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

sharingan

Loobz wrote: »

Its frementing as we speak, however I forgot to take a gravity reading to work out the abv!

Can I still work this out or is it too late?

Not at all - if you are waiting for the Natural Yeast to kick in, it takes a couple of days. It won't have touched the sugar at all. Your SG readings will be virtually identical.

BaZmO*

Armelodie wrote: »

Elderflower 'black lace' seems fine as it's practically the same except for different colour flowers..(others have made it on the net too and can't find any warnings so thats good enough for me)...

Good stuff!

Armelodie wrote: »

My main worry is the need for more sugar.....
If the calculation for the alcohol content the exact same as the beer formula then...

My initial reading (original gravity [O.G.]) = 1.021
My final reading will probably go by other recommendations = .995
Subtracting final from original. 1.021 - .995 = 0.026
multiply this figure by 105. > 0.026 x 105 = 2.73% a.b.w.
multiply % a.b.w. by 1.25 to get a.b.v. = 3.4%

Seems Pretty low to me for a champagne at 3.4%
when you prime the bottles will this up the alcohol content by much if anything? Is it too late to add a bit more juice or sugar now

Any advice greatly appreciated

I’ve never brewed anything other than beer, where the average starting gravity would be around the 1.050 mark and the final gravity at around 1.012, so I can’t really comment on the OG and SG on a champagne style brew, although the numbers do seem similar to those of cider. And using this online calculator the ABV does seem correct.

Armelodie wrote: »

when you prime the bottles will this up the alcohol content by much if anything?

No, as the purpose of priming is to give just enough food to the yeast to produce CO2 to carbonate the drink. But you need to make sure you've reached the FG before bottling or you risk bottle bombs/explosions

Armelodie wrote: »

Is it too late to add a bit more juice or sugar now

No. The yeast will just keep munching away at the food source until it’s either, all eaten up, or the alcohol content becomes too high for the yeast to survive.

Loobz wrote: »

Hi all,

I decided to give this a go. I used Degsys recipe as a base. But i added rose petals (that smell like yellow bob bons!), honeysuckle blossoms and a small drop of apple cider vinegar.

Its frementing as we speak, however I forgot to take a gravity reading to work out the abv!

Can I still work this out or is it too late?

Thanks.

You should be able to calculate the OG of your brew by using one of the maybe brewing calculators available

Loobz

sharingan wrote: »

Not at all - if you are waiting for the Natural Yeast to kick in, it takes a couple of days. It won't have touched the sugar at all. Your SG readings will be virtually identical.

Thanks for the advice but I added yeast to it, so its been frementing for 2 days now. I thought you have to take a reading before adding yeast?

BaZmO*

Loobz wrote: »

I thought you have to take a reading before adding yeast?

You do.

With beer, the most vigorous amount of fermentation occurs within the first 2 days so taking a reading after then would be pointless.

Loobz

BaZmO* wrote: »

You do.

With beer, the most vigorous amount of fermentation occurs within the first 2 days so taking a reading after then would be pointless.

Damn. Now I wont know how strong (or weak) it will be. Oh well, so long as it tastes nice!

BaZmO*

Loobz wrote: »

Damn. Now I wont know how strong (or weak) it will be. Oh well, so long as it tastes nice!

You can take a guestimate by doing a quick calculation of ingredients used in your recipe.

Loobz

BaZmO* wrote: »

You can take a guestimate by doing a quick calculation of ingredients used in your recipe.

Ok,

1 kg sugar
12 litres water
6 lemons juiced and zested
6g yeast
15-20 elderflower heads
20 honeysuckle blossoms
3 rose blossoms
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

How should I guistimate this? Thanks for the help and dont want to hijack thread.

evolving_doors

Cheers Bazmo... I might just throw a bit more sugar in
No real foaming going on that i'm used to but a hell of a lot of fizzing sounds .. is this fermentation?

BaZmO*

Loobz wrote: »

Ok,

1 kg sugar
12 litres water
6 lemons juiced and zested
6g yeast
15-20 elderflower heads
20 honeysuckle blossoms
3 rose blossoms
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

How should I guistimate this? Thanks for the help and dont want to hijack thread.

I don't have the exact fermentable value for Table Sugar but I'd say it's close enough to Light Brown Sugar.

Plugging that recipe into QBrew, only the Water and Sugar are relevant, it gives a starting gravity of 1.032.

Now, if you reckon that you'll get down to 0.995 FG that'll give you an ABV of 4.9%

Armelodie wrote: »

No real foaming going on that i'm used to but a hell of a lot of fizzing sounds .. is this fermentation?

I would imagine that using sugar wouldn't really promote a lot of foaming, so I reckon fermentation has started. Only true way to know for sure is to take Hydrometer readings.

evolving_doors

BaZmO* wrote: »

I would imagine that using sugar wouldn't really promote a lot of foaming, so I reckon fermentation has started. Only true way to know for sure is to take Hydrometer readings.

Ya hydrometer reading has dropped from 1020 to 1015 so defo something happening, (and still fizzing)
i chucked in another sachet of yeast and 500ml of apple juce two days ago also (dont think it'll make much of a difference).
i reckon next time I'll use a hell of a lot more Elderflower heads with a little less water and a litre of grape juice too.

sharingan

My elderflower brew took a while to get started, but Carbonation has really increased in the last day or two (about 3x). The smell is gorgeous too.

When I bottle, I might try a secondary fermentation to boost the alcohol, perhaps with a more robust yeast (I am just using the natural yeast ATM).

It really took a while to get started, and a very vigorous stir to get air into it.