Help With Rose Petals/Lavender

[Beanhead]

I would like to try the lavender and rose petal brew recently posted in the recipe section and my mum has loads in her back garden.

What she has asked me before I go collect is how I want them?

I said picked, washed and then frozen; is this the correct to keep them fresh for my brew?

Beans

 

[Tim_Crowhurst]

I used dried lavender for my wine and it's turned out fine. Since lavender heads don't shrink much when you dry them, you don't have to worry about changing quantities as long as you're measuring by volume.

 

[MichaelTheObnoxious]

I foraged everything the same day... I can't imagine that having them dried would be too damaging / significant... You may find i imparts a slightly stronger flavour...

 

[MichaelTheObnoxious]

How much are you going for? I tried racking off into bottle yesterday... With less that desirable results... After like 3 hours loads of sediment had dropped to the bottom. I've decided to let it run dry before racking off...

@tim: you made rose previously... Am I right in thinking that if I filter this as racking off it'd kill any yeasts...?

 

[Tim_Crowhurst]

@Michael,

The only rose wine I have right now is rosehip, made with several pounds of hips left over from jelly and syrup making last autumn. It should be ready in about 2016

I did hope to make two gallons of rosepetal wine, and had convinced my mother to sacrifice the flowers from one of her favourite bushes as they are particularly fragrant and have a gorgeous deep purplish-burgundy colour that should be fantastic in a wine. Unfortunately the bush got a whitefly infestation and needed spraying just before the flowers opened, so I didn't get any petals. I'll be taking cuttings from it in October so eventually will have several bushes of my own to get petals from. So project rosepetal has been delayed, not cancelled.

 

[MichaelTheObnoxious]

Looks like I'm the trailblazer on this then... I don't think it'd be wise for me to filter it, although I'd love for it to be crystal clear!

 

[godfrey]

I made rose petal fizz about 6 weeks ago

I used a dog rose my neighbour allowed my to strip all the petals

not as clear as I hoped, but plenty of fizz !

BH: just the petals from the roses leave all the hips :thumb:
between 2-3 pints of petals per gallon i used, and have nice colour and flavour
recipes online suggest 6 pints per gallon
as rose can be very fragrant, I did not want to much
I think I have a nice balance, with half the recommended quantity
I made it using the same recipe as elderflower champagne