Dried Elderflower Wine 1

Started 20th May 2012

We have a small packet of dried elderflowers which should make a couple of gallons of a nice white wine. You only need a small quantity of dried elderflowers to make a gallon of wine - depending on the recipe, anything from 1/2oz to 1oz. We've chosen a 1oz recipe. If making from freshly picked elderflowers, you'll need 6x the quantity of elderflowers.

We have made 2 gallons of this wine in separate buckets. We can't guarantee the quantities used are exactly the same, so the two gallons might turn out completely differently. Just have to wait and see.

Elderflower Wine 1
Ingredients:
1oz dried elderflowers
3lb sugar
0.5lb sultanas
8 tablespoons lemon juice*
1 teaspoon grape tannin**
1 gallon water
1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
1 teaspoon white wine yeast

* we have citric acid - one teaspoon citric acid is equivalent to the juice of one lemon - information elsewhere suggests one lemon has about 3 tablespoons of lemon juice - therefore we are using 3 teaspoons citric acid
** we don't have grape tannin, so we are using half a cup of strong cold tea (no milk or sugar) instead

Step 1:
Put elderflowers in the bucket
Disolve sugar in boiling water and pour into the bucket
Simmer the sultanas in water for 30 minutes and pour into bucket
Add lemon juice / citric acid to bucket
Cover and leave for 24 hours

Step 2:
Add tannin, yeast nutrient and yeast to the bucket
Cover and leave for 5 days

Dried Elderflower Wine

Step 3:
Strain into demijohn
Fit bung and airlock, leave to ferment until clear

Step 4:
When the wine is clear, siphon the wine off into another demijohn.
Leave for 2 months

Step 5:
The wine should be clear now and the fermenting should have stopped.
Siphon off into bottles.