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Winemaking with Elderberries T. Edwin Belt
The Six methods
Variations in methods are listed in the individual recipes
METHOD A
Aperitif-Table-Social Wines
Elderberries
1st Day- Sprinkle the elderberries into a container in thin layers, crushing each succeeding layer with a potato masher. Just cover with boiled water cooled to room temperature, add two campden tablets, cover, and leave for two days.
2nd Day- Prepare the yeast starter.
3rd Day- Add the yeast starter, together with the sugar or honey syrup, acids, Benerva tablet, ammonium Phosphate, nutrient and energiser to the Elderberries, together with boiled cooled and aerated water to reach the 4.55 litre (one Imp Gallon ) mark, and keep covered at 24 deg C (75 deg F)
4th Day- Place the crushed or finely cut up other fruit into another container, together with the juice from the can, add cool boiled water if necessary to just cover the fruit, add two campden tablets plus any pectozyme given in the recipe, and leave for one day.
5th Day- Strain the Elderberries of the juice, press out, set aside for re-use in another wine, and pour the liquor into a container, adding the fruit pulp and juice from the other fruit; keep covered at 24 deg C (75 deg F)
8th Day- Add the flower petals contained in a filter bag
11th Day- Take out the flower petals and strain the liquor into a demijohn and on to the banana syrup (if any in recipe) and grape concentrate; top up with water, fit holed bung and part water filled airlock; maintain temperature at 24 deg C (75 deg F)
15th Day- If the passage of bubbles through the airlock appears to have stopped, take a hydrometer reading; if this is less than 1.000 take readings at three day intervals until identical readings are obtained - probably at 0.993. The table wines can take up to ten days longer to reach this stage; The Aperitif and social wines will take a little longer than the table wines - the maintenance of the correct temperature of the must influences the speed of the fermentation. When the steady low reading on the hydrometer is attained, syphon off from the yeast deposit, add one campden tablet, top up with warm water, refit the holed bung and part water-filled airlock, and store for one month, preferably at 13 deg C (55 deg F)
The wine can then be bottled, but it will gain a more attractive crystal clearness if it is filtered before bottling. The filtering apparatus comes with full instructions for it's use.
METHOD B
Aperitif-Table-Social Wines
Elderflowers
1st Day- Prepare the yeast starter. Place the crushed or finely chopped fruit into a container, together with the juice from the can, add cooled boiled water if necessary to just cover the fruit, add two Campden tablets plus any pectozyme given in the recipe.
2nd Day- Add the yeast starter, together with the sugar or honey syrup, acids, Benerva tablet, ammonium Phosphate, nutrient and energiser to the fruit pulp and juice, together with boiled, cooled and aerated water to the 4.55 litre (one imp gallon) mark and keep covered at 21 deg C (70 deg F)
7th Day- Add the flower petals contained in a filter bag.
10th Day- Take out the flower petals, and strain the liquor into a demijohn and on to the banana syrup (if in the recipe) and the grape concentrate; top up with warm water, fit holed bung and part water-filled airlock; maintain the temperature at 21 deg C (70 deg F)
14th Day- Proceed as for the 15th day of Elderberries Method A
METHOD C
Dessert Wines
Elderberries
1st Day- Sprinkle the elderberries into a container in thin layers, crushing each succeeding layer with a potato masher. Just cover with boiled water cooled to room temperature, add two campden tablets, cover, and leave for two days.
2nd Day- Prepare the yeast starter.
3rd Day- Add the yeast starter, together with the sugar or honey syrup, acids, Benerva tablet, ammonium Phosphate, nutrient and energiser to the Elderberries, together with boiled cooled and aerated water to reach the 4.55 litre (one Imp Gallon ) mark, and keep covered at 24 deg C (75 deg F)
4th Day- Place the crushed or finely cut up other fruit into another container, together with the juice from the can, add cool boiled water if necessary to just cover the fruit, add two campden tablets plus any pectozyme given in the recipe, and leave for one day.
5th Day- Strain the Elderberries of the juice, press out, set aside for re-use in another wine, and pour the liquor into a container, adding the fruit pulp and juice from the other fruit; keep covered at 24 deg C (75 deg F)
8th Day- Add the flower petals contained in a filter bag
11th Day- Take out the flower petals and strain the liquor into a demijohn and on to the banana syrup (if any in recipe) and grape concentrate; top up with water, fit holed bung and part water filled airlock; maintain temperature at 24 deg C (75 deg F)
17th Day- Take a hydrometer reading and if the fermentation is down to 1.010 add half the remaining grape concentrate
23rd Day- Take a hydrometer reading and if the fermentation is again down to 1.010 add the remaining grape concentrate
30th Day- If the passage of bubbles through the airlock appears to have stopped, take a hydrometer reading; if this is less than 1.000 take readings at three day intervals until identical readings are obtained - probably at 0.993. The table wines can take up to ten days longer to reach this stage; The Aperitif and social wines will take a little longer than the table wines - the maintenance of the correct temperature of the must influences the speed of the fermentation. When the steady low reading on the hydrometer is attained, syphon off from the yeast deposit, add one campden tablet, top up with warm water, refit the holed bung and part water-filled airlock, and store for one month, preferably at 13 deg C (55 deg F)
The wine can then be bottled, but it will gain a more attractive crystal clearness if it is filtered before bottling. The filtering apparatus comes with full instructions for it's use.
