Making Elderflower "Champagne", the bounty of nature (a pictorial record)

_blank_

So, we're using the HFW method, slightly modified for more volume.

Water
Sugar
Lemons
Elderflowers
Yeast

First step is to go gathering, we found some nice elderflowers down a lane at the back of the airport, St Margaret's direction.



We got WAY more than HFW says, but no problem there.



Back at home, we zested six lemons...



...then juiced them



Added about 1kg of sugar to 3ltrs of hot water, stir to disolve


In went the lemon zest...



...the lemon juice



...and the Elderflowers



..gave it all a bit of a stir



...and then topped it up with cold water, to about 10litres, it was a bit cold then, so added more hot water to make the mixture warm enough for the addition of yeast



At this stage we also added about 2tbsp of White Wine Vinegar, which I don't have a picture of unfortunately.

We then added some yeast (~6gms), HFW says it may not be needed, but after an abortive attempt last year, we didn't want to risk it not taking off with just the naturally occurring yeasts.



Oh, one final picture to show what the brew looks like before the yeast went in, looks ok to me. I didn't taste it though.



Going to leave this for about a week or so, when the bottling is being done, there'll be more pictures.

then, hopefully, some before and after tasting pictures:D

There was a similar (but inferior) brew made over in Degsy's house too.

Degsy

Hows the fermenting coming along?
Mine's stinking out the kitchen with a wonderful aroma.

henryporter

Any update?

_blank_

henryporter wrote: »

Any update?

I think the fermentation finished during the week, but I haven't had time to bottle it yet. Degsy bottled his batch and I've not heard any reports of explosions.

I'll probably bottle mine tomorrow.

Degsy

Yep,i bottled mine on monday and i've just had a look and its completely clear with very little sediment.
Instead of using a syphon i poured the brew from a jug through a strainer and into the bottles through a funnel.
I'll get some pics up soon.

http://yfrog.com/0ekalamata037jx

Edit.
I couldnt resist popping abottle and its flat..i really shouldve primed it at the bottling stage.
It does however have a substantial kick,i reckon its around 6% alcohol.
It tastes great too!
I'm bottlling another batch tommorow so thats gonna be primed,des aint gonna beat me!

ellejay

Degsy wrote: »

Yep,i bottled mine on monday and i've just had a look and its completely clear with very little sediment.
Instead of using a syphon i poured the brew from a jug through a strainer and into the bottles through a funnel.
I'll get some pics up soon.

http://yfrog.com/0ekalamata037jx

Edit.
I couldnt resist popping abottle and its flat..i really shouldve primed it at the bottling stage.
It does however have a substantial kick,i reckon its around 6% alcohol.
It tastes great too!
I'm bottlling another batch tommorow so thats gonna be primed,des aint gonna beat me!

Hi,

I'm going to try making elderflower champange this evening, would you mind answering a few questions for me please?

What do you mean by "primed"?

Did you keep letting gas out? I read on the users tips link from "HFW Method."

Many Thanks,
Lj.

_blank_

ellejay wrote: »

Hi,

I'm going to try making elderflower champange this evening, would you mind answering a few questions for me please?

Good Luck!

It's really simple.

ellejay wrote: »

What do you mean by "primed"?

Primed means that you add sugar to the mix when bottling it, this makes it fizzy

_blank_

btw, I'm bottling my batch today, pics will be provided

hamsterboy

Hey
Being wanting to do this for a while now.
Few Q's
1. I have a demijohn to make it in but I lost the airlock and the bung...... have one ordered but would it be ok to just cap it with something till they get here?
2. How much sugar per bottle should go in to prime it. Also how long in the bottle should it stay?

Regards

HB

ellejay

Des wrote: »

Good Luck!

It's really simple.


Primed means that you add sugar to the mix when bottling it, this makes it fizzy

Thanks for your reply.
Can't wait to get started!

Did you use the same amount of sugar as per the recipe, but don't put it all in the mix, put some in the bottle? If so how much?
OR
Extra sugar when bottling, how much sugar?

Thanks again,
Lj.

ellejay

Des wrote: »

btw, I'm bottling my batch today, pics will be provided

Looking forward to your pics, best of luck.

Antoennis

Hi Lads,

Great pics. Am hoping to do this this weekend. Am wondering what bottles are you going to bottle into? I was thinking normal beer bottles recapped? Would the pressure inside be to much?

