ElderFlower Champagne storage/"uncorking" question...

evolving_doors

After bottling/priming what temp do people store it at?

How long till the 1st decent drink?

How long till it nicely matures (the best before date)?

Ta

sharingan

It depends how you make it. If you bottle early you risk having an interesting gas build up. If you are using PET bottles with plastic screw caps, you will need access to the bottles to release gas from them just to keep them safe.

Last year I stored the bottles on my landing. No direct sunlight or significant warmth. Note elderflower introduces its own natural yeast into the mix. Which means that it can probably ferment on a wide range of temperatures.

Many recipes claim that the brew is drinkable after a few weeks.

Last years brew was not decent that early - too sweet by far, and very cloudy. It was only moderately drinkable after 6 weeks. As a result we did not drink much of it, and we stored it in the attic.

When we reopened a bottle around Christmas (~ 4-5 months later), the flavour had matured dramatically.

I don't know how long you can keep it. I have seen reports from various recipes that state that the bottles taste fine out to 2 years at least. My biggest aging concern would be gas build up in sealed bottles (robust ones like grolsh or champagne), gas leaking in plastic bottles, or house party thieves.

evolving_doors

Cheers sharingan

I let it ferment for 2 weeks till hydrometer reading was static for 2 days at 1.000.. I primed with varying mixes of splenda and fruit juice.. so now it;s being stored at about 22 degrees now...