METHOD D
Sparkling Table Wines
Elderberries
1st Day- Sprinkle the elderberries into a container in thin layers, crushing each succeeding layer with a potato masher. Just cover with boiled water cooled to room temperature, add two campden tablets, cover, and leave for two days.
2nd Day- Prepare the yeast starter.
3rd Day- Add the yeast starter, together with the sugar or honey syrup, acids, Benerva tablet, ammonium Phosphate, nutrient and energiser to the Elderberries, together with boiled cooled and aerated water to reach the 4.55 litre (one Imp Gallon ) mark, and keep covered at 24 deg C (75 deg F)
4th Day- Place the crushed or finely cut up other fruit into another container, together with the juice from the can, add cool boiled water if necessary to just cover the fruit, add two campden tablets plus any pectozyme given in the recipe, and leave for one day.
5th Day- Strain the Elderberries of the juice, press out, set aside for re-use in another wine, and pour the liquor into a container, adding the fruit pulp and juice from the other fruit; keep covered at 24 deg C (75 deg F)
8th Day- Add the flower petals contained in a filter bag
11th Day- Take out the flower petals and strain the liquor into a demijohn and on to the banana syrup (if any in recipe) and grape concentrate; top up with water, fit holed bung and part water filled airlock; maintain temperature at 24 deg C (75 deg F)
15th Day- If the passage of bubbles through the airlock appears to have stopped, take a hydrometer reading; if this is less than 1.000 take readings at three day intervals until identical readings are obtained - probably at 0.993. The table wines can take up to ten days longer to reach this stage; The Aperitif and social wines will take a little longer than the table wines - the maintenance of the correct temperature of the must influences the speed of the fermentation. When the steady low reading on the hydrometer is attained,we have alternate modes of procedure open to us; one of these will result in a better quality wine than the other described, but demands great patience in it's execution, and the expertise necessary to carry it to fruition may not be immediately forthcoming. We will therefore proceed to the 18th Day to describe a "quickie" method of imparting sparkle to our wine, and after that we will return to the 18th day to our alternate method (18th Day a and 18th Day b)
18th Day (a) -Syphon the liquor off from the yeast deposit, add one Campden tablet, top up with warm water, refit the holed bung and part water-filled airlock, and store for one month preferably at 13 deg C (55 deg F)
Now filter the wine, after which pour sufficient of it to fill a carbonating syphon bottle, screw on the top, and insert an 8gm. Carbon Dioxide cartridge to admit the whole of its gas. Press the trigger with the syphon bottle upside down, and when the gas escape ceases turn the bottle the right way up again. Remove the top, pour out into glasses, and drink the rest in the bottle without undue delay. (Am I related to this guy?) The colder the wine the longer it will hold it's sparkle thus imparted. The rest of the 4.55 litre (one imp gallon) of the wine should be bottled and stored in the normal way, ready for the next time it is desired to impart this type of sparkle to it.
18th Day (b) - The wine must now be tested for residual sugar. This is very important if the danger of bursting bottles is to be avoided. The test is carried out with a clinitest outfit (sold at chemists for the use of diabetics) or with a sugar-testing outfit obtainable from home Winemaking shops complete with full instructions. The maximum acceptable sugar content is 1%. If one of the tests indicates a greater amount, the wine must either be left to see if the fermentation will continue, or be blended with another wine of considerably less than 1& sugar content, in order to achieve this figure, or be imbibed as a still wine. It is not worthwhile to treat this a a stuck fermentation when this stage has been reached. This problem will only arise when a mistake has been made somewhere along the line.
The wine is then filtered
The Champagne bottles (no others are to be used) must be absolutely clean internally (to allow the sediment free movement over the glass at a later stage), and perfect - entirely free from flaws in the glass.
It is also essential that excessive pressure should not be introduced by the gas evolved in the secondary fermentation, as would result from too much sugar in the bottles. These are to be the maximum amounts of a stock sugar solution, per bottle, for use with the results of the sugar test
0.0% =14 ml.
0.25% = 13 ml.
0.5% = 12 ml.
0.75% = 7 ml.
1.0% =6 ml
A 5 ml (cc) teaspoon (provided with some medicines may be used to give the smaller measures required. The reading of the measuring jar (hydrometer jar) must be made with the eye at the level of the surface of the liquid. The stock sugar solution is made up by bringing briefly to the boil 226 g (1/2 lb) sugar in 142 ml. (1/4 pint) water, giving 284 ml. (1/2 pint) of sugar solution.
