elderberry imfo required

hello ive just joined you. this is the first time i have ever used a on line forum so please excuse my ignorance when it comes to finding my way round things.
last week we all went out for a family walk and came home with an unplanned 3lb of elderberries and the plan to make some wine. i found a straight forward recipe and followed it. i have taken great care to remove the berries from the storks and pulled out all the floaters. and remembering my student day attempts at making elderberry wine many years ago took great care with cleaning and steralising all equiptment. the only thing that i have done differently is in my eagerness to get the thing done i had to beg and borrow a wine yeast from a friend. the only one she had was a super fast type and all the recipes i have looked at suggest the port/burgandy type. ive gone and done it now and its definitly working but can anybody tell me how adversly this choice might effect the end result.
im planning on trying to do another maybe blackberry or a mixture of the two and this time i will get the right yeast any tips or good recipes to offer anyone

I'm afraid i'm a beer man but i'm sure somebody will be along to help you very soon Welcome to the forum, enjoy

I think Brewstew made an elderberry wine this year :hmm: he'll be along shortly I would imagine, or one of the other wine making members will assist.

Welcome by the way :thumb:

I wouldn't worry too much about the effect of using the 'wrong' yeast, I find that it has much less effect with wines compared to beer (certainly red wines) One of the best red wines I have made was Elderberry made with a general purpose CWE wine yeast . . . . . . The fruit and berry characters from the elderberry dominate the yeast flavour anyway. The 'super stong' yeast will work until it has used up all the sugar and then it will stop . . . it may work a bit better than a Burgundy so the wine finishes slightly drier (not a bad thing with a red wine). Then adding Sorbate and /or metabisulphite (In the form of Campden tablets), will kill/prevent further fermentation.

Be warned that Elderberry is a wine that takes a very long time to age, after 12 years my elderberry resembled a fine St Emillion Grand Cru . . . but at 1/2 years it was undrinkably harsh.

Blackberry wine is a funny one, it starts out with a fine deep red (not the ruby of an elderberry), but this fades rapidly to a dingy brown within 9-12 months, so a wine to keep light (re alcohol, and tannins) and drink young . . . Mixing it with Elderberry would be a mistake.

Recipe wise

2 1/2 to 3lbs Blackberries per gallon
8oz of Red Grape Juice Concentrate
Sufficient white sugar to bring the gravity of the must up to 1.096-1.100 (2 1/2 lb ish)
Pectolase enzyme
4 Pints of water

Ferment on the pulp of the blackberries for 3 days, Rack off the pulp and lightly press, then top up to 8 pints, in a demijohn and allow to finish fermenting.

Rack of the yeast, adding a campden tablet, Rack again after 2-3 months adding another campden tablet . . . bottle when clear. Make sure to top up the demijohn to the neck after racking to prevent oxidation.

I know Wez said i'd be the guy to answer, but honestly i'm not.... yet (thanks for the pointer though wez )

i did my first elderberry about a month ago and only one kit merlot before that.. as for the elderberry i'm surprised you've found some in season as they've all shriveled up around here (northampton).

i followed a recipe i found online and confirmed it with my old dear as she used to be a big fan/maker of fruit wines. it's in the brewday section.

one thing i think i can half confidently comment on though is your yeast, and i think i've got to agree with aleman on this, in that i wouldn't worry about using the fast yeast. but bare in mind (again as aleman stated) you'll be waiting a loooooooong time before the elderberry wine is drinkable. usually (as i've been told by my neighbour who's a big fan of making his own wine, and again by me mam) its tradition to pop the cork of LAST YEARS elderberry wine when you've finished picking this seasons... ie it takes about a year to reach it's best. the recipe i made for which my mother agrees with makes a palatable wine for xmas, but it's still really not at it's best until the end of spring.

my only comment that differs slightly from alemans is to follow the campden pot's instructions of 1 crushed tablet per gallon when you do your first racking. 1 campden for a 5 gal brew wont be enough to stabalise it. edit--- missread alemans post... i thought he said 1 tablet for the whole brew... soz aleman

also when you've racked for the second time (yes it will benefit from two rackings) make sure you swirl the carboy 3 times a day for a week to knock out the gases... you dont want popping/exploding bottles later

BrewStew said:

my only comment that differs slightly from alemans is to follow the campden pot's instructions of 1 tablet per gallon when you do your first racking. 1 campden for a 5 gal brew wont be enough to stabalise it.

Click to expand...

:wha: :? I thought all my comments were for a 1 gallon batch of Blackberry wine :? :wha:

You are right though it is 1 tablet per gallon . . .or if you can get some potassium sorbate follow the instructions with that, as its even more effective as topping fermentation.

And definitely de-gas the wine before bottling . . . its not something I worry about as I I normally leave the wine in a demijohn for 12 months before bottling anyway

soz aleman i was just editing my post when you posted hehehehe

:nono: :drink: :lol:

:lol:

...and yes, i've been drinking infact i'm about to pop the cork off the merlot as i'm typing this.... after 2 months in the bottle, it's bloody lurvely SWMBO gives it the thumbs up too :thumb:

thanks to you guys for your responses. I was kind of hoping the wine would get there somehow. I appreciate that it will take a long time to become a drinker.
Thanks for the blackberry tips. Being a bit of a wholemeal type of person I am very interested in doing recipes with are as basic as possible without adding things like grape fruit concentrate I used to have a really good book years ago with old style recipes in it but got rid of it when i thought id had it with home brew. There do seem to be lots of recipes out there all of a similar ilk. I was wondering about an old granny tip of always throwing in a hand full of raisins, would that work well with blackberries? sorry if im coming across as a total novice - i am.

Raisins are fine, you really do need something to give it a 'vinous' boost, I prefer Grape juice concentrate for the colouring potential.

I've just had a quick skim of Progressive Winemaking and Making wines like those you buy (By Peter Duncan And Bryan Acton) and all of those recipes pretty much include Concentrate, Sultanas or Raisins.

I can't find my copy of Must by Gerry Fowles ( must have lent it out ) to check that one.

Elderberry is known as the poor mans Red Grape though just like Gooseberries are the hairy grape

For a fruit base wine I would try not to go above 1090 as the higher you go you will lose the fruit taste and the wine can become hot and will take even longer before it comes into its own, 1080 would be ideal. use from 4lb up to 7lb of blackberry's for a gallon depending on how full bodied you want it but IMO you don't need to add anything other than blackberries be it 4lb to 7lb it will make a good wine.

:thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

If you go to the lalvin yeast site it has a table on which yeasts to use for styles.