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Produce => Drink .... => Topic started by: derbex on June 01, 2005, 14:50:45
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Elderflower champagne -just started some off, here's the recipe :
4 heads of flowers
1.5 lbs suger
1 lemon
1 lime (juice and thinly pared rind both)
2 tbs W Wine Vinegar.
1 gal water.
Start off in container for 2-3days, should be fermenting, then bottle for a couple of weeks.
No special equipment -the container can be a bowl or a bucket (that you'd be prepared to eat out of), the bottles old pop bottles.
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Sounds almost too easy!
Presumably the bottles need to be glass? Or is plastic OK?
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Plastic is better! They stand the pressure better and you don't get covered in shrapnel if they explode. Not only that you can tell how much pressure is in one by squeezing it and letting a little out if you need to.
Jeremy
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Ah ah! That makes perfect sense. Now all I have to do is wait for the elderflowers to come out (very late in our unseasonably cold weather here in the West of Ireland).
Jane
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Do NOT be tempted to add yeast - like our children did.
The jet went over a 30' apple tree!!
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Hee Hee Hee!!! ;D
...What a waste of 'champers'
Debs
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At least they did it outside -I opened a bottle of overfed cider in my parents garage. The only saving grace was that car was out -the cider would probably have stripped the paint off.
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Yippee!
Cordial and champers now both underway ;D
Debs
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Thanks for the timely reminder, 1 gallon now on the go, along with the Rhubarb wine, hic
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This may sound crazy but how does it become sparkly.
Also does it have to be cold water or can you use boiling water, was wondering how the sugar will dissolve in cold water.
And what is the difference between Elderflower champers and cordial??
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The natural yeast on the Elderflowers ferments and produces CO2 & alcohol, the CO2 makes it fizzy. Don't use boiling water on the elderflowers as it will kill the yeast, you can dissolve the suger in some boiling water if you want -then add cold to make up to the gallon, it should be around room temp.
The champagne is a drink of itself -like champagne but not as alcoholic.
The cordial is like orange squash -you add water to taste.
Jeremy
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Do you have to stir the liquid in the bucket everyday or just leave it 2-3 days then strain and bottle
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It's probably better if you stir it, just to get the flavour out, but I didn't stir mine and it tastes fine.
Jeremy
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It's ready -and yummy ;D
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Opened a bottle today ....I know it was 3 days early but hey I couldn't wait to taste it.
There was a little sediment in the bottom which rose quickly up the bottle when it was opened. Sediment looked like pollen.
Husband decided we should strain the champers before drinking which we did but it seems as though all the fizz went with the sediment.
However as my dad always said "don't waste anything" I have now nearly drunk the whole bottle and it's gorgeous.
Is it ok to drink the sediment in the other bottles?
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I have put a bottle of mine in fridge to drink this evening.
Can't wait!
Debs
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...and it was DELICIOUS :P
Very pleasantly fizzy, kids both loved it, so will have to make more ;D
Debs
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I am rather behind everyone else here!
Do you strain out the flowers before bottling or leave them in?
moonbells
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Strain 'em out Moonbells.
Have invented new drink tonight... Gin and elderflower champers.
Its gorgeous! :P
Debs ;)
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ok, i need to get my hands on some flowers then. our local bush is well behind, having been cut back DRASTICALLY last autumn!
btw, the idea with the pop bottles is good - are there any other alcoholic drinks that can be made without any specialist equipment? wouldnt mind trying rhubarb wine but they require demijohns :(
svea
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There's a thread somewhere on making wine without demi-johns. If you ever use those 5ltr water bottles (or know someone who does) you can use one of those instead -although you'll need to drill a hole for the airlock (Wilkos -less than a quid -but you can bodge one with a bit of old tubing and a bottle)
Otherwise beer of one sort or another.
Jeremy
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sueshamen,
don't worry about the sediment -keeps you regular ;D
If the bottle is really cold there should be less fizzing when you open and the sediment will be more likely to stay at the bottom.
