Elderberry Wine ???

[MickyD]

Does anyone have any recipes for Elderberry wine? I have this bigarsed Elderberry tree in my back garden just full of ripe fruit, and was thinking maybe I could do something with it.

Anyone got any recipes or advice on how much fruit I would need to do 1 demijohn worth?

Had a looksee through these forums but can only find about Elderflowers.

[MickyD]

Oopps, I just saw this thread:

viewtopic.php?t=5869

And DaaB has kindly posted a link to a forum for Winos, and it has Elderberry Wine info there.

So cheers DaaB

[Chiltern Brewer]

My Dad found an old bottle of elderberry wine in his garage that he had made years ago - it was still sound and tasted like port!

I've never tried making elderberry wine myself but understand that you don't need to use too many berries as they are strong and bitter, although if you have a cultivar that may be less true. The recipes I have always use less than 1.5Kg per gallon of wine, normally only 900g (2lb).

[steve28755]

Here's my recipe.
3lb elderberries
3lb sugar
1 teaspoon yeast
1/2 teaspoon yeast nutrient
1 teaspoon citric acid
1 teaspoon pectolase
2 campden tablets
Strip berries from the stem with a fork and soak in water, remove any that float to the top. Crush berries with tatey masher and place in plastic bucket with 1 gall boiling water, 1 campden tab and sugar. Stir and leave for 24 hrs to cool. Then add pectolase, yeast, yeast nutrient and citric acid. Stir well. Ferment on the pulp for 3 days, stirring daily keeping the bucket covered. After 3 days strain into demijohn, fit airlock and stand in warm place for 2-3 weeks. When fermentation ceases syphon wine from sediment into 2nd demijohn. Add campden tab. Add fermentation stopper and stir well daily for 3 days to remove all gas. Add finings to clear and bottle. Enjoy.

[lockwood1956]

Elderberries are just too cool for school

here is a link to 115 recipes

with methods to make every kind of wine (all 13,000 words typed by my own fair hands! )
http://www.winesathome.co.uk/forum/show ... php?t=1009

hope this helps
regards
Bob

[lockwood1956]

lol

they are everywhere, just be careful about picking them close to roadsides that are busy, as they seem to be able to pick up toxins (apparently)

Im lucky, we have them in the garden.

[Chiltern Brewer]

Well i've been armed with my food for free book and i'm in the New Forest everyday almost and i'm still drawing a blank, never mind though, this year I will probably concentrate on a blackberry wine as these are everywhere. It'll be my first country wine and I'd like to make it warming and sticky (in the same way a port is) if that's possible?

Hi DaaB, good idea... for a "dessert" style blackberry wine you want 2kg of wild blackberries for each gallon and then use more sugar (~1.25kg) than normal (~1kg) and "dose it" in two batches so as not to overwhelm the yeast. For yeast use a Port / high alcohol tolerant strain. Bad news is that it will take longer to mature...

[Chiltern Brewer]

Just a thought - if you can find any add 200-300g elderberries to the 2kg blackberries for extra richness?

[Chiltern Brewer]

I was driving today at speed on the A361 to Daventry and still saw loads of elderberries on the bushes at the side of the road - they must be about somewhere near you...

Blackberry wine is well worth doing, but if you can't wait buy some cheap brandy or vodka and soak the blackberries in the spirit with a few ouces of sugar per litre (to taste) for a few months, then strain and bottle! Come on get racking!

[Chiltern Brewer]

By "cooking" the fruit you may loose some of the flavour... fermenting on pulp extracts the juice well enough I find (freezing and thawing helps too). If you want a stronger flavour just use slightly more fruit (they're free afterall), but wild blackberries are usually stronger any way.