Elderberry wine

A forum for winemakers to discuss their craft
Post Reply
Wherryman13

Elderberry wine

Post by Wherryman13 » Thu Aug 07, 2014 8:00 pm

Anyone know roughly how much in weight or volume you would need of fresh elderberries on their stalks you would need to collect for a one gallon brew , just found a large tree that's loaded and ripening off the beaten path and thinking of doing a brew on this when more berries have ripened
Cheers all

User avatar
MarkA
Lost in an Alcoholic Haze
Posts: 592
Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2014 11:26 am
Location: Aberdeenshire

Re: Elderberry wine

Post by MarkA » Thu Aug 07, 2014 10:24 pm

3lb is good for a gallon. It makes a lovely wine but does differ depending on time of year it's picked.

oldbloke
Under the Table
Posts: 1371
Joined: Fri Jul 16, 2010 9:29 am
Location: Todmorden, Wet Yorks

Re: Elderberry wine

Post by oldbloke » Fri Aug 08, 2014 10:26 pm

Best elderberry I've done had:
1kg frozen elderberries, 500g frozen blackberries, 250g chopped(ish) raisins into bucket with 1.7l boiling water
Added 1/2tsp citric 1/2tsp tartaric 1tsp pectolae 1tsp nutrient 1 Campden (crushed)
Yeast was GV4.

So about 3lb5oz total fruit, and the raisins.
3lb fruit (plus some raisins) is my rule of thumb for most fruit-based stuff.
Seems to work

NB frozen as in frozen by me after picking wild, not bought frozen

Wherryman13

Re: Elderberry wine

Post by Wherryman13 » Sun Aug 10, 2014 2:26 pm

Cheers guys just to clarify are you saying 3lb approx. inc the stalks weight or 3lb post stripping the berries as don't want to collect some and tehn find got to go back if its not enough ---likewise don't want to go OTT and then waste some would rather leave some for others
cheers
WM13

User avatar
MarkA
Lost in an Alcoholic Haze
Posts: 592
Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2014 11:26 am
Location: Aberdeenshire

Re: Elderberry wine

Post by MarkA » Sun Aug 10, 2014 4:01 pm

I'd say 3lb approx. inc the stalks. I bung everything into a fermenting bucket, add yeast and water etc, and remove the stalks when mashing and stirring each day. I did remove all the berries with a fork once, at the beginning, but found it tedious, messy and unnecessary :)

Dave S
Even further under the Table
Posts: 2514
Joined: Sun Apr 01, 2012 5:38 pm
Location: Wirral, Merseyside

Re: Elderberry wine

Post by Dave S » Sun Aug 10, 2014 6:21 pm

MarkA wrote:I'd say 3lb approx. inc the stalks. I bung everything into a fermenting bucket, add yeast and water etc, and remove the stalks when mashing and stirring each day. I did remove all the berries with a fork once, at the beginning, but found it tedious, messy and unnecessary :)
I can imagine that the stalks might even add to the taste.
Best wishes

Dave

oldbloke
Under the Table
Posts: 1371
Joined: Fri Jul 16, 2010 9:29 am
Location: Todmorden, Wet Yorks

Re: Elderberry wine

Post by oldbloke » Sun Aug 10, 2014 10:30 pm

God no there's enough tannin in the berries without bunging the stalks in too.
Freeze them and they come off the stalks dead easy

Brewbitz
Tippler
Posts: 27
Joined: Fri Sep 20, 2013 10:23 am
Location: Frome, Somerset, UK
Contact:

Re: Elderberry wine

Post by Brewbitz » Tue Sep 23, 2014 1:35 pm

Try a full carrier bag - like the free ones you get from the supermarket.

That seems to work out at around 3lb of elderberries once you have forked them off the stalks.

happy picking.

Pamula

Re: Elderberry wine

Post by Pamula » Sat Oct 18, 2014 11:00 am

I used about 20 lbs of berries for a 5 gallon batch. The recipe was for "a basic elderberry wind" and came from Wine Maker magazine. I don't think I left them in more than 3 days, but the berries were very small.

jimpy0

Re: Elderberry wine

Post by jimpy0 » Mon Nov 10, 2014 2:49 pm

My dad made Elderflower Champagne years ago using heads, wound up with a couple of bin bags full for a 5 gallon brew. Ended up with 1 bottle after an exceptionally hot summer - the rest exploded in his shed

goodolpete
Steady Drinker
Posts: 35
Joined: Wed Feb 05, 2014 11:56 am
Location: Milton Keynes

Re: Elderberry wine

Post by goodolpete » Thu Nov 13, 2014 3:32 pm

The best elderberry I made was a couple of years ago, when i made
five gall with five kg elderberries, one kg blackberries, and one bottle of
the polish blackcurrant you get at Tescos added at sg 1040 when the
ferment was flying along. Made sugar up to 5,4 kg and used rc212 yeast.

RobWalker

Re: Elderberry wine

Post by RobWalker » Thu Nov 13, 2014 8:50 pm

I used 800g in my last one and after a year it was a lovely table red. How did you get on in the end wherryman?

Wherryman13

Re: Elderberry wine

Post by Wherryman13 » Sat Nov 22, 2014 6:26 pm

Hi sorry slow in replying so much going on at present ..the elderberry wine was made with blackberries and I managed to get 2 gallons in total as follows and also current status at 22/11:
Elderberry and blackberry # 1: started 31st August
2lb elderberries,--2 lb blackberries -- 3lb sugar --2 tsp tartaric acid , 1 vit B tablet , 1 x tsp pectolase, 1 x campden tab, 1 x tsp yeast nutrient, Wilko garvin wine yeast, 5.5 pints cold water.
All berries into FV, crushed them , added the water, campden tablet crushed left 24 hrs.
Next day added sugar,tartaric acid,pectolase, vitamin B tablet crushed,yeast nutrient and yeast, stirred well and covered into warm place stirring daily for 4 days.
Strained through muslin cloth into DJohn and topped up with cold boiled water, fitted airlock and let it go again .
8/9/14 SG was down to 0.099 so racked into new DJ and refitted airlock.
19/19/14 added stabilising solution.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elderberry and blackberry wine # 2:
Started 31/8/14
3lb elderberries, 1.5 lb blackberries , 3 lb BREWING sugar ,1x tsp pectolase, 1x vit B tab, 2 x tsp tartaric acid, campden tablet, 1x tsp yeast nutrient, Wilko garvin wine yeast, 5.5 pints water.
Done as per elderberry / blackberry #1 above
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So both now t at stabilised stage
Do I now degass using the old plastic coat hanger and drill Method ? And then add finings? To clear it down some more ?
Can anyone confirm ?.......

Ps -----surplus of both batches went into an old sterilised pop bottle with a bit more sugar and added some more yeast just a tadge more though in a warm place and was hoping for some kind of elderberry/blackberry type champagne ..certainly the bottle has firmed up making me think I might have a carbonated brew in the pop bottle..will leave it a few weeks and try around Xmas time ......

Brewhunter

Re: Elderberry wine

Post by Brewhunter » Wed Nov 26, 2014 9:55 pm

Hi, it'll clear pretty easily without finings just make sure the fermentation has
definitely finished before you seal it up.

Post Reply