Elderflower bubbly

[jonewer]

I need to make something for SHE to placate her a bit, you know, make her think theres somthing in this brewing lark for her.

She loves elderflower... elderflower & apple juice etc etc..

Any recipes out there?

 

[Chris in Lancs]

I know this is quite an old post but it's still on the first page so here goes.

This is a recipe I have just used which produced a, well, lively batch to say the least. I ended up using 18 750ml swing top bottles and 3 or 4 plastic bottles. Once the fermentation had stopped I bottled and added 1/2 teaspoon of sugar to each bottle. Only 3 weeks later 4 of the bottles have exploded despite them being 'suitable' for champagne according to the manufacturer :nono:.

Due to them going bang a bit too much for my liking I've got rid of nearly all of it to save the bottles. Even the plastic ones were starting to deform with the amount of pressure building up, to the point where you could pinch the screw top between your fingers and it would start leaking air. Even when you let go it kept going until the pressure had dropped slightly.

I also used dried elderflower heads which seem quite strong compared to the ones picked from trees (going off what else I've tasted from my neighbours selection of home brew). I currently have 4 bottles left all of which I let all of the pressure out of and they still taste pretty good and fizzy.

If I do another batch next year I don't think I'll be adding anymore sugar to the mixture when bottling.


Ingredients:

2 kg sugar

10 lemons

30 elderflower heads

4 tablespoons of white wine vinegar

1 Packet of Champagne Yeast

Approx 16 Litres of bottled water (or tap water dependant on your water).


Instructions


As normal you need to sanitise and rinse all the equipment.

1. Boil four litres of water and dissolve the sugar.
2. Transfer into a sanitised brewing bin and add top up with water to the 16 ltr mark.
2. Add the lemon juice and zest, the vinegar and the flower heads and stir gently.
3. Add the yeast once cooled to 20c and stir.
4. Cover and leave to ferment for about a week.
5. Strain the liquid through a sieve lined with muslin and syphon into sterilised bottles.
6. Seal and leave to ferment in the bottles for a further eight days before serving, chilled.

If you wish to make smaller/larger batches then adjust the ingredients accordingly. This will make a drink of approx 4% ABV. You may wish to add more Elderflowers dependant on taste and strength of your local supply.

Dried Elderflowers can be used instead of fresh at a conversion rate of 25g/4.5 litre.

Open with care, ideally outside as they do have a tendancy to fizz over, especially if not very chilled. If using glass bottles handle with care in case of explosion. Alternatively use PET bottles or recycled champagne bottles as there is less risk of explosion.

Standard wine bottles are not suitable.

 

[abeyptfc]

did u get that recipe from brewuk.co.uk? i was really interested in trying this, I've went and bought the swing top bottles for it aswell. the recipe doesnt say to prime the bottles so I think i'll leave that out.

what I'm wanting to know is if 25g per 4.5ltr is enough?, I was advised 50g per 4.5 ltr by the shop I buy all my stuff from. is it just down to a matter of taste or have my usual shop got it wrong? are muslin bags essential or can I just put through a sieve?

cheers
mark

 

[metalmickey]

I made Elderflower champs this year and bottled at 1000, which continued to ferment once bottled. I dint need to prime and the sides and tops of the 2ltre pop bottles are bulging.
Ive had to let gas out twice and the bottles are still rock solid when you twang em. I had to let the gas out slowly so as not to stir up the sediment at the bottom.

 

[Chris in Lancs]

did u get that recipe from brewuk.co.uk? i was really interested in trying this, I've went and bought the swing top bottles for it aswell. the recipe doesnt say to prime the bottles so I think i'll leave that out.

Yep, bought my initial stuff from them and only went for the sugar in the bottles due to my neighbour who does home brew saying you had to to get fizzy drinks.

what I'm wanting to know is if 25g per 4.5ltr is enough?, I was advised 50g per 4.5 ltr by the shop I buy all my stuff from. is it just down to a matter of taste or have my usual shop got it wrong? are muslin bags essential or can I just put through a sieve?

I used a bag of dried elderflower heads, 250grams from recollections, for a 23/25ltr mix and the taste was very strong. I won't use that much again in future. Maybe only half to three quarters of a bag as it was quite over powering.

Also the mixture recommended by the recipe only comes out at 4-5% ABV so I think I would increase the initial sugar amount for future recipes.

I used a muslin bag to sieve everything through but I don't see why a decent fine mesh sieve wouldn't be OK.

A ffurther question for people though. Someone I was talking to today said you shouldn't use the same brewing buckets for cider/beer that you do for wine. Why not? As long as they are cleaned properly what's the problem? They wouldn't answer me properly apart from saying you shoudn't?????

 

[BigYin]

I've not tried this, but here's a recipe for Elderflower Champagne I got from a friend at work:

6ltrs water

Juice and zest 4lemons

15-20 full bloom elderflower heads

Spoon o vinegar

(possibly a pinch o yeast, apparently you dont always need it as the flowers have natural yeast)

750grams sugar



Dissolve sugar into 2ltrs of the water hot, then add the remaining 4litrs..then add everything else(not yeast) and cover wi muslin/towel/whatever..

After 2 days check if it looks frothy n mingin! If its not, add the pinch o yeast, give a wee stir, leave again..

After a further 4 days strain it and bottle the lovely jubbly juice, put in a safe explosive place!

After a week you can drink it, I’m leaving a bottle a bit longer to see how it goes, and I left my first drink about 2 weeks instead just cos..it’ll keep for up to 6 months apparently.