Greetings from a forum (and brewing) novice.

[0xonian]

Good afternoon everyone and greetings from the glorious Cotswolds.

I'm new to the forum - and to brewing. So here to learn and improve.

Last year I decided to have a go at making elderflower champagne - the first time i've ever (intentionally!) brewed anything, and by happy chance ended up with something half decent. I am currently in the process of brewing this year's 5 gallon batch, improved with the addition of some raspberries and a few sprigs of mint.

I still don't know what I'm doing but whatever it is, it seems to be working. I've taken a reading after 8 days of fermentation of 10.31% ABV and am ready to bottle with a little in-bottle priming.

My tipple of choice is real ale and I'm fortunate enough to live in an area with some excellent local breweries (Wychwood, Hook Norton) and a lively craft brewing scene.

Cheers!

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Welcome to the forum :thumba:

 

[GerritT]

My tipple of choice is real ale and I'm fortunate enough to live in an area with some excellent local breweries (Wychwood, Hook Norton) and a lively craft brewing scene.

Cheers!

Welcome! Wychwood, you lucky you! You already have a book about fermenting and brewing?

 

[Oneflewover]

Spent a few happy years living just outside the Cotswolds in / around Evesham. Worked in Chipping Camden for about 18 months. Really lovely part of the world. Must go back for a visit sometime (outside of tourist season!). Welcome to the forum BTW

 

[An Ankoù]

Welcome to Valhalla.
Before you bottle, what have you brewed that's come in at over 10% in a week? What did you put in it? What gravity does your hydrometer give? Not 1031, I hope.

 

[0xonian]

Before you bottle, what have you brewed that's come in at over 10% in a week? What did you put in it? What gravity does your hydrometer give? Not 1031, I hope.

ha! Thankfully not! I panicked a little when the hydrometer plummeted straight to the bottom of my testing tube to give a minus reading so the head brewer at Wychwood (who is a pal and drinks in my local) very kindly offered to test a sample for me in his lab. He reported that the 50ml sample gave a reassuring pop when opened and reported the findings as follows: RI: 38.46; PG: -4.56; OG: 72.96; ABV: 10.31%

The recipe I am following is from thebrewersdroop site and calls for 1 pint elderflowers & 1 kg brewers sugar per Imperial Gal/4.5l water to give ~10% product. To this I added 300ml grape juice concentrate, a sachet of Lalvin EC1118 champagne yeast, 1 tsp yeast nutrient, 1 tsp citric acid, 1 tsp tannin (cold brewed tea from a teabag). Last year's wine was a little on the dry side so this year I also added a small punnet of fresh raspberries (frozen overnight to concentrate flavour), 200g chopped raisins and a sprig or two of mint from the garden, (and a dash of pectolase to combat fruit haze). I left the must to ferment for a day before adding the picked elderflowers on day two. Then left it to stew away at room temperature for 8 days.

I now have to decide whether to filter and rack to secondary containers (I have enough 5L PET carboys) or to go straight to bottling with a little in-bottle priming to up the ABV to 12% and to increase the carbonation (I'd like some classic champagne string-of-pearls small bubble fizz but not so much froth that half the contents are lost on opening - and obviously no bottle bombs!) I have some proper champagne/prosecco 75cl bottles with corks/stoppers & wire cages and also some 50cL Grolsch-style flip top bottles.

My concern with bottling straight away is that last year this didn't go too well using the basic auto syphon I have. I couldn't get a vacuum, it sucked up all the gunk anyway and what I didn't spray all over the kitchen or myself I ended up drinking directly through a 2' long straw (which was interesting!) before giving up completely and just pouring into the bottles, sediment and all. Still tasted ok though and I finished off the last bottle last week, which still had a decent fizz to it.

I would welcome advice on racking vs bottling and how much brewing sugar to prime with (I think erring on the side of caution would be wise - e.g. 4g/L?). Should I add some metabisulphate to clear the solution if I re-rack? I would guess not as this might kill off the yeast and secondary fermentation/carbonation?

TIA,
0xonian

 

[GerritT]

so the head brewer at Wychwood (who is a pal and drinks in my local) very kindly offered to test a sample for me in his lab.

...

 

[An Ankoù]

...

Next time you see the dear boy, could you ask him what happened to Fiddler's Elbow. My favourite of all the Wychwood beers, which have haven't seen for years and years.