Homemade Wine

[missy mycelium]

Had a few friends over at Christmas so we opened up a few bottles of Dandilion wine and Elderflower Wine. Was that a good nite or what?!?!?!? The Dandilion Wine was made last April, bottled in July. Pretty amazing. It was deceptively strong, slight resinous/waxy flavour. The Elderflower has to be my fave though. It smells flowery and sweet but has an awesome taste. The first time I've made any wine and I must say..........well impressed. My friends went through quite a few bottles. Needless to say I will be having to make much much more this year! :thinkerg: The feeling you get from homemade wine is so different than shop bought stuff. It makes you feel real warm and wobly and you dont get the swimmy, sick feeling of shop bought stuff if you have too much. Maybe its all in my mind because I made it myself. What I do know is, if you have the time, theres nowt like self made wine!!!!!! Go on.............try it!!!!!!!!!!

 

[beachlover]

Had a few friends over at Christmas so we opened up a few bottles of Dandilion wine and Elderflower Wine. Was that a good nite or what?!?!?!? The Dandilion Wine was made last April, bottled in July. Pretty amazing. It was deceptively strong, slight resinous/waxy flavour. The Elderflower has to be my fave though. It smells flowery and sweet but has an awesome taste. The first time I've made any wine and I must say..........well impressed. My friends went through quite a few bottles. Needless to say I will be having to make much much more this year! :thinkerg: The feeling you get from homemade wine is so different than shop bought stuff. It makes you feel real warm and wobly and you dont get the swimmy, sick feeling of shop bought stuff if you have too much. Maybe its all in my mind because I made it myself. What I do know is, if you have the time, theres nowt like self made wine!!!!!! Go on.............try it!!!!!!!!!!

Many people also report that elderflower wine "re-ferments" again at the same time next year as it was in flower when you made the wine. If you keep it that long that is!

 

[missy mycelium]

Ive only got 4 bottles left so I dont think it will keep that long.......... It tastes too oooooo goooooooood. I will take your advice and make a lot more this year but keep some bottles and see.

 

[beachlover]

Ive only got 4 bottles left so I dont think it will keep that long.......... It tastes too oooooo goooooooood. I will take your advice and make a lot more this year but keep some bottles and see.

I have to admit that my information comes from my father, as my wine rarely lasts to the following year either
I also prefer red wine and wait to make elderberry wine.
There is something very special about home made wine in comparison to bought wine though.

 

[missy mycelium]

Couldn't agree with you more!!!!!! Home is better!!!!! Ive got some blackberry and blackberry and elderberry wine from last year waiting to be bottled. Can't wait to taste that lot. Yum Yum!!!! Dads usually know best...they have tried and tested it. My dad used to make beer. My god, I'm sure there was something else he used to add to it, one bottle and it made the wallpaper move.

 

[beachlover]

Couldn't agree with you more!!!!!! Home is better!!!!! Ive got some blackberry and blackberry and elderberry wine from last year waiting to be bottled. Can't wait to taste that lot. Yum Yum!!!! Dads usually know best...they have tried and tested it. My dad used to make beer. My god, I'm sure there was something else he used to add to it, one bottle and it made the wallpaper move.

Common ground on that then. My father is 76 and still makes the best stuff I have ever tasted.

 

[rich59]

Making 5 gallon lots is a good move if you get a recipe that you like and seems reliable. And it lasts nearly twice as long as one gallon!!!!

With your wines do you add some grape concentrate, or keep to the pure ingredients?

I have been making elderberry wines for years, and still crave repeating some of the best batches from years gone by. I stick to just the basic ingredients - 4 lb of fruit to the gallon is my working amount. Some years I try to make each batch from a single bush - which is hard unless you have some very prolific bushes. But, you find you get some interesting wines. Elder varies a lot from bush to bush - the colour, the flavour etc..

In recent years I have discovered the delights and challenge of the rare white elder (see picture at the head). Just one year I made a fabulous delicate aromatic wine, that didn't last long...... One day I will get it that good again.

 

[beachlover]

Making 5 gallon lots is a good move if you get a recipe that you like and seems reliable. And it lasts nearly twice as long as one gallon!!!!

.

A man after my own heart. :You_Rock_

 

[shona]

The Elderflower has to be my fave though.

Missy, what's your recipe for Elderflower wine?
I always plan to have a go with home-made wine, but never seem to get around to it. But I do love Elderflower so I think it would be a good place for me to start
Thanks

 

[missy mycelium]

I like to keep to natural ingredients. I don't like the idea of adding stuff that I don't know 'where it's been' or what is in it. I used the recipe from the Roger Phillips book Wild Food. I have got other recipes but not as simple as that one. You need:

1 pint elderflowers
1kg sugar
450g raisins
juice of 2 lemons
4 1/2 litres water
1 well beaten egg white

Boil water, sugar, raisins, egg white for 1hr
Start yeast (i used general purpose wine yeast)
Leave liquid to cool then add in elderflowers, lemon juice and yeast and leave to ferment in a bucket for 3days
Put into fermenting jar and leave to ferment
When completely clear bottle it and keep for at least 3 months before drinking

The most important thing is to keep everything you use really clean.

Happy Wine Making!!!!!!

 

[shona]

Thanks, I'll give it a go this year

 

[filcon]

Ihad the great pleasure of helping my Italian neighbours make wine.Find out in your community who makes the wine and grappa.Send a PM with address and I,ll describe and show the equipment you need. Filcon

 

[Don Redondo]

try elderflower champagne.....

gallon water, boiled
1 kilo sugar, dissolved into the above
2 - 3 lemons cut into bits and thrown in

once you've done that, go fetch 4 elderflower heads, preferably on a warm sunny day, and sling them in the bucket, give it a stir and put a nice clean cloth over the top. leave a couple of days somewhere toasty and then strain and bottle into plastic pop bottles. store in the cool and drink within a fortnight or so.

a wonderful refreshing 'pop' [slightly alchoholic] with none of those artificial things in it....

 

[Willowbark]

When I was a child my mother used to make elderflower champahne every year. For me, it is the taste of summer

 

[BorderReiver]

A slight cautionary note.

This stuff tastes great but it is still alcoholic,very alcoholic some of it.

Don't forget that when you are driving. :twak:

I know that sometimes I don't realise the state I'm in after "only having a glass or two of home made wine"

 

[Stoker37]

Ive got to agree with BorderReiver you dont realise how alcoholic homebrew is. At least you dont until you stand up, or try too!!

Ive been brewing and wine making since i was a venture scout and i shudder to think how many parties I cant remember becauseof the stuff. but ive loved every drop of it

Too many people dont know how good home made booze is. If more people brewed there own they would spend less time drinking mine!

Cheers

Stoker

 

[Lithril]

How have people got on leave the brews out in the open for the wild yeasts to find? I used to work in a brewery so I've studied this a fair bit. Do you ever get a bad batch? Only reason I ask is that when this was practiced there wasn't quite as much industry etc and the air quality was arguably better, I'd be worried about getting infected? I suppose you could always add some hops. Today hops are added to give beer/ale/lager the bitter taste we all expect, but back in times past it was added for its anti-sceptic qualities... hence people drank a LOT of beer as it was safer than the water!

 

[Warrior Librarian]

How have people got on leave the brews out in the open for the wild yeasts to find? I used to work in a brewery so I've studied this a fair bit. Do you ever get a bad batch?

We tried this last year (with grapes) - it did end up going off, but then some of the grapes had gone a bit too far. I have tried making sourdough bread, and that didn't really work either Mind you, it's quite built up round here, so that may have something to do with it.

Today hops are added to give beer/ale/lager the bitter taste we all expect, but back in times past it was added for its anti-sceptic qualities... hence people drank a LOT of beer as it was safer than the water!

Hops have only been used for the past 3-400 years; brewing's been around a lot longer than that. Beer was preferred because the water used is boiled as part of the process. Of course, if you go straight for spirits, the high alcohol content is the best anti-septic going.

 

[Rebel]

A slight cautionary note.
This stuff tastes great but it is still alcoholic,very alcoholic some of it.

Actually the yeast will die at around 10 or 12% alcohol level. The sugar is what makes alcohol, so with a hydrometer you can know almost exactly how much alcohol is in your beverage.

Too much sugar and the yeast can die early and may referment later, not enough and your wine won't have enough alcohol in it.

Raisins are used to give your brew body, if I remember correctly they contain 3/4 of their weight in sugar.

I'm not sure why people feel more light-headed after drinking a homebrew which may well be weaker than a commercially made wine. It could be because they drink it when it's younger and there is still some activity and carbonation in the brew.

I remember in Bordeaux I drank some of the wine that they still had fermenting in the casks (not something you can buy BTW). This was even younger than Beaujoulais Noveau and it tasted like fizzy grape juice. Anyway that stuff, even though low in alcohol, is so easy to drink and bubbly that it goes straight to your head.

 

[Lithril]

There are some yeasts now sold for home brew of spirits which are supposed to survive up to 35-40% alcohol.