Elderflower and Strawberry Cordial-Fermenting?

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mickgall

Elderflower and Strawberry Cordial-Fermenting?

Post by mickgall » Mon Jun 29, 2015 11:22 am

Hi all

can anyone explain what's going on with my elderflower and strawberry cordial.
I prepared some on thurs afternoon 25/6/15 and bottled it Sat night 27/6/15.
Yeterday morning there was a ¼ inch layer of stuff at the top of the bottles. My first thought was that it had gone off but then I thought maybe it had started to ferment.
It had all been sitting on the kitchen worktop,overnight (along with some elderflower ,and elderflower and strawberry which were ok) half a bottle that I'd put in the fridge was fine too. I also heat treated some bottles in boiling water and they weren't so bad.


So I decided
1.to rebottle and filter one
2 put a bit of campden tablet in another.

When I opened the bottles it was like opening a bottle of fizzy drink that had been shook up

This morning after being in the fridge over night they appeared ok although the campden one has a slight change of colour.

So is it fermenting or has it gone off.

Any advice greatly appreciated

Mick
Attachments
2015-06-28 15.35.06.jpg
Stuff at top of bottle
2015-06-28 15.35.35.jpg
heat treated
2015-06-28 15.35.43.jpg
Other cordials
2015-06-28 19.30.09.jpg
fizzy
2015-06-29 10.57.30.jpg
treated bottles campden on left

Bern

Re: Elderflower and Strawberry Cordial-Fermenting?

Post by Bern » Mon Jun 29, 2015 11:35 am

I'm no expert but it looks like it's still fermenting, my elderflower champagne was in the fermenting vessel for 10 days before bottling it.

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jmc
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Re: Elderflower and Strawberry Cordial-Fermenting?

Post by jmc » Mon Jun 29, 2015 2:29 pm

I'd guess its fermenting.

What % sugar is it?

Did you pasteurise it at all during making / bottling process.

I just made a load of elderflower cordial from ~1.3kg florets.
I mashed/ pasteurised them at 85C similar to how I did them last year
Image
.

Initial run off ~ 1:1 water: sugar (8L cordial)

I then rinse with more 85C water as florets still sticky. This 2nd runnings is like a weak cordial.
This second lot had mold growing on it after a week at garage temp.

Cordial will ferment if conditions are OK.
I think it needs high sugar %, acidity and / or pasturization if you plan to keep in at room temp for weeks / months.

mickgall

Re: Elderflower and Strawberry Cordial-Fermenting?

Post by mickgall » Mon Jun 29, 2015 5:00 pm

Thanks for the replies.
It had 50 Elderflower heads, 400gm strawbs, 5 lemons-rind + juice,2 kg sugar, 3lts water
Sounds like it's probably fermenting, which I didn't want.

WalesAles
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Re: Elderflower and Strawberry Cordial-Fermenting?

Post by WalesAles » Mon Jun 29, 2015 8:44 pm

mick,
If this has only had 2 days brewing, your stuff is still fermenting. Get it out of the bottles and back into a FV.
Leave for 10 - 14 days then bottle it if the Hydro is reading the same for 3 consecutive days, should be 1000.
Don`t leave it in the bottles because you will have bombs! #-o

WA

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jmc
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Re: Elderflower and Strawberry Cordial-Fermenting?

Post by jmc » Wed Jul 01, 2015 11:20 am

WalesAles wrote:mick,
If this has only had 2 days brewing, your stuff is still fermenting. Get it out of the bottles and back into a FV.
Leave for 10 - 14 days then bottle it if the Hydro is reading the same for 3 consecutive days, should be 1000.
Don`t leave it in the bottles because you will have bombs! #-o

WA
Mick
I thought you wanted a no alcohol cordial with no fermenting involved?
If so maybe heat-treating any remaining problem bottles would help.

On the sugar front, if you're using sugar as a preservative i think you need cordial to be at least 50% of weight of cordial. You had 3L of water and the strawbs are mainly water. Citric acid helps too but this is probably more appropriate in a straight Elderflower cordial as it would overwhelm the strawberry aroma & taste.

Brewhunter

Re: Elderflower and Strawberry Cordial-Fermenting?

Post by Brewhunter » Sun Jul 05, 2015 8:55 pm

The reason it's fermenting is it was left out in the warm [-X

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