Country Wines and Foraging

Cononthebarber · May 20, 2012

Right so have been foraging today and have a plastic bag full of nettles (just the top leaves) and 30-40 elderflower heads...question is which one to make first...I currently have two free plastic bins but I was wanting to reserve on just for beer making only. I think I shall make the elderflower first, heres my recipe:

Ingredients:

2kg Sugar
30-40 elderflower heads
10 lemons
Wine yeast
Water

Method:

Boil 4 litres of water then add the sugar, elderflowers and rind and chopped up lemons give this a mix...put in sterilised bin and top up with 12 litres of cold water. I read somewhere that elderflowers have their own natural yeast so you can leave this for two days and watch for fermentation (if it doesn't start then you can add yeast) leave for 5-7 days and then syphon off everything into another sterilised bin and leave for a further 3-5 days then bottle?

For my nettle wine i will do:

Ingredients:

1 Plastic bag full of nettle leaves (rinsed)
1kg of sugar
2 lemons
150g raisins
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 tsp wine yeast
4.5 litres of water

Method:

Boil the water and then add all the ingredients (except the yeast and yeast nutrient), simmer the mixture for 30 mins and then strain the lot into a demijohn. Top up to top of deminjohn and allow to cool then add yeast and yeast nutrient. Leave for 7-10 days and then bottle.

Do they sound ok? Any suggestions/comments?

Thanks in advance, your help is appreciated! :)

oldbloke · May 20, 2012

DON'T top up to the top of the demi! Just to the shoulder, give it a few days for vigorous ferment stage to die down, THEN top up.
Otherwise you'll have an airlock full of gunge and a mess everywhere.
And I can't see bottling happening sooner than 1 month. Last time I did nettle it was 6 weeks until I racked, then another month beofre I bottled. Nice wine though.
2 lemons might be one lemon too many.

Cononthebarber · May 20, 2012

Ok thanks for that and ok thats longer than expected for the nettle! Will need to free up a DJ for a while then!

oldbloke · May 20, 2012

Wine takes longer than ale. Sad but true. Worth it though. Usually.

Cononthebarber · May 21, 2012

So got my elderflower wine on the go yesterday and have just finished the nettle wine :) I also had a cup of nettle tea while working which was really very nice, never had it before but will definately have again. Its sort of like green tea but with a more light flavour, very nice. Looking forward to the wine now hopefully it will be just as good as the tea!

Thanks for all your assistance! : cheers:

alanywiseman. · May 23, 2012

I racked my nettle wine this week and it is tasting good already, just very sweet. Now just need to leave it to ferment out. While I have been waiting for my nettle to finish I am searching for some elder trees in my fair city of Glasgow. I thought I knew what I was looking for but am now not to sure. I have taken a couple of pictures and wondered if anyone can tell me if this is elder?

Here are the flowers. They have 5 petals but to me it looks like they have more than 5 stamen.

This is the leaves. They have a jagged edge.

I don't think they are elderflowers, there is another tree that has not flowered yet but I thought the elders should have appeared?

Thanks for any advice :thumb:

Moley · May 23, 2012

Not sure what that is, and I'm too far gone at the moment to give a toss or try to find out, but that most definitely ain't elderflower.

Hawthorn blossom?

simon john · May 23, 2012

alanywiseman - I don't think that is Elderflower - there may be other varieties? Here's some pictures of Elder that I picked last year, I haven't tatsed the wine I made yet!

simon john · May 23, 2012

I don't think it's Hawthorn either - some more pictures from last spring's foraging:

Hawthorn

Blackthorn (Sloe)

hedgerow pete · May 24, 2012

its not elder flower but i cant remeber its name, but i do remember its a no no,

simon john · May 24, 2012

I've had a look through my books and I 'think' the mystery flower is Rowan - which is apparently common in Scotland.

alanywiseman. · May 24, 2012

Thanks for all the help : cheers:

It is much appreicated.

I took the dog back to another tree that i thought was elder but had not flowered yet. The buds have just started to open and it definetly is :party: Now I know exactly what i am looking/smelling for I should have better luck finding it.

hedgerow pete said:
its not elder flower but i cant remeber its name, but i do remember its a no no,

I wouldnt think about touching anything that I was not 100% sure about. I would not want to make me or anyone else :sick: or possibly worse....

simon john · May 24, 2012

alanywiseman said:
I took the dog back to another tree that i thought was elder but had not flowered yet. The buds have just started to open and it definetly is :party: Now I know exactly what i am looking/smelling for I should have better luck finding it.

Still waiting for the Elderflower here as well (Dorset) - the smell is definitely distinctive! I think I prefer Elederberry wine to Elderflower but I haven't tried the sparkling version yet as I'm too scared of exploding bottles - I do mix Elderflower wine with Soda water for a refreshing tipple - that's quite nice

alanywiseman. · May 24, 2012

If i can not find anymore trees i am going to wait for the berries and use the berries instead of the flowers as I have heard that it is rather good

Wraeccan · May 24, 2012

Them's is certainly Rowan flowers. Don't know if you can make wine out of them or not. You certainly can out of Rowan berries though, so remember when you saw them and go back later...

:thumb:

alanywiseman. · May 24, 2012

Wraeccan said:
Them's is certainly Rowan flowers. Don't know if you can make wine out of them or not. You certainly can out of Rowan berries though, so remember when you saw them and go back later...

:thumb:

Cheers, that is great to know. I dont think the flowers would make a good wine as they do smeel a bit like cat ****!

alanywiseman. · Jun 6, 2012

Got some elderflower picked this weekend and have made up the must. The yeast is to be pitched this afternoon. Made 2 gallons:

About 1 pint of elderflowers
1.2kg sugar
campden tablet (This is all at the moment)
1 tsp Citric acid
1/2 tsp tannin
1tsp nutrient
Gervin GV3 yeast (to be added this afternoon)

Both batches are the same except the second batch has a tin of White Wine Enhancer added to see what affect it has. If anyone else has any tweeks please let me know and it would be greatly appricated. i am going to try and get another 2 gallons going in the next couple of weeks as i have found quite a few large trees.

Dave Ne · Jun 7, 2012

I have 10 ltr of hawthorn blossom on the go at the moment, they smell nice enough, not too overpowering but on day 4-5 in the bucket they smell fantastic, must be the alcohol bringing the necter out of the blooms, has anyone made this wine and if so, how did it turn out, cheers Dave NE

alanywiseman. · Jun 11, 2012

I have started both elderflower wine and a seville orange wine recently. I have just relised that neither of the recipes that i followed called for tannins. Should I add some? or wait till fermentation is comlete and see?

On a more generally not should tannins be added to all wines with the exception of tea/leaf lines?

alanywiseman. · Jun 13, 2012

Just racked the elderflower wines. Sitting sat 1.070 so still a bit to go but that is not unexpected.

Any advice about the tannins? :thumb:

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