Elderflower

soullessfire

MIne has developed some sediment in the bottom of the bottles and it's beginning to taste a little strange, I think I'm going to have to chuck it down the drain and start again

Optimisticpair

I had the wonderful heady smell of elderflowers permeating my kitchen yesterday. Brewed up last night so I'm awaiting the yeast to get going.

Optimisticpair

soullessfire wrote: »

MIne has developed some sediment in the bottom of the bottles and it's beginning to taste a little strange, I think I'm going to have to chuck it down the drain and start again

Is that from your cordial? Which recipe did you follow?

soullessfire

This one. Was fine to begin with, wouldn't say it was going off or anything but I think for some reason the yeast in the flowersw was actually coming to life and beginning to ferment which isn't what I wanted. Someone mentioned infusing the elderflowers and citric acid first then boiling that to kill the yeast and then adding sugar and bottling. Will probably give that a go.

Optimisticpair

soullessfire wrote: »

This one. Was fine to begin with, wouldn't say it was going off or anything but I think for some reason the yeast in the flowersw was actually coming to life and beginning to ferment which isn't what I wanted. Someone mentioned infusing the elderflowers and citric acid first then boiling that to kill the yeast and then adding sugar and bottling. Will probably give that a go.

I see, yes, bad luck. I'd try a recipe that doesn't say add fresh flowers to tepid or cool water with sugar in it. The alternative one that's been suggested sounds right to me too. I guess you could just steep the flowers on their own before doing the rest and keep it in the fridge. Good luck with your brewing.

Chimera

drinking some chilled elderflower champagne now

marrowgirl

my elderflower champagne is now fermenting in the garage. never tried anything like this before so i am quite excited.
i wanted to make cordial but all the local chemists are sold out of citric acid (more likely due to the local drug problem rather than an influx of cordial makers i suspect ).
thanks to all the posts about recipes and tips. fingers crossed!

Optimisticpair

stumpycat wrote: »

You can usually buy bags of citric acid in Asian supermarkets without any fuss. Chemists do sell it, but you may have to sign for it.

Wilko's with a home brewing section stock it too.

soullessfire

Redid the lot, steeped the citric acid, flowers and fruit in the plain cold water to begin with then when this had infused, I strained it into a big saucepan and heated it until it began boiling, added the sugar and brought it back to the boil for a few minutes then just bottled it hot. Tastes the same as it did before but with the boiling I don't have to worry about yeast or anything else so would recommend it as a better process this way.

I got my cirtic acid from Wilkinsons and also from a local brewers goods stall on the market. Since my first brew failed I decided not to go back in case this raised eyebrows and just ordered some food grade citric acid off ebay

Kay_Peel

I got a recipe from a lady but I haven't tried it yet.

Wash your elderflower heads, dip them in batter and fry them. Remove when the batter is pale golden coloured and drain. Sugar to taste if you need it.

And that's it!