Jeremy.
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Hmmm I think my last question is currently a moot point. It's been sitting in the pan for nearly 3 days and there are no signs whatsoever that it's even thinking about fermenting.
I didn't wash the flowers before putting them in the pan, neither was the water boiling, so what is going wrong? Do I need to get some wine yeast or something? Perhaps a small bunch of grapes???
Any advice right now would be gratefully received...
moonbells
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Moonbells. I didnt wash my flowers either and you shouldn't use hot water anyway as this will kill the natural yeast on the flowers.
I followed the recipe here and mine was fine and now sadly nearly all drunk.
Memo to myself ...make much more next year.
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Svea,
You don't need a demijohn for any wine.
Just place a large polythene bag inside a bucket or oither contaner, place the must in the bag, close with an elstic band and gently squeeze the air out.
A lot easier to clean than a demijohn!!
Phil
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Moonbells. I didnt wash my flowers either and you shouldn't use hot water anyway as this will kill the natural yeast on the flowers.
I followed the recipe here and mine was fine and now sadly nearly all drunk.
Memo to myself ...make much more next year.
No, that's what I figured. I just don't think I had that much natural yeast! It looked like it was going mouldy after three days of sitting there (and it was that hot weekend too) so in the end I added a half teaspoon of yeast.
Within a day it was off, and is now fizzing happily in bottles. Not very clear though, thanks to the yeast.
I hope it will be ready in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, the ginger beer has taken over the house... ;D ;D
moonbells
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Keep a careful eye on it Moonbells!!
See previous thread where Tim mentioned that someone in family
had added yeast with dire consequences...
When I made mine, it didn't look at all fizzy sitting in pan, however,
once it's bottled, the fizz builds up.
Best to use plastic pop bottles - a few days after bottling, squeeze the
sides which will feel tight with the pressure of fermentation.
You may need to unscrew the cap slightly to reduce the pressure inside
the bottle!
Hope this helps!
Debs :)
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I have noticed that soem Elderflowers are now starting t get young
small green berries.
This means that I shall ahve to get some wine making equipment, as I
MUST make some Elderberry wine. Having never made wine, I am looking
forward to it.
Debs ;)
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OOps, must be wearing my dyslexic fingers again.
;D
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I made my first batch of E-Champs recently. The other evening I opened the first bottle. There was no fizz, but it smelt lovely so I thought I'd try some anyway. I filled half a tumbler and had a sip. It tasted more like lychees or guava than elderflower - pretty sweet, but not unpleasant.
I had another glass, this time half and half with soda water to fizz it up a bit - equally nice.
I logged on to A4A to report my findings...
Four hours later, my son came home and found me slumped over the computer snoring right off the Richter Scale. He picked me up and carried me over to the sofa where I spent a very pleasant night and woke the next morning feeling totally invincible. :P
I just wanted to say thanks.
;D ;D ;D
PS - I'm opening the second bottle tonight... see you next week!
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Made some lovely champs - thanks for the original recipe - which we've been testing occasionally, in the interests of quality control of course :), but does anyone know how long will it keep? My partner's niece's christening is at the end of the month, and it would be nice to provide a bit of home-made for the party.
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If you're worried stick it in the fridge (if you've space) -that should prolong it. I think it will probably be OK anyway -just a bit drier.
Jeremy
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You don't need a demijohn for any wine.
Just place a large polythene bag inside a bucket or oither contaner, place the must in the bag, close with an elstic band and gently squeeze the air out.
phil,
is this for the first stage, or the second stage, or both?
and how difficult is it to 'decant' the most/wine when you need to?
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If you're worried stick it in the fridge (if you've space) -that should prolong it. I think it will probably be OK anyway -just a bit drier.
Thanks, Jeremy - will try and squeeze it into the fridge. Have just discovered there will be 50 people at this do, so I think I'll have to be creative (!?) and mix it with other things to make some sort of punch.
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Yeukh, don't like it, far too sweet for me, Mother in Law loved it though