Thanks
Anto

hamsterboy

ellejay wrote: »

Thanks for your reply.
Can't wait to get started!

Did you use the same amount of sugar as per the recipe, but don't put it all in the mix, put some in the bottle? If so how much?
OR
Extra sugar when bottling, how much sugar?

Thanks again,
Lj.

a teaspoon of sugar in each bottle before you bottle the wine should be sufficient
This is separate from the sugar you used in the original brewing

HB

ellejay

hamsterboy wrote: »

a teaspoon of sugar in each bottle before you bottle the wine should be sufficient
This is separate from the sugar you used in the original brewing

HB

Thanks for that!

hamsterboy

Ok heres my plan for this evening
bag of elderflowers
1.5 lb sugar
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 gallon of cold water
2 lemons
one tablespoon of wine yeast

so far, identical to the one above.......
After a day or so, siphoned off into demijohn with airlock.
After a week there, bottles into screw top glass wine bottles primed with a tablespoon of sugar each.
After another week..... ready for drinking?

Any comments/suggestions would be great

_blank_

I used some boiling water, topped up with cold water, so it was ~17 degrees, to allow the yeast to start working, it mightn't take in cold water.

hamsterboy

Hmmmmm True That
Might do 3.5 gallons of cold, one of boiling
Seen some guys taking some luke warm water into a small container and activating the yeast in that, is there an advantage in this I wonder????

HB

_blank_

I actually do both. Some warm-ish water with some sugar mixed in, in a small, clean, dish, and sprinkle the yeast on. After about 15-20mins you have the yeast starting to bloom, and I add this to the water+ingredients mix, which is also lukewarm

Degsy

I just botteld another elderflower brew last nite.
I was carefull to prime the bottles with a sugar solution this time as i want to get some fizz.
The method i decided on was to disolve 100g of sugar in hot water and use a 3ml syringe to inject the solution into the brew just before i capped the bottles up.
I found that method much less messy than spooning sugar or sugar solution into the bottles.

Degsy

hamsterboy wrote: »

Ok heres my plan for this evening
bag of elderflowers
1.5 lb sugar
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 gallon of cold water
2 lemons
one tablespoon of wine yeast

so far, identical to the one above.......
After a day or so, siphoned off into demijohn with airlock.
After a week there, bottles into screw top glass wine bottles primed with a tablespoon of sugar each.
After another week..... ready for drinking?

Any comments/suggestions would be great

I really think you shouldve left the flowers and other ingredients in a fermenter untill it was ready to bottle(1 week or so)
Remember its an elderflower brew and the flowers are to provide the flavour,the best way is to let them infuse while fermentation is taking place.
There's no doubt your method will work but it'll be basicly yeast acting on sugar and water!

Antoennis

Degsy wrote: »

I just botteld another elderflower brew last nite.
I was carefull to prime the bottles with a sugar solution this time as i want to get some fizz.
The method i decided on was to disolve 100g of sugar in hot water and use a 3ml syringe to inject the solution into the brew just before i capped the bottles up.
I found that method much less messy than spooning sugar or sugar solution into the bottles.

What type of bottle are you using?

hamsterboy

Degsy wrote: »

I really think you shouldve left the flowers and other ingredients in a fermenter untill it was ready to bottle(1 week or so)
Remember its an elderflower brew and the flowers are to provide the flavour,the best way is to let them infuse while fermentation is taking place.
There's no doubt your method will work but it'll be basicly yeast acting on sugar and water!

Ok so
I will leave the flowers in the fermenter for about a week and then bottle.
Was really wantin to use my demijohn though

HB

Degsy

Antoennis wrote: »

What type of bottle are you using?

A combination of these and ordinary beer bottles re-capped with one of these

Degsy

hamsterboy wrote: »

Ok so
I will leave the flowers in the fermenter for about a week and then bottle.
Was really wantin to use my demijohn though

HB

Dont bottle into the demijon either,it mightnt be strong enough and coul explode.

Antoennis

Degsy wrote: »

Dont bottle into the demijon either,it mightnt be strong enough and coul explode.

I was thinking the swing top one alright. But would your recapped ones be strong enough?

