First Crack At Elderflower Champagne

[AnthonyUK]

I bought this wine kit when they were £15 and didn't like the thought of adding Apple 'flavouring' so used Elderflowers.
It is now bottled in Champagne bottles and smelled/tasted wonderful.
It will probably be ready for the summer..... 2013/2014???

http://uk.camelcamelcamel.com/Cornucopi ... B001ELJKG4

[JammyBStard]

I've only got pure white grape juice, not from concentrate.

I'm thinking maybe put in 2 litres for 4 gallons..?

The Guardian recipe seemed to be quite light - 150ml for 1 gallon.

Anyone got any ideas?

I'm at the sugar over the flowers stage, so not long till I go for the primary ferment & I ain't got a clue LOL.

Read Jammy's recipe wrong & thought it said 9L of grape juice, instead of 900g of concentrate.

hmmm
TBH I used 900g because that's what size tin it came in and i can't see using a bit more would harm it!

If it was me I'd think like this:
I used a Youngs 900g tin http://www.dorsethomebrew.co.uk/shop/ra ... 18506.html
Youngs say to use 900g in 5 gallon for country wine or 1 gallon to make dry white wine. So for country wine like we're making it's a bit more than 20% of the mix.
If we were using pure grape juice to make 4 gallons of wine, I assume we'd use 4 gallons (18L) of juice, so for country wine about 20% ish is 3.6L so I would go with about 3 to 4L of pure grape juice (I like round numbers).

This is all just me thinking though!

Good luck

[JammyBStard]

Bottled the first three gallons today (I've remembered why I stopped bottling beer)


I've gone off plan though! I left it in the demijhon for two weeks and it's gone way under the recomended bottling grav of 1010 to 1000!!!
So I did a back of a fag packet calc and recon I needed to add about two teaspoons of sugar to every 500ml to get it back up. So every bottle has had about 8g of sugar (16 in the big bottle) basically I hope I haven't made bombs.
If any one thinks I probably have, let me know and I'll let the pressure out at the end of the week. Cosmondo; keep an eye on yours and check the gravity after a week in the demijhons!
I've used Bernard beer bottles for most of it; they are very strong; I hope the two lemonade bottles are up to it!
I've put them in the wet room so if any blow it'll be an easy clean-up

[cosmondo]

Well, that's mine been on the ferment for around a week & is now in 4 demi-johns, bubbling away nicely - fairly quickly too!

I think I'll leave it to ferment out completely & then bottle with a teaspoon & 1/2 of disolved sugar in each bottle.

Thinking this is probably the easiest way of reducing bottle bombs & giving a good end product.

Just wondering, if there is a way of deciding how much sugar to add for priming a fizzy wine?

Probably end out chucking it in & waiting to see.

[alanywiseman]

Letting mine clear a bit at the moment but was going to prime it with 7-8g per pint. I have and I have the idea to disgorge it. Has anyone tried this? is it hard?

At the moment i think it looks like a bit of fun.

[cosmondo]

Hi guys,

I reckon mine is now ready to bottle, I've let it ferment out pretty much completely.

How did Jammy & others get on with priming their bottles?

I'm using 750ml Champagne bottles, with the plastic corks & wire cages.

Guessing around 2 1/2 teaspoons of sugar, possibly 3..?

Should I dissolve the sugar 1st in some of the wine, or just chuck it in in granular form. Ordinary white sugar.

How easy is it to put on the plastic corks, only ever done the natural ones & I doubt the plastic one will fit in my wee hand corker from Boots.

Thanks for any replies, much appreciated!!

[far9410]

I would bottle one of these in a plastic PET bottle, then you can tell if the pressure is too much( they turn into balloons)

Can you still get that bernhard dark, tescos used to sell it but no more

[JammyBStard]

Guessing around 2 1/2 teaspoons of sugar, possibly 3..?

Should I dissolve the sugar 1st in some of the wine, or just chuck it in in granular form. Ordinary white sugar.

I'd say about three TSP in a 750ml bottle.

I just chucked mine in Granulated form, but it might work a bit quicker if you disolved it in a small amout of water first and added that to the bottles.

[cosmondo]

Cool.

How did yours turn out Jammy?

Bubbly, nice taste, fizzy ?

I'm going to get a friend of mine, to photoshop me some nice labels with the baby's name birthday etc.. & give them as celebration pressies.

Probably just print them off on pretty good(ish) paper & glue them on.

Anyone tried that before? As usual I haven't !

[cosmondo]

Got it all bottled in champagne bottles, with plastic cork & wee wire cages.

21 bottles.

Let it ferment out till bubbling once every 10 seconds or so, about 2 weeks.

Primed with 3 teaspoons of white sugar, in granulated form.

