How to Make Elder Flower Wine
Elderflower wine, a sparkling ambrosia-like wine with citrus and muscat flavors, is made from the white and white-yellow flowers of the elderberry plant. An easy wine to make for beginning wine-brewers, elderflower wine should be made from flowers in bloom. Though starter kits are sold through home-brew retailers, much of the equipment needed to ferment elderflower wine can be found in the home. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- 1/2 to 1 pint Elderflowers
- 3 lbs sugar
- 1 gallon water
- 1 orange
- 2 lemons
- 2 cups black raisins
- Wine yeast and nutrient
- 2 to 6 Campden Tablets
- Demijohns
- Airlocks
- Siphon Tube
- Sieve
- Muslin
- Hydrometer
- 6-gallon bucket
- Tea kettle
- Wine Bottles
- Corks
- Corking Machine
- 16 Campden Tablets
- 1/2-tsp. Citric Acid
Instructions
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1
Though not all varieties of the elderberry plant are edible, all elderberry flowers are. De-stem and wash the elderflowers. Remove bugs and moldy flowers. Use only the most fragrant flowers in bloom for the wine.
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2
Peel lemon rind away from lemons. Discard the pith, which can add bitterness. Juice the lemons and set aside. Place the elderflowers, lemon rind and sugar into a 6 gallon bucket.
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3
Heat the water to boiling. Pour the boiled water over the flowers, lemon rind and sugar. Stir vigorously until sugar dissolves. Set mixture and let cool.
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4
Crumble a Campden tablet and add to the mixture 24 hours after it sits. Campden tablets, a compact form of potassium metabisulfite, releases sulfur dioxide when dissolved in juice. Added to the wine mixture (or "must") 24 hours after the mixture sits, Campden destroys wild molds and bacteria in the fruit or flowers before the yeast is added. Additionally, it prevents future oxidation in the wine. Use 1 tablet for each gallon of juice.
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5
Juice oranges and add with the lemon juice and yeast. Juice oranges. Add orange juice, lemon juice and the yeast to the cooled mixture. Cover the bucket and leave to ferment for 4 days. An ideal temperature is 18 degrees Celsius, 64 degrees Fahrenheit, or slightly cooler than room temperature.
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Stir the mix after bubbling ceases. Over the 4 days, the juice will assume a sparkling, effervescent quality. After bubbling stops, strain the particles from the juice.
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7
Strain the juice through a fine sieve or muslin. Siphon the filtered juice into multiple demijohns to ferment. Fit the airlock over the demijohn and leave to ferment for 3 months.
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8
Sterilize jars or wine bottles with a potassium metabisulfite rinse after you run them through the dishwasher. Crumble and dissolve 16 Campden tablets for each gallon of water. Add 1/2 teaspoon of citric acid. Fill each bottle with 3 inches of disinfecting solution and seal the bottles for 20 minutes.
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9
When fermentation stops, rack the wine into clean bottles or jars. Place in a cool, dark room (basement) and leave for an additional few months. Test the wine and rack again until the wine is stable.
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10
Bottle the wine and cap with natural or artificial cork or seal with an airtight seal.
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Tips & Warnings
Though not all varieties of elderberry are edible, the flowers, that range from white to whitish-yellow are. If elderflowers don't grow near your home, some online herb retailers sell the fragrant flowers in bulk.
Campden Tablets can be an irritant if the dust is inhaled. If you have allergies or asthma, use precaution when handling and crumbling the tablets.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit elder black berries and elder wine image by Maria Brzostowska from Fotolia.com elderberries image by Alison Bowden from Fotolia.com Juice and orange image by Mykola Velychko from Fotolia.com
