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gil
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Joined: 08 Jun 2005
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 Posted: Wed Jun 16, 10 7:38 pm Post subject: Champagne-style wine from flowers / leaves e.g. elderflower |
 
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Gil's Flower or Leaf Champagne
I should point out that this recipe will produce a full-on 'methode champenoise' wine, rather than a slightly alcoholic fizzy drink. Its alcohol content ends up about 10-11%, and it is dry.
You will eventually need to bottle it in proper glass champagne bottles, rather than a plastic fizzy drinks bottle.
Ingredients
1.5 pints elderflowers / 4-6 pints broom flowers / 3 pints nettle tips
1lb 9oz sugar
juice of 1 lemon
1 litre white grape juice
1/3 mug black tea (pot dregs)
wine yeast
Method
OK, here's the proper method to do a flower champagne. Requires a bit of forethought, because you start the fermentation, and add the flowers after (rather than both at the same time). But you can add the flowers as you start, so don't worry.
1. Boil 2 pints water and dissolve the sugar in it. Allow to cool to finger-warm.
2. Put into a plastic fermentation bucket, and add the grape juice, lemon juice and tea.
3. Make a yeast starter, and add to bucket
Making a yeast starter
Does everyone know what a yeast starter is ?
If not, it's this :
a. Boil some water, and fill a mug about 1/4 full.
b. Add a teaspoon of sugar and stir to dissolve
c. Add cold water to about 1/2 mug
d. Stick your finger in - it should feel tepid
e. If it is, add 1 teaspoon of yeast, and put in a warm place for 30 minutes to start working
f. Add it to your wine mix in the bucket
Back to the recipe...
4. When the yeast is working, leave the bucket in a warm place for 2-3 days to get the most vigorous bit over with.
5. Go and pick the flowers.
6. Put them in a muslin bag / jelly bag or what ever, tied up with string, and suspended in the liquid.
7. The bag will float. Sterilise a heavy plate and put it on top to weight it down.
8. Leave to ferment for 5 more days
9. Take the plate and bag out
10. Strain the must through another jelly bag or whatever into a demijohn, put an airlock on, and leave to ferment out.
11. Rack as usual.
12. Leave for a couple of months.
13. Rack again, as usual
Then either drink what you've made as a still wine, or turn what you have into a sparkling wine.
The Fizzy Bit
14. Using a champagne yeast, make a new yeast starter in a sterilised and well-rinsed wine bottle, stoppered with cotton wool.
15. Add to this small but increasing amounts of the (weak) wine, and feed with teaspoon tips of sugar to keep the ferment going, until you have a 75cl wine bottle full of fermenting stuff.
16. Add this to the racked wine in its DJ, and hope it keeps on fermenting (adding just enough sugar to keep the yeast alive). Wine should be cloudy again.
17. Bottle into champagne bottles, and add 1/2 a teaspoon of sugar to each bottle (and NO more).
18. Cork with plastic champagne corks and wire down securely.
19. Put in a warmish place to complete secondary fermentation (till clear again). Cross fingers bottles don't explode.
20. Then transfer to a cool place for storage.
Ready to drink 3 months later
Last edited by gil on Thu Jun 17, 10 10:57 am; edited 2 times in total |
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gil
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