Here's the recipe I used last year, it made 4 gallons of wine
- 5 Litres of Elderflowers
- 1 Litre of white grape compound
- 6 Teaspoons Malic Acid
- 4 Teaspoons Tartaric acid
- 2 Teaspoons Citric Acid
- 2 Teaspoons Grape Tannin
- Yeast Nutrient
- Water & Sugar to almost 4 gallons and OG 1075 - 1095 (about 4kg)
- Sauternes Yeast
The flowers are measured lightly shaken down not packed in.
You can use white grape juice instead of the compound, try 2 litres of juice per gallon of wine, you may need less sugar this way.
If you don't have all those acids and tannin then don't worry, just use lemon juice (1 lemon is about equivalent to 1 teaspoon of citric acid, the juice of 2-3 lemons per gallon will do) and forget the tannin (or use a little strong black tea).
Picking and Preparing Flowers
The flowers are picked on a dry, sunny day. They should smell wonderful, if they don't then don't pick them. You need to remove them from their stalks, one way is with a fork, or you could also use scissors. I have heard of a less labourious method; put them in a plastic bag, seal it, leave overnight, then shake for some time. When you open the bag all the flowers should have dropped off their stems. I think I'll try that this year. Once you have the flowers sorted put them into a muslin bag or two, tie it closed, and drop it in your fermenting bin.
Preparing the Must
Pour the grape compound on top of the bagged elderflowers in your fermenting bin. Boil a heap of water and dissolve your sugar and citric acid in it. Then pour this into the fermenting bin too. Dissolve the other acids in a little water and then add this too. Then add your tannin and give it a good stir.
If you used a lot of hot water then this must will be far too hot and will kill the yeast. so you'll have to let it cool down overnight. This is ok because it'll also kill any wild yeasts and other nasties that may be on the flowers. So cover it up and be patient.
If your must is luke warm now then you'd be wise to deal with any wild yeasts etc. Add some campden powder and leave it overnight.
Fermenting
Next day give the must a good stir, slosh it about loads. This will get some extra oxygen dissolved which is good because yeast needs dissolved oxygen to multiply. Check the volume and measure the gravity to check its in the right range and adjust if you need to, then make a note of it. You can add your yeast and nutrient now. Cover it up again and for the next few days stir the must and turn over the muslin bags at least once daily. Again do it with sloshing.
After a few days you can take out the flowers. They will have given up their flavours to the wine. Anytime before the wine stops fermenting rack it into demijohns leaving most of the sediment behind. Fit airlocks and bliss out to their blooping sound. You may need to top up the demijohns, if so use grape juice or a sugar solution of about the same OG as the original must - you kept a note right? Once fermentation stops (2-4 weeks or so) you are ready for the next bit.
The Patient Bit
At this stage I rack, and then degas the wine, then crush one campden tablet and 1/2 a teaspoon of potassium sorbate per gallon, dissolve in a little water and add to each demijohn and top up if needed. These additions will make sure that the ferment doesn't start going again. After some time the wine will start to clear, it may completely clear. If it isn't clear after a couple of months then use finings, I find chitin based finings work much better than gelatin based for this wine. It should be clear in a few days then rack and top up again. Your wine will now be ok to drink, tho it will get better with time. Age it in demijohns and only bottle it when you want to drink it.
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