Elderflower Champagne... Best Recipe??

tru

I use the glass bottles. The first brew was fine but the one on the go at the moment has gone mad. I've been popping twice a day, 2 of the bottles open with a loud bang and have showered me I'm going to start popping them 4 times a day and see how it goes. If it's still too much, I'll use plastic pop bottles next year. Trouble is, we don't buy pop so I'll have to scrounge the bottles from somewhere.

Gigervamp

Please do keep on de-gassing your bottles. I had a plastic bottle explode when I'd forgotten to de-gas it and it ripped the front panel off the pine trunk it was in, that's how much force there was.
That's why I'm always banging on about using plastic not glass bottles. Glass shards with that amount of force behind them could be lethal.

floyd

Thanks all, how long do you keep de-gassing before you risk ending up with a flat brew?
Think I'll use the glass ones for elderflower cordial and sloe gin and get some pop bottles today

Gigervamp

I found it was about 3 weeks or so before it started slowing down. I de-gassed twice a day until then and once it started slowing down, once a day for another week or two.

You can tell it's slowing down when it doesn't try to escape from the bottle as soon as you open it!

floyd

Brilliant thanks

ampersand

I'm tacking my ? on here, as o.p.'s situ is similar.
I remember Gigervamp's great help, too, from my first attempt at e.c. last year - it was, is, a huge success. Last bottle still awaits consumption - precious libation:j.

Reading the various comments - 'slow start','light fuzzy mould','nothing happening' - yes, me, too, which isn't how I remember things from last year. I wondered if the lack of decent sun on the flowers accounted for low natural yeast/no self-start over the first days. After about 5 days, I added a pinch of live yeast[yes, I know HFW says 'tiny pinch of dried...'] to each bucket and things got going.

On Thursday[about 10-12 days on], I strained and bottled - I use 4 muslin layers and old tights at both ends of spout, so 6 filters in all. I stirred everything up , including all sediment. On Saturday, I gently slacked off 1st bottle top and it was like a pressure hose - lost about 2". It took ages to be able to safely release each bottle.

I'm about to go and do so again - have I bottled too soon? It doesn't look clear, as last year's did/does - should I rack and re-bottle? What I can't remember is whether last year's batch was clear at the outset, or became so over time.

All input welcome and thankyou.

ampersand

I posted this on the end of a similar ? from last year; in case this explains why there's no answer so far, I'll re-post here:

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I'm tacking my ? on here, as o.p.'s situ is similar.
I remember Gigervamp's great help, too, from my first attempt at e.f. last year - it was, is, a huge success. Last bottle still awaits consumption - precious libation:j.

Reading the various comments - 'slow start','light fuzzy mould','nothing happening' - yes, me, too, which isn't how I remember things from last year. I wondered if the lack of decent sun on the flowers accounted for low natural yeast/no self-start over the first days. After about 5 days, I added a pinch of live yeast[yes, I know HFW says 'tiny pinch of dried...'] to each bucket and things got going.

On Thursday[about 10-12 days on], I strained and bottled - I use 4 muslin layers and old tights at both ends of spout, so 6 filters in all. I stirred everything up , including all sediment. On Saturday, I gently slacked off 1st bottle top and it was like a pressure hose - lost about 2". It took ages to be able to safely release each bottle.

I'm about to go and do so again - have I bottled too soon? It doesn't look clear, as last year's did/does - should I rack and re-bottle? What I can't remember is whether last year's batch was clear at the outset, or became so over time.'

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I've highlighted the red bit, as I released gas again last night and it's very active. throwing up what look like yeasty deposits.
Many thanks.

Gigervamp

All the recipes I've seen, say to strain and bottle it after 48 hours, so you haven't bottled it too soon. You just need to make sure you keep on top of de-gassing it a couple of times a day at least for now.
I've found that some of my bottles are pretty clear, but others not so clear. There is also usually a bit of sediment at the bottom.

floyd

Just thought I'd update on mine for comparative purposes;

Mine also gave the 'slow start','light fuzzy mould','nothing happening' so after 4 days I added approx 12-15 grains of fast acting yeast. Started to get a few bubbles coming to the surface and a light hiss when I stirred so I bottled into 1L plastic bottles (thanks Gigervamp) and have released the gas once a day as its a bit of a slow-burner. It is getting fizzy but its much more of a controlled growth which pleases me as I was petrified of it
OH re-bottled one of them as the seal was a little bit dodgy and kept cross-threading and he said when he poured it into a sterilized jug to decant it that it "fizzed just like proper champagne" so I might crack one open the half-bottle at the weekend as that will be 10 days storing they will have had.

The only mistake I made was not stirring enough as I was bottling so some have more of the yeast than others.

So far though its looking pretty good, thanks for all the great tips Gigervamp


*Just thought about Ampersands volatile mix, I de-gassed the same day I bottled and every day afterwards so leaving it from Thurs til Sat will have allowed quite alot of gas to build up, as GV said, just keep de-gassing until it settles down.

floyd

If in doubt about what its meant to look like I google image search.

Elderflower champagne brings up these murky looking specimens so cloudiness doesn't seem to be bad.