You will need another 168 ml. (6 fl oz) of this sugar syrup when the disgorgement takes place. Having prepared the bottles and allowed the sugar solution to cool to room temperature in another sterile bottle, the wine is funnelled into the champagne bottles to within 8cm (3 inches) of the top, followed by the carefully measured sugar syrup, after which the bottles are stoppered to await the yeast starter. Prepare this in accordance with the yeast starter described earlier, but using champagne yeast, bearing in mind that 7ml. will be required for each of the six bottles. i.e. 42 ml. or 1 1/2 fl ox.
After 24 hours or when the starter is in vigorous action, add the required amount to each bottle, which should now be full to within 5 cm (2 inches) and not less than 4 cm (1 1/2 inches) of the top;check this measurement as the space left affects the pressure in the bottle. The plastic champagne stoppers should now be made pliable in warm water, and fitted to the bottles with the aid of a punch fitting tool (hollowed to fit over the dome of the stopper) and mallet, followed by wiring down. The bottles are then upended a few times to mix the yeast starter and the sugar syrup, and kept at about 19 deg C (65 deg F) for the secondary fermentation, stored in a wine rack (i.e. in a horizontal position) The tightening of the wiring, due to the stopper tending to push out a little, indicates that all is going well with the production of carbon dioxide gas.
After three months, a yeast deposit will be apparent on the underside of the bottles, and they should now be stored upside down at about 13 deg C (55 deg F); during this time, the bottles should be gently agitated, firstly to prevent the yeast deposit from sticking to the sides of the bottles, and secondly to assist it to settle in the stopper.
After another three months, or after nine months if you are prepared to wait for a better quality wine, place the bottles, still stopper downwards, in a deep freezer until ice is visible just beyond the stopper (may be about half an hour) - do not leave until the ice extends too far beyond this point, or the yeast may be difficult to remove. In the meantime prepare 168 ml. (6 fl oz) sugar syrup, all as last described, and put it in the freezer for the last 10 minutes with the wine. The garage or shed is the best place to execute the disgorgement now required - just in case of accidents to the wine - your freezer may be there in any case. Hold the wine bottle pointing slightly downwards into a bucket (a bottle angle bucket can be bought for this job), cut off the wire and encourage the frozen yeast to pop out by fiddling with the stopper. A clean stopper can be used To prevent too much wine escaping, if necessary, and then a small plastic spoon can be used to remove any remaining yeast-ice, after which 28 ml. (1 fl oz) of the sugar syrup is added, and finally the clean stopper is inserted and wired down. If a dry wine is preferred, then a still wine can be used instead of the sugar syrup for the topping up, just as described following the disgorgement.
METHOD E
Sparkling Table Wine
Elderflowers
1st Day- Prepare the yeast starter. Place the crushed or finely cut up fruit into a container, together with the juice from the can, add cool boiled water if necessary to just cover the fruit, add two Campden tablets together with any Pectozyme given in the recipe.
2nd Day- Add the yeast starter, together with the inverted sugar or honey syrup, Benerva tablet, ammonium Phosphate, nutrient and energiser to the fruit pulp and juice, together with boiled cooled and aerated water to reach the 4.55 (one imp gallon) mark and keep covered at 21 deg C (70 deg F)
7th Day- Add the flower petals contained in a filter bag.
10th Day- Take out the flower petals, and strain the liquor into a demijohn on to the grape concentrate; top up with warm water, fit holed bung and part water-filled airlock; maintain the temperature at 21 deg C (70 deg F)
14th Day- Proceed as for 15th day of Elderberries
METHOD F
Medium Dry, Medium Sweet & Sweet Wines
Elderberry or Elderflower
All of our wines have been produced as dry wines, so that the risk of fermentation in still wine bottles has been reduced to a negligible minimum, and should be non existent. Sweeter wines are very easily made by adding from our dry wines by the introduction of non-fermentable saccharin (Sweet ex) into the decanter before the wine is poured into it. The suggested amounts, per bottle are given hereunder. The sweetening has been given as per bottle so that personal taste can modify the figures if desired, then following such trials six times the given amounts can be added per 4.55 litre (one imp gallon) at the final racking, dissolved in the topping up water. The sweetening of sparkling Table wines has been described earlier, to give a dry or a medium-sweet wine.
Aperitif Medium Dry 1/2 Medium Sweet 3 Sweet 6
Table Medium Dry 1/2 Medium Sweet 2 Sweet 5
Dessert Medium Dry 2 Medium Sweet 5 Sweet 8
Social Medium Dry 1 Medium Sweet 4 Sweet 7
(EDIT: I assume this measurement is teaspoons or equivalent sweetener measurement)
1 -3 3mg Benerva
1 tablet yeast nutrient
1/2 tsp ammonium phosphate
1/2 tsp yeast energiser
you may substitute these ingredients with 1 vitamin B1 tablet and a teaspoonful of a good brand of yeast nutrient per gallon. (really good yeast nutrients allready have vitamin B1 in them....check the label)
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Enjoy!