For a few years now, I've been promising my wife, mother and mother in law that I'd dedicate a tap on my keezer to sparkling elderflower wine. It's lockdown, so I'm finally getting round to it as have no excuse...
I ordered dried elderflower and am underwhelmed by their aroma. I wasn't expecting in your face freshness and zing as I would expect from fresh, but was expecting a bit more than this. Is this normal? Should I still go for it? Am planning on using 100g in a 20L batch of wine. Happy to buy from a reliable source if anyone has one. I'd love to get my hands on some vacuum packed ones.
Cheers,
Floyd
Elderflower Sparkling Wine - Using Dried Elderflowers
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floydmeddler
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TheSumOfAllBeers
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Re: Elderflower Sparkling Wine - Using Dried Elderflowers
Elderflower should be starting to bloom any day now. You could just harvest fresh?
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floydmeddler
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Re: Elderflower Sparkling Wine - Using Dried Elderflowers
Cheers TSOAB. I didn't think it was this early. Always thought start of June.
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TheSumOfAllBeers
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Re: Elderflower Sparkling Wine - Using Dried Elderflowers
Depends where you live, but when I harvested them, I was always looking out for them from May. Some places they would not show up until late May or June, and blooms can persist into July; but they are best harvested early in the season when there is good weather.
Maybe scottish isles it might bloom later, but down your neck of the woods (Brighton) I would be keeping an eye out for it.
Maybe scottish isles it might bloom later, but down your neck of the woods (Brighton) I would be keeping an eye out for it.
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floydmeddler
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Re: Elderflower Sparkling Wine - Using Dried Elderflowers
Cheers. Fingers crossed!
Re: Elderflower Sparkling Wine - Using Dried Elderflowers
Don't quote me but I believe some people have 'enhanced' the elderflower by using a preservative free cordial such as Bottle Green Elderflower https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/p ... /251631485 might be worth a shot if your fresh and/or dried are a bit duff.
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floydmeddler
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Re: Elderflower Sparkling Wine - Using Dried Elderflowers
I can conclude that that dry is no match for fresh. Did 2 x 10L batches dry/fresh and the difference was immense. I'll never use dry again. I combined the two batches in a corny and 'dry hopped' with more fresh. Resulting 20L is tasting very nice now. Just need to condition for 6 months now!
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floydmeddler
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Re: Elderflower Sparkling Wine - Using Dried Elderflowers
I've heard that too. I like the idea of keeping this batch pure, though. Maybe I'll try that in the future.HLA91 wrote: ↑Sun May 31, 2020 10:18 amDon't quote me but I believe some people have 'enhanced' the elderflower by using a preservative free cordial such as Bottle Green Elderflower https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/p ... /251631485 might be worth a shot if your fresh and/or dried are a bit duff.