Elderflower Blush Quickie

So, as there are still Elderflowers out and about in abundance, and as we got through 8 gallons of elderflower wine last year, I decided that I should make more this year. So I've just got another 5 gallons on the go. This time with a difference, there was no cheap white grape juice in the supermarket, so I got red grape juice instead, hence it's probably going to be a blush.

I'm going to do this recipe/method in some detail for those of you new here. This is a fantastic wine, and as long as you like elderflowers their blossoming will be one of your favourite times of the year, second only to the time the wine's ready to drink. I'll be picking my flowers at the weekend or early next week, on a sunny day, but a few days in advance of picking is a good time to start the brew going.

Recipe

5 Litres Red Grape Juice (Sungrown, pure pressed)
5 Litres Apple Juice (Tesco value, pure from concentrate)
3.45kg Sugar
3 teaspoons Tartaric Acid
2 Teaspoons Citric Acid
2 Teaspoons Nutrient (nutrivin)
4 Teaspoons Pectolase
4 Campden Tablets (crushed)
4 Litres Elderflowers (measured by gently shaking down, added 2.6.2011 with gravity at 1042)
Yeast Gervin Number 1 (GV1)

OG 1079

Method

The usual method, dissolve sugar in hot water. Empty cartons of fruit juice into fermenting bin. Dissolve all other ingredients (apart from yeast and elderflowers) in water, and then add to fermenting bin. Add sugar solution to fermenting bin. Make up the volume to 5 gallons. Cover tightly and leave overnight. Next day stir sloshily (or use a whisk) to ensure its properly mixed and also, importantly, to get plenty of air dissolved. Then add the yeast. Stir sloshily each day for a few days. Transfer to secondary fermenter (fitted with an airlock) and then add the elderflowers in 2 muslin bags. To process the flowers put the sprays into a plastic bag the day you pick them, tie it up, leave it overnight, next day shake the bag for 5 minutes or until the flowers drop off the stems. Separate out the stems and put the flowers into muslin bags. Push down the flowers once a day for a week or so, then remove the flowers and do all the usual racking, degassing, stabilising etc.

Discussion

Incase you're new here and would like some extra details I'll just summarise the basics of some of the ingredients chosen etc. You can find all this info in other places on my blog tho.

1. This is a quickie wine, it's designed to be drunk only 8 weeks or so after starting. This means the wine will be light, hence only 2 litres of juice pr gallon of wine, and the amount of sugar added to give an ABV that will likely be 10.5-11.5%. If you add more sugar then the balance will be all out and it will likely taste "hot". To avoid this you'll need more fruit content for more body. The result of doing this will be a wine that needs months, rather than weeks, to be ready to drink.

2. I chose a blend of citric and tartaric acid. tartaric acid is the dominant acid in grapes. It is crisp and clean tasting. Citric acid tastes, unsurprisingly, lemon like, fruity. This flavour goes well with elderflowers but I don't want to overdo it. If you don't have citric acid you can use lemon juice. Juice of one lemon is roughly equivalent to 1 teaspoon of citric acid. If you don't have tartaric acid don't worry. You'll still make a pleasant wine with lemon juice or citric acid.

3. Pectolase is always a no-brainer addition for me, it never does any harm. It's function is to break down pectin which is commonly found in many fruits, including apples. Pectin will cause a haze in your wine which will be a royal pain in the backside to get rid of. Adding pectolase at the start is the prevention rather than cure method. I always do it.

4. Campden tablets are added, primarily, to take care of wild yeasts, funghi and bacteria. To be honest with wine made from cartons of juice this shouldn't be a problem. However it's a good thing to do in anycase because you never know what's airborne in the kitchen, or in the sugar etc. It also neutralises the chlorine present in tap water.  And it is an anti-oxidant, which means that your juice and hence wine will not discolour so much to a brown. After adding it at the start of a brew you need to wait 24 hours before adding yeast, otherwise your ferment will probably not start as campden inhibits yeasts. Waiting 24 hours allows it to do it's job and all that neutralising of chlorine, killing stuff and anti-oxidising means that levels are low by the time 24 hours have passed.

5. Nutrient. Yeasts, like all living things, like nutrients. Most fruits don't have the right balance needed so a helping hand is good. with a wine made from only 2 litres of juice per gallon this is especially true.

6. Gervin number 1 is a good general purpose yeast, it starts quickly, is low foaming and easy to work with. Others that I like are Gervin D, Sauternes, MA33 (vintners harvest), GV5.

7. By the time you get around to adding the eldeflowers the must will have an alcohol content of about 8-9 %, so there's no need to sanitise the flowers, the alcohol content will do that, and so will the `CO2 atmosphere in your secondary fermenter. Adding flowers late on, rather than at the start, means that you need to use less of them. This is a good thing. The reason is that the alcohol helps to extract the flavours, and also the fermentation is not at all vigourous at this stage. Vigourous fermentation will "blow off" much of the volatile aromas/flavours from the flowers, hence needing more. Using less means more berries in the autumn (great stuff cos they are great in wine) and also means less work getting them off the stems, which is essential cos elderflower stems taste gross and don't make good wine.