Selfsufficientish.com

I have made elderberry port using my great grandmother's recipe:

2 quarts (i.e. 4 pints) of elderberries
1 gallon of water
31/2 lbs sugar
1/2 lb large raisins
Strip berries from stalks. Add water and boil for 15 mins. Strain and add raisins and sugar to the hot liquid. Leave to ferment for 14 days. Strain and bottle.

which my Mum found recently, but I have noticed that there was a thin layer of what looked like mould on the top when I came to bottling it and three days after bottling it, there is still a slight scum on top.

My question is basically, is it still safe to drink? It smells ok, but never having made it before, I'm not sure.

Fingers crossed as it smells lovely.

if it were mine..... (dont sue me..) I would taste it.. if it tasted vinegary or musty or horrid.. then boo.. somethings got at it.

if it tasted nice... i would pretend i saw no problem...

Hi Sarah

First question - how do you know if it fermented at all? There's no yeast in that recipe so it depends completely on wild yeasts, any of which would be dead after all that boiling - so what, if anything, did the fermenting?

Red's right, though. Smell it, then taste it. If it's really, really sweet (you'll know what I mean), you've managed to make a weak cordial which might easily be subject to bacterial attack. Or , if you're lucky, you've made a sweetish elderberry wine which should keep for years.

If it's cordial you've got, put it all back into the demijohn and add some yeast - a little late, but the stuff is still perfectly fermentable.

Mike

Thanks for the thoughts. Have tasted it (gingerly!) and it tastes like cordial. However, I didn't use a demijohn so can't put it back in one - think I may have found the problem!

Any ideas on what I can do?

Just put it back into whatever you had it in originally (doesn't have to be a demijohn), add the yeast, cover it well (all you're doing here is trying to keep insects out) and let the yeast do its job. Note that if you do get the fermentation going, the resulting elderberry port will be knock-your-socks-off strength. You have been warned

Mike

PS I'd be tempted to squeeze the juice of half a lemon into it, too.

Thanks again for the advice - by yeast, do I need specific yeast or will the dry stuff I use for bread do? How much?

Sorry for being such a numpty!

Wine yeast is by far the best (more alcohol-tolerant, so more rocket fuel!), but baker's yeast (fresh or dried) will do the job. I've never used fresh, but dried works out at a level teaspoon for any amount of wine. (I actually typed fried there, which made me giggle). Or, to make life easier, dump a sachet of yeast in and you'll be OK.

It can take up to 48 hours for a fermentation to begin in earnest, so don't hold your breath!

Mike

Thank you so much Mike!

So, if I put a sachet (7g?) of dried baker's yeast into what is probably about 1l of 'port' and put it into a kilner jar, do you reckon I should seal it, or leave it open-ish?

(This is the last thing I'll ask, honest!)

One litre? I thought we were talking about a gallon

For a litre, just a quarter spoonful (half a level teaspoonful) would be plenty ... but DON'T SEAL IT!!!!!!!!!!!! The fermentation will produce a lot of carbon dioxide and if you seal the jar the pressure will build up and then, even if your Kilner jar can take it, when you finally open it, the port will decorate your ceiling very nicely. Cover it loosely to allow the gas to escape.

I'm fascinated - did you really convert the recipe just to make one litre? Better convert my "half a lemon" suggestion too, if that's the case - try "a few drops" of lemon juice

Mike

PS Ask as many questions as you like - that's what Ish is all about.

The recipe is as given to me by my Mum when she found an old recipe book of her granny's. Apparently, she was a one for making many alcoholic brewings - think that may be where I get it from (with blackberry and apple gin, plum gin and blackberry whicky on the go!) so not sure if that is how she made it, but I gather that she may have made many batches of everything (the old lush!!)

Thanks again for the help

BTW, just noticed you're in North Notts, so are my Mum and Dad! It's nice there!

I am trying this recipe this year, got a whole lot of elderberries + some blackberries to show for my nettle burns and bramble scratches. I have never fermented anything serious before so am very excited about this. Once the fermentation stops, how long did you leave the port to mature before drinking, if at all? I'm quite tempted to fortify it somewhat, can I just add more fruit+sugar to it, or should I just pour in some brandy at the end? Thanks!

Hi z-frog

If you're using the recipe that Sarah put up, don't forget that yeast!!!

It has a LOT of lot of elderberries, so it's going to be high in tannin. Normally, that would mean that it needs to be matured for quite a while until some of the tannins have undergone their changes. However, it also has quite a lot of sugar (far more than will ferment out), so it's going to be sweet, which will tend to disguise the harshness of tannin. So, I'd taste it immediately. If it tastes good at that point, drink it. If not, leave it for a few months and then try again. It will, at some point, be gorgeous.

If you use wine yeast rather than bakers yeast, you can expect something of the order of 14 or 15% ABV, the rest of the sugar remaining in solution. At that strength, you can keep it easily for 5 years with no fortification. It's up to you, though - pour in some brandy if you like (although this stuff will have such a strong taste that it would be a waste - I'd advise vodka).

Whatever you do, don't add fruit - it will only gum things up. You can always add sugar, although I doubt you'll want to after you taste it.

Mike