I'm storing them in 2 cardboard crates, which are taped up & in a cupboard - the crates are on their sides (I read that champagne should be stored on it's side).

I've never used a hydrometer in my life... except tonight.

Reading was almost right at the very top of my hydrometer, reading 99.8

Do people think this is correct? Everything I've seen is in the 100's.

I tasted some that was left over & it's got some fecking kick, I'd imagine very alcoholic.

How can I tell the % vol, I've never ttried doing that before with TC's or Beer Kits, just drank it as it comes.

[AnthonyUK]

I'm storing them in 2 cardboard crates, which are taped up & in a cupboard - the crates are on their sides (I read that champagne should be stored on it's side).

How can I tell the % vol, I've never ttried doing that before with TC's or Beer Kits, just drank it as it comes.

I think it is normally stored on the its side to stop the cork drying out.
You will probably end up with a layer of sediment which will be disturbed like that as traditional Champagne has been through a disgorging process to remove the sediment (stored upside down until sediment has settled in the neck then frozen and ice plug containing sediment removed).

If you know what your starting gravity was then you can work out the ABV.
Most wines finish at <1.000 so .998 is fine.

[crafty john]

Letting mine clear a bit at the moment but was going to prime it with 7-8g per pint. I have and I have the idea to disgorge it. Has anyone tried this? is it hard?

At the moment i think it looks like a bit of fun.

I have done it and it takes a bit of practice, you are better off doing it in the winter when it snows so you can use a snow and ice mixture to freeze the necks, also with the cold weather in the winter more of the co2 is dissolved in the wine so there is less gushing, unless you have a big fridge and the capacity to make loads of ice. There is also all the hassle of reumege which is the process of gradually shaking the yeast down on to the corks, if it where me I wouldn't bother for elderflower champagne, just chill it down, remove the cork and decant quickly and smoothly into a jug and serve from there.

[alanywiseman]

Letting mine clear a bit at the moment but was going to prime it with 7-8g per pint. I have and I have the idea to disgorge it. Has anyone tried this? is it hard?

At the moment i think it looks like a bit of fun.

I have done it and it takes a bit of practice, you are better off doing it in the winter when it snows so you can use a snow and ice mixture to freeze the necks, also with the cold weather in the winter more of the co2 is dissolved in the wine so there is less gushing, unless you have a big fridge and the capacity to make loads of ice. There is also all the hassle of reumege which is the process of gradually shaking the yeast down on to the corks, if it where me I wouldn't bother for elderflower champagne, just chill it down, remove the cork and decant quickly and smoothly into a jug and serve from there.

Thanks for the advice. being in auto poilet when i racked my champange I added campden and sorbate to it!!!! I will need to add more yeast if i want champange now or just stick with wine this year and do champagne next year

[cosmondo]

[/quote]

I think it is normally stored on the its side to stop the cork drying out.
You will probably end up with a layer of sediment which will be disturbed like that as traditional Champagne has been through a disgorging process to remove the sediment (stored upside down until sediment has settled in the neck then frozen and ice plug containing sediment removed).

If you know what your starting gravity was then you can work out the ABV.
Most wines finish at <1.000 so .998 is fine.[/quote]

So with a plastic cork & as I won't be disgorging it, I may as well store as normal sitting vertically..?

I didn't take a starting gravity, is it now impossible to even get a ball park figure?

I pretty much followed Jammy's recipe, except I used a high alcohol yeast - as I didn't have champagne yeast.

I'd really like to get an idea of the %alc vol, as I'm giving them away, normally I don't bother as they're for my own consumption.

Thanks.

[crafty john]

Letting mine clear a bit at the moment but was going to prime it with 7-8g per pint. I have and I have the idea to disgorge it. Has anyone tried this? is it hard?

At the moment i think it looks like a bit of fun.

I have done it and it takes a bit of practice, you are better off doing it in the winter when it snows so you can use a snow and ice mixture to freeze the necks, also with the cold weather in the winter more of the co2 is dissolved in the wine so there is less gushing, unless you have a big fridge and the capacity to make loads of ice. There is also all the hassle of reumege which is the process of gradually shaking the yeast down on to the corks, if it where me I wouldn't bother for elderflower champagne, just chill it down, remove the cork and decant quickly and smoothly into a jug and serve from there.

Thanks for the advice. being in auto poilet when i racked my champange I added campden and sorbate to it!!!! I will need to add more yeast if i want champange now or just stick with wine this year and do champagne next year

If you added potassium sorbate there is no point adding yeast as it won't work, looks like you will have to have elderflower wine, mind you I use a soda stream to make sparkling wine. The process is a bit different to making soda water. Give me a shout if you have a soda stream and I will tell you how I do it without spaying wine all over the place..