Degsy

Antoennis wrote: »

I was thinking the swing top one alright. But would your recapped ones be strong enough?

There's no reason why not,they're pressure tested beer bottles capped with crown closures..i didnt put a stupid amount of priming sugar in and made sure it had finished fermenting anyway.

_blank_

Degsy, can you drop the equipment up to me?

silliegillie

Ive Done a home brew which Worked Well Wanna try this. I was going to use my Fermentor and that hold about 21 Litres so How Much Eldeflower and sugar should I use ?Also Can I use Bakers Yeast of do i need wine yeast ? What is the Alcohol Volume usually ?

_blank_

I've just bottled mine.

I think 21 Litres is a bit much tbh, unless you want to be drinking it from now til Xmas

I used about three quarters of a Lidl bag of Elderflowers, in ~15 Ltres of water, with a kilo of sugar, used Ale yeast.

I think bakers yeast can be used at a stretch, but all recipes say to use champagne yeast, or no yeast at all, just rely on the natural yeast, but that can be dodgy.

Superdaddy

Hi Lads, just discovered this thread. I made 20 liters last week and have another 12 on the go at the moment. The 20 liters were HFW recipe and were bottled into 500ml swingtop lemonade bottles. Didn't prime them, didn't know anything about it till i read this thread, thanks:). I made a slight modification to the next batch, i used half elderflowers and half wild rose petals. I've no idea how it will turn out, but it smells great at the minute. I added the muslin used to strain the previous batch to the mixture and it kickstarted the fermentation almost instantly. I'm not buying anymore bottles. I'm going to recycle soda bottles, like the 2ltr 7up bottles, I'll prime these, they will handle the pressure no bother. My friend made a batch and has had 7 glass bottles explode already:D. He used swing top beer bottles, not as strong as lemonade bottles:rolleyes:.

Degsy

Well the verdict is just in..my brew tasted better than Des's by an overwhelming majority decision.
I'd like to thank those who voted so sensibly and my thoughts are with des..maybe next year he will produce a better brew

silliegillie

Guys, I have just about half an Plastic bag of Elderflower so What is the recommended Volume of Flower to Water ?Also, Do I need to wash the flowers first, A few crawlies on them

hamsterboy

Well the champers has been transferred to 2 demijohns and will be awaiting bottling in about a weeks time......


Watch this space...

HB

poppyfields

Hi there, very interesting thread. This is my third year to make Elderflower and over here in the West they have just about come to the end of the season. I've been using Coopers ox-bar 500 ml bottles. I hope they can take the pressure as I had exploding sparking water bottles from lidl last year and a two year old trying to lick it off the ground!

I came across these two interesting variations. One is a sparking lime elderflower champagne which I tried last year and is lovely and sharp.Perfect in gin cocktails. The other is rhubarb champagne which I came across yesterday while looking for recipes to use it up. That's brewing away at the moment

http://summer-recipes.suite101.com/article.cfm/elderflower_with_lime_sparkling_drink

http://www.cheap-and-easy-recipes.com/individual-recipes/rhubarb-champagne.htm

_blank_

Degsy wrote: »

Well the verdict is just in..my brew tasted better than Des's by an overwhelming majority decision.
I'd like to thank those who voted so sensibly and my thoughts are with des..maybe next year he will produce a better brew

Tell the truth Degsy. :rolleyes:

Your first batch was such an embarrassment you wouldn't even bring it down to the house, instead bringing the sneaky second batch you'd made. It goes like this;

1. Des Batch 1
2. Degsy Batch 2
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
500. Degsy Batch 1

Degsy

Des wrote: »

Tell the truth Degsy. :rolleyes:

Your first batch was such an embarrassment you wouldn't even bring it down to the house, instead bringing the sneaky second batch you'd made. It goes like this;

1. Des Batch 1
2. Degsy Batch 2
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
500. Degsy Batch 1

Well i ts all about the beer now aint it..havnt tried yours yet!

_blank_

Degsy wrote: »

Well i ts all about the beer now aint it..havnt tried yours yet!

We sampled it the other night

Degsy

Des wrote: »

We sampled it the other night

Oh yeah so we did..mine was better as i recall.

_blank_

Degsy wrote: »

Oh yeah so we did..mine was better as i recall.

