Toggle sidebar

Elderberry Wine Journal

  • PATRONS: Did you know we've a chat function for you now? Look to the bottom of the screen, you can chat, set up rooms, talk to each other individually or in groups! Click 'Chat' at the right side of the chat window to open the chat up.
  • Love Gotmead and want to see it grow? Then consider supporting the site and becoming a Patron! If you're logged in, click on your username to the right of the menu to see how as little as $30/year can get you access to the patron areas and the patron Facebook group and to support Gotmead!
  • We now have a Patron-exclusive Facebook group! Patrons my join at The Gotmead Patron Group. You MUST answer the questions, providing your Patron membership, when you request to join so I can verify your Patron membership. If the questions aren't answered, the request will be turned down.
Barrel Char Wood Products
C

chouettes

NewBee
Registered Member
Oct 7, 2010
6
0
0
Hemmingford,Quebec
I've always wanted to make my own homemade wine since ever since I tasted my sister's Dandelion wine. It was delicious. I do my own bread, preserves, jams, maple syrup, etc. I'm lucky to live on a farm in the country; 7 minutes from the U.S. border to be exact. I found a super place near my house where Elderberry trees grow like crazy. Found another site where dandelions grow like a yellow blanket in spring; so that's my other Wine project in spring. I started checking the web for homemade elderberry wine recipes and found tons of recipes and usefull and helpfull sites. I did a lot of research and reading. I decided on a recipe that looked easy and delicious. We bought the equipment I needed. So off we went to pick the elderberries. Here is the Elderberry Wine Journal. Since this was my first winemaking project, I added a lot of reference and details. Sorry if it seems too much. Here we go...

Day 1--Friday 3 Sept. 2010--Wild elderberries picked the day before. Culled 3.5 lbs.X5=17.5 lbs. of fruit. Washed and removed visual debris, strained. Re-visual. Cleaned and sanitised everything I needed.Put the berries in sanitised cotton pillowcase, in plastic pail. Crushed fruit with hands. Tied the bag with an elastic. Added to pail 7 large juice oranges (sliced), 5 lemons(sliced), 5 cans Welch's concentrated grape juice(thawed), 10lbs. sugar. Did not have yeast nutrient so I used substitute of 5tsp. Baking yeast(Fleischman's) in boiling water. The must has a great deal of sweetness and grape flavour. Added 5 crushed Campden tablets dissolved in 1/4 c. hot water. Stirred to dissolve sugar. Added water to 5gal. S.G.=1.092 Brix=22(oBx) Baumé(P.A.)=12.5%(Béo) Sugar content=39oz./gal. PH=?? Don't have a PH meter yet. Covered with cloth and WAIT 48 hrs.

Day 3--Sunday 5 Sept. 2010--Yeast used Lalvin EC-1118 ¨Prise de Mousse¨. Added wine yeast to mix of (1oz. warm water and 1 oz. must). Yeast very active. Wait 15 min. Stirred. Wait 15 min. Added to must. Squeezed bag to let air out. Brought primary to computer room so temp. is easier to control. Temp. 22C to 26C.
5:00pm--Must is fermenting vigourously. Stir twice daily from now on.

Note: Dumped the fruit from the bag directly into the primary because bag was floating on top of must. Stirred.

Day 7--Thursday 9 Sept. 2010--S.G.=1.052. Still fermenting but not as vigorously. Alcohol taste now.

Day 10--Sunday 12 Sept. 2010--S.G.=1.032. Still fermenting slowly. Definite alcohol fruity taste.

Day 11--Monday 13 Sept. 2010--S.G.=1.025. Temp.=25C. Just got Tannin and Peptic enzyme. Added 1/2 tsp. of each. Added 2 tsp. yeast nutrient which I just bought.

Day 12--Tuesday 14 Sept. 2010--S.G.=1.020.

Day 13--Wednesday 15 Sept. 2010--S.G.=1.012. Temp.=22C. Tastes less sweet.

Day 14--Thursday 16 Sept. 2010--TRANSFER TO SECONDARY. S.G.=0.098. Crushed and dissolved 5 Campden tablets to clean 5gal. glass carboy. Strained off liquid from the pulp with strainer. Squeezed pulp to carboy. Added 1oz. oakchips in a sanitised new nylon bag. Fit airlock filled with Sulfite mix. Also made a 750ml. bottle of the rest of the must to use to top off when racking if needed. Bubbling through airlock. Covered carboy with towel. NOTE: Rack off lees in 2 months.

Day 44--Saturday 16 Oct. 2010--No airlock activity.

Day 62--Wednesday 3 Nov. 2010--No airlock activity.......
 
With a gravity reading of 0.980, there won't be much airlock activity.

You'd already completed the ferment in primary. It might have been better to move it to secondary above 1.010 or 1.020

Not to worry, just as long as theres no airspace in the secondary, it will start to settle and for the lees to drop out etc.

I don't follow why you used any sugar in the recipe though, maybe it'd have been better to use more honey instead.......

Otherwise, sounds good.

regards

fatbloke
 
Just some notes/comments.

I'm with fatbloke about the sugar, but this could be because we're both mead makers and are kinda biased towards honey... ;D

With the Fleischman's substituted for nutrients, good idea. I would've maybe used more with a different yeast strain, but because you used EC-1118, sounds like it was fine.

Also, if you wanted to backsweeten (you'd have to taste the must and see what you think) it would be prudent to add sulfite and sorbate to prevent the yeast from starting back up. Based on your OG, the EC-1118 still has a lot of potential to ferment left in it.

All in all, this sounds delicious. :)
 
Using 17 pounds of elderberries in a 5-gallon batch can yield a nice wine. My one concern with your process is that you left the fruit in for a considerable time, and squeezed the pulp. That is almost certain to guarantee a very, very tannic wine. It may require several years to reach a point where astringency and bitterness smooth out, or it may require some sweetening to take the edge off.

I hope I'm wrong.

Medsen
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Barrel Char Wood Products

Viking Brew Vessels - Authentic Drinking Horns

Top Bottom