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

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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?

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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 ?

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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