Keep on topic please, before I ban you

ellejay

Hi

I ony got around to making my brew last night, but I forgot to buy some White wine vinegar.

Can I add it tonight? What is it for?

I have balsamic vinegar and cider vinegar at home, but don't no if I can use that instead?

THanks,
Lj.

BaZmO*

ellejay wrote: »

Hi

I ony got around to making my brew last night, but I forgot to buy some White wine vinegar.

Can I add it tonight? What is it for?

I have balsamic vinegar and cider vinegar at home, but don't no if I can use that instead?

THanks,
Lj.

I would imagine that the White Wine Vinegar is there to balance out the sweetness, in much the same way that hops are used to do the same (among other things like flavour, preservative, etc.) in Beer.

_blank_

Here it is!

silliegillie

Anybody trying this year ? I had a go last year and it was quite pleasant.

Degsy

silliegillie wrote: »

Anybody trying this year ? I had a go last year and it was quite pleasant.

I'm gonna get some flowers early next week just before they pass their peak,this year i will probably make quite a large batch and experiment with adding some apple or pineapple juice too.

Found a couple of bottles in my wardrobe from last year's batch the other day..god knows how i forgot about em!

sharingan

Made some last year - about 22 litres. Still have some in grolsch bottles. Early brews were a bit rough, and it was my first attempt, and a few beginners mistakes. But when I left it age it was smashing. People keep commenting on it, and its nice to have some mature stuff for summer BBQs.

Going to make more now that I have located a few elderflower bushes close by.

It will be interesting to see how I learned my lessons from last year.

evolving_doors

sharingan wrote: »

It will be interesting to see how I learned my lessons from last year.

Hi hoping to try this late next week if im not too late... any advice on what mistakes to avoid...?

Degsy

Armelodie wrote: »

Hi hoping to try this late next week if im not too late... any advice on what mistakes to avoid...?

The main one is to ignore recipies that call for it to be bottled inside three or four days.

Make sure its finished fermenting even if it tales a fortnight..otherwise it'll gush out of the bottles when you go to open them.

And i'd get a move on if i were you the flowers are already turning into berries!

sharingan

Degsy wrote: »

The main one is to ignore recipies that call for it to be bottled inside three or four days.

Yeah, that was a mistake I made. The elderflower taste got overpowered by the lemons.

I ordered a fermenter so that I can let it ferment away. Also it might give me better options when it comes to removing sediment - my brew has a lot of sediment. One of my bigger mistakes.

You can top it up with bread yeast according to many recipes, but I would be more inclined to activate the natural yeast with warm water first.

Degsy wrote: »

Make sure its finished fermenting even if it tales a fortnight..otherwise it'll gush out of the bottles when you go to open them.

And i'd get a move on if i were you the flowers are already turning into berries!

If you are bottling, use carbonated drinks bottles if using plastic, and drink them young. If you want to mature some, use swing top bottles (like grolsch/flensberger).

Depending on where you are, there are plenty of elderflower bushes about, know where to find them, and harvest quick. I would brew on the day you harvest. Plan on having at least 25 good heads of elderflower for every 10 litres of water.

I would recommend brewing a large batch if you have good stock of bottles to let it mature in. It does improve with age a lot. You will only get one chance this year with elderflower. Its a short season.

poppyfields

I've been making it the last few years and I made 200 litres last year. I drank the last bottle last week. My top tips are always pick on a sunny day and always pick in the morning. I think the flowers always smell like cats wee on rainy days or in the afternoon.

Last year I put a vanilla pod into the brew and I had great results with that. There was a very nice faint taste of vanilla.

This year I was lucky enough to get my hands on 20 of the 1.5litre Grolsh bottles so that made my first brew so much easier to bottle. I've made 50 litres so far but it's been hard to get a sunny morning to pick the flowers.

I bring my sterlised fermenter with me when foraging so I cut the flowers off very carefully with a sissors and put into it so that means I get every bit of yeast on the flower.

Last years brew will be featured in an Irish addition of Come Dine with me so it will be interesting to see what they throught of it!

Degsy

Actually i've noticed there seems to be a delayed flush of elderflowers this year so there's still time to get em!

Mashtun

poppyfields wrote: »

Last years brew will be featured in an Irish addition of Come Dine with me so it will be interesting to see what they throught of it!

I'll keep an eye out fer that