Grow Your Own Magazine

does anyone have a recipe for elderflower champagne,
help much appreciated,

cheers,
matt.

Hi Matt,

I think someone posted one a few days ago - but it was kind of within another thread somewhere (really helpful aren't I?) - it's on this section though!

I tried it and it tastes great, but no fizzing yet...

Good luck!

24-30 elderflower heads, in full bloom
2KG sugar
4 Litres hot water
juice & zest of 4 lemons
1-2 Tablespoons white wine vinegar
A pinch of dried yeast (you may not need this)

put hot water & sugar into large container (very clean bucket is good). Stir until the sugar has dissolved. Top up with water to 6 Litres. Add the lemon juice, zest, vinegar and flower heads and stir gently. cover with muslin and leave in cool place for a couple of days. Take a look at this point, if it hasn't started to ferment add a pinch of yeast. Leave the mixture to ferment for a further 4 days. Strain the liquid through muslin into sterilised bottles. Seal & leave to ferment in bottle for a further 8 days before serving chilled.


Bottled mine yesterday, Can't wait to try it. Let us Know how you go

You may get to taste it a bit quicker than you planned if you haven't got the amount of sugar/yeast right! Booom!

__________________
My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

Hi Matt

got the same recipe as the other replies saw this on river cottage spring the other week
have got it fenenting as we speak I had to add a couple of pinches of yeast as it didn't do anything without it. All set to bottle on Sunday so 8 days later will let you know how it tastes

Must admit that I would rather ferment out the added sugar first then add 3/4 teaspoon of sugar per pint, about 1/2 teaspoon per wine bottle, when bottling, then seal and hold/wire down the cork and leave to work/gas and clear.
Much nicer clear than yeasty.

That sounds great, I haven't made anything for over a year, think I'll give it a go. Isn't it vital to use special thick 'bubbly' bottles to prevent explosion?

So, what bottles is everyone using? What price, where from?
I am starting to drink Grolsch for the re-sealable bottles, but they're £2 each :0

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

I bought proper champagne bottles with corks and twisty things but decided against using them in case of explosion!!!!
The plastic bottles(new) were quite expensive so I ended up using plastic 1litre bottles that I bought from Tesco (own brand flavored water). I emptied out the water and filled straight away with the elderflower stuff, cause the bottles would be sterile (I hope so anyway!!!).

Mmmm! I saw said Hugh Fernly programme, and was also inspired, so I'll be watching all of your progress here with great interest.
Good Luck Peeps!
X

__________________
With Love,
Wellie

Give it some....

http://hollycottagegarden.blogspot.com
New Blog update: Sunday 12th October

made some of h.f.w recipe .................works really well had to add a bit of yeast though............hubby and i drank quite a lot last nite ............very moorish.yum

Use alot less sugar....i followed HFW recipe with 2kg of sugar and its way too sweet (sweeter than schloer)....very nice but way too sweet!! I'd even go for 1kg of sugar.

oh and when you open it do it over the sink it fizzes up and pops like real champagne!!!

Did anyone else give the HFW recipe a try and how did it go?l

yep! Sterlised S. Pellegrino bottles in dishwasher and made two batches of fizzy loveliness! used way less sugar though and still sweet.

I've been making Elderflower Champagne for more years than I care to remember! I use champagne bottles recycled from local wedding venue plus corks and wire cages from Home Brew supplier. Two points to emphasise:
(i) if you bottle too early, even the champagne bottles cannot contain the pressure - I keep my bottles covered with tarpaulin!
(ii) Elderflower Champagne encourages flatulence - great with baked beans!

I followed the HFW recipe to the letter.
My brew inflated several plastic fizzy drinks bottles to balloon-proportions (I put them in a strong cardboard box in the garage after reading about this on here)
Tasted it again today and it was disgusting....
As a keen brewer I don't pour stuff away lightly, but it's gone down the sink

May try again next year with less sugar. It also gave me severe heartburn seconds after I drank it, which is not a good thing.

Sorry to hear that Twinkle. I put in half the sugar as quite a few people had mentioned that the recipe was too sweet, I also added some yeast. Woohooooo! Very tasty and ever so strong with the extra yeast.