Selfsufficientish.com

Ok, so the raspberries didnt make it into the demijohns (they went into a rather tasty crumble), so i am still after a wine recipe for a newbie. Does have any simple recipes for wines made with blackberries and elderberries? Either of them or a mix of both.

Hi Linzi,

I used this recipe for my elderberry wine last year: http://www.patch-work.demon.co.uk/#A

I skipped the nutrient and vitamin B as I didn't have any at the time. I also left it in the demijohn until about a month ago (I did rack it a few times though), so it was fairly well aged - about 9 months in total.

It came out very nice, if I do say so. Not bad considering I'd never done it before!

I just put a post on brambles (foraging) i am trying a recipie now with brambles and elderflowers i will keep you posted, its a made up recipie so no results yet.

There's a good recipie in the ish bible for elderberry wine.

Russ

Here's a fairly simple one - no frills ...

2 lbs Elderberries
2 lbs Blackberries

Crush the berries in a (food-grade) bucket and pour over a kettleful of boiling water (that's to sterilise). Dissolve a kilo of sugar in a pint of boiling water and add to the bucket. Allow everything to cool to room temperature-ish. Add the juice of a lemon (or a level teaspoonful of citric acid). If you like (I would, but it isn't necessary), add a teaspoonful of yeast nutrient and a B1 tablet. Top up with tepid tap water to something a bit over a gallon (4.5 litres) - because you're going to lose volume when you take out the slush. Stir everything vigorously to get some air into the must. Sprinkle dry wine yeast on the top of the must, cover to fly-proofness, sit back and wait.

Check every few hours to see if the ferment has begun. When it's well and truly going (bubbly froth all over the surface and solids rising to the surface), it's time to begin stirring the solids back into the liquid - not too vigorously this time, because you don't want any more air in there). Do this a couple of times a day for four days. At that point, you've extracted a decent amount of colour without too much tannin. Strain the must into a demijohn - ideally through a jelly-bag, but I've used tea-towels before now. Don't squeeze too heavily, or all of the rubbish will pass straight through. Top up with water, insert airlock, go away.

When everything has stopped and the wine has cleared, rack very gently into another demijohn, top up again, insert a bored bung with a bit of cotton wool stuffed into the hole, put the demijohn somewhere darkish and cool for six months (oh alright - three). Taste and either have a party or leave for another couple of months.

What you'll have is a deep red of medium body and about 13.5 to 15% ABV, and extremely dry - you may need to sweeten it slightly before drinking. If you're really patient, this wine will mature quite happily for ten years.

And the really good thing is that you won't (necessarily) have used a single chemical addition.

Hideo - in place of nutrient and vit B you can use 1/4tsp of yeast extract. Same stuff you put on toast (or not).
Maggie

Green Aura wrote:Hideo - in place of nutrient and vit B you can use 1/4tsp of yeast extract. Same stuff you put on toast (or not).
Maggie

Definitely not on my toast! Though my wife loves it so we have plenty around. Thanks!

MKG wrote:ideally through a jelly-bag, but I've used tea-towels before now.

Glad to see somebody else does that, too! Most of my tea towels have this tell-tale discolouring...

Need to get the raising wine into the demijohn this weekend.