making a still wine, so I don’t know about priming.
I have always been a put put off making sparkling wines as it strikes me as a bit complicated.

 

[parpot]

Thanks. I've been reading the Internet and almost every one says do not prime as it will carbonate on its own and could still over carbonate, I have bottled into PETS so I can feel the pressure and if it gets to high, apparently you can burp the bottles gently to get rid of some of the carbonation, so we will see how it goes!

 

[Drunkula]

I recommend brewing out dry then batch priming.

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/elderflower-champagne-when-to-bottle.77500/