Foraged wines

[oldbloke]

Picking dandelion heads and a bad back (24-7) is not good so i can only wonder what it tastes like, Dave

The trick is to tell your lad he'll get a quid if he can collect half a gallon, and go for the ones on the bank above the wall yourself.

Our neighbour just did a big weedkilling thang on our shared front lawn, waiting on an opportunity to chide him for killing my ingredients! And the nursery down the road mowed theirs down yesterday, tsk. Still, should be enough around this weekend. Although, there is karate and a grand prix to fit in.

I like the taste, but find it hard to describe.

 

[Dave Ne]

Ha Ha, i just have to convince my 30 year old son to work for about 25 pence per hour, there are tons outside my front door but like i said earlier, they are all suspect, now if i could get the GM lobby interested, 4 ft high dandelions anyone,

 

[Brewtrog]

Freezing should work fine as a storage method. Even if the flowers don't physically show signs of freezing, the low temps will stop any nasties from damaging them, and will also stop them from damaging themselves.

 

[BackToBasics]

I kept my first lot of gorse in the fridge for a couple of days and it was fine. Still bright yellow with a pleasant smell.

Boiling the gorse produced a brilliant yellow liquid and the smell once I'd added the oranges and lemons was fantastic. I've high hopes for this one.

 

[graysalchemy]

MMmmmmm how do you make elderberry port? recipe please :)

I think if I remeber rightly I use

per gallon

2lb elderberry
2lb damsons
2lb blackberry
1lb raisins
1 tsp pectinase
2lb of sugar

Have a look here here Basically you use what ever fruit you can ie damsons and blackberries.

:thumb:

 

[Tim_Crowhurst]

MMmmmmm how do you make elderberry port? recipe please :)

I think if I remeber rightly I use

per gallon

2lb elderberry
2lb damsons
2lb blackberry
1lb raisins
1 tsp pectinase
2lb of sugar

Have a look here here Basically you use what ever fruit you can ie damsons and blackberries.

:thumb:

Do you think you could replace the damsons with sloes? I've not yet found any damsons where I live, but there's no shortage of sloes! Plus I know you can make sloe port by steeping sloes in red wine as it matures, a bit like how you make sloe gin.

 

[graysalchemy]

What ever floats your boat it is afterall more a hedgerow port than any particular fruit. :thumb: :thumb:

 

[Gayle]

We had an insane amount of dandelions out this week - did this happen everywhere? I was patiently waiting for them to come out so I could make wine, hardly any for ages and then BAM!! the fields and roadsides were awash with yellow! It was so pretty, with lots of diffetent wildflowers, some I don't think I'd ever noticed before.

And then the council immediately sent out their cronies to mow every grassy area and we're back to boring stumpy green grass Why do they have to do that? Are people so offended by nature? (not us winemakers obviously :lol: )

 

[graysalchemy]

We had an insane amount of dandelions out this week - did this happen everywhere? I was patiently waiting for them to come out so I could make wine, hardly any for ages and then BAM!! the fields and roadsides were awash with yellow! It was so pretty, with lots of diffetent wildflowers, some I don't think I'd ever noticed before.

And then the council immediately sent out their cronies to mow every grassy area and we're back to boring stumpy green grass Why do they have to do that? Are people so offended by nature? (not us winemakers obviously :lol: )

We did also until the council came out in force. :evil: :evil:

 

[Tim_Crowhurst]

I had loads until my mum decided to visit my allotment and before I knew what was happening the whole lot was on the compost heap.

Thankfully I managed to stop her before she got to the nettles. They're one of my favourite vegetables and are only edible for the first few months of the year, so I would not have been very happy!

 

[alanywiseman.]

MMmmmmm how do you make elderberry port? recipe please :)

HERE is my report for the brew. It is still ongoing and will try to keep it up to date.

 

[RobWalker]

MMmmmmm how do you make elderberry port? recipe please :)

I think if I remeber rightly I use

per gallon

2lb elderberry
2lb damsons
2lb blackberry
1lb raisins
1 tsp pectinase
2lb of sugar

Have a look here here Basically you use what ever fruit you can ie damsons and blackberries.

:thumb:

Do you think you could replace the damsons with sloes? I've not yet found any damsons where I live, but there's no shortage of sloes! Plus I know you can make sloe port by steeping sloes in red wine as it matures, a bit like how you make sloe gin.

dont you use a better yeast too? probably worth an investment for something not so easy drinking. sloes and elderberries both need a good bit of ageing, so if you can find a damson tree, it's worth it!

 

[Tim_Crowhurst]

dont you use a better yeast too? probably worth an investment for something not so easy drinking. sloes and elderberries both need a good bit of ageing, so if you can find a damson tree, it's worth it!

I'm not sure "better yeast" is a useful term, you have different yeasts for different purposes. A champagne yeast is good for making sparkling wines or cider, or for restarting stuck ferments, but I don't know that it would be much good for making something like sherry or port. Gervin 5 is good for fermenting at low temps, but if you try that with most other yeasts you'll end up with a stuck ferment.

As far as ageing the wine goes, I'm intending to age any elderberry wine I make for at least five years. I think I mentioned somewhere the idea of making twice as much as you're likely to use and leaving half to mature for a decade or so, and that's what I'll do if I can collect enough berries to make an extra DJ full. I've even got a load of bottle-sealing wax, since that's about the most reliable way of preventing oxidation.

I may need a bigger flat though :lol: