Lilac Wine Brew Along

[British Red]

We are planning on trying a few new and different hedgerow wines this year. I saw John Fenna talking about nettle wine and thought "we haven't made that before". Which of course got me thinking about what else we had an abundance of. So we have decided to try a few recipes for summer wines - this is the first - Lilac Wine - the old song by James Shelton made me think of it

[video=youtube;GcSYJ9Cb0vU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcSYJ9Cb0vU[/video]

I have based the recipe on one posted by the late great Leslie Mann Land - if you want to read ahead, please have a look at the original recipe

http://leslieland.com/2009/05/lilac-wine/

You will need

1 gallon of lilac flowers stripped from the stalks
1.5kg of white sugar
Juice of 2 lemons
Wine Yeast
Yeast Nutrient

First you need to gather a gallon (4 litres) of lilac flowers. Our lilac bushes are perfectly in flower at the moment

White Lilac by British Red, on Flickr

Ours are white - but I'm sure the more normal pink (lilac!) will be as good if not better. The recipe calls for "petals only". I roughly stripped the flowers from the stalk but didn't over worry about the finer green flower stalks

1 gallon lilac blossom by British Red, on Flickr

I put the gallon in a stock pan to infuse - but a large plastic bucket covered with a lid or cloth would work fine.

Next I covered the petals with 3 litres of boiling water

The petals changes to a dull tan colour almost instantly

Cover in 6 pints boiling water by British Red, on Flickr

After 24 hours they have turned the water quite a nice wine colour!

Colour after 24 hours by British Red, on Flickr

After another 24 hours of infusion, I will strain the liquid off and add the remaining ingredients and begin fermentation.

....more later (I'll keep editing this post as we work our way through)

 

[John Fenna]

You have put "lavender" in the recipe not lilac....

 

[British Red]

I always do that - I know the difference between the plants - but I muddle the words

Fixed it now!

 

[British Red]

Right the Lilac blossoms have infused for 48 hours - the must (liquid) is surprisingly dark for white blossoms

Infused Lilac Must by British Red, on Flickr

The next job is to sieve out the blossom. I find a really fine sieve helps - if you haven't got one, line a normal sieve with muslin or coarse cloth

Sieved out Lilac Blossom by British Red, on Flickr

The must really does look dark - especially in a white brewing vessel

Must in brewing bucket by British Red, on Flickr

Next we need to add the rest of the ingredients

1.5Kg of white sugar (I use all sorts of sugars but white is good for delicate flower flavours) is dissolved in 1.5 litres of boiling water.

1.5Kg of Sugar in 1.5L of water by British Red, on Flickr

To this we add the juice of two lemons (yeast needs a slightly acid environment to work properly)

Juice of two lemons by British Red, on Flickr

Remembering to sieve out the pips and pulp

Seive out the pips by British Red, on Flickr

This is poured into the Lilac must and left to cool

While it is cooling I made a yeast starter culture - this is a half glass of lukewarm orange juice (warm water and a spoon of sugar works too), into which Imix a teaspoon of dried yeast and half a teaspoon of yeast nutrient. Generally fruit wines don't need yeast nutrient - but flower wines lack some nutrients yeast needs.

I cover this with a bit of kitchen roll (its a good idea to keep flies away from anything fermenting - they can turn it into vinegar)

Yeast starter culture by British Red, on Flickr

After half an hour its gone bubbly - a sign that the yeast is rehydrated and started fermentation

Completed starter culture by British Red, on Flickr

This is poured into the must and a lid put on

Pour into must by British Red, on Flickr

I make a small label that tells me what I have done - and when I next need to do something (I often have several batches on the go and it helps)

Swing ticket with next brewing event by British Red, on Flickr

In about a week the primary ferment will be done and we will syphon the wine into a demijohn for the secondary ferment.

 

[British Red]

The initial Lilac wine ferment was fairly violent - as can be seen from the "tide mark" left by frothing yeast - but its calm after a week

Lilac Wine Must by British Red, on Flickr

So today the wine was siphoned into a sterilised demijohn

Siphon into Demijohn by British Red, on Flickr

Given this is a small "experimental" batch, I had to tilt the brewing bucket to siphon out all the liquid but leave the sediment

Lilac Wine Sediment by British Red, on Flickr

The label was updated and an airlock added

Updated Label by British Red, on Flickr

I have found the colour changes quite marked with lilac wine. It's quite surprising that a white blossom with white sugar made such a dark liquid initially - but it is lighter now. When infusing the smell was intense, but that is also much reduced now. I'm quite intrigued to see how this turns out!

 

[British Red]

Another month has passed. The fermentation seems complete and the wine has a significant sediment layer

Settling Wine by British Red, on Flickr

The wine was racked off to a clean demijohn

Siphon by British Red, on Flickr

Leaving a thick layer of sediment behind

Sediment by British Red, on Flickr

In order to speed up the settling out of suspended matter I have added wine finings which causes the cloudy stuff to clump and settle

Finings by British Red, on Flickr

 

[Macaroon]

Have you ever found a use for the sediment that's left in the first demijohn?

 

[British Red]

I haven't - but I keep thinking of tring to make Marmite from beer sediment

 

[British Red]

The finings have cleared the wine nicely now - with a clear wine and layer of sediment

Cleared wine and sediment by British Red, on Flickr

I siphoned the clear wine off the sediment

Racking off by British Red, on Flickr

This left a layer of dead yeast etc.

Sediment by British Red, on Flickr

I then ran the wine through a vinbrite filter for a final polish. This isn't really necessary, but it gives a lovely clear finish

Wine Filter by British Red, on Flickr

I use a simple funnel to fill the bottles (you will find some half bottles handy here)

Funnels and wine by British Red, on Flickr

I put the corks in with a corking gun

Corking Gun by British Red, on Flickr

...but a mallet and dowel work fine

Corked by British Red, on Flickr

For a nice finish I put a shrink cap on each bottle

Foil Cap by British Red, on Flickr

Then plunge the neck into boiling water to shrink it on

Foil Cap in Water by British Red, on Flickr

Lastly put a label on and we are done

Sealed and Labelled by British Red, on Flickr

Put them away with all the rest to mature

Wine rack by British Red, on Flickr

But there are always a few left overs when bottling the summer brews..enjoy responsibly

Wine colours by British Red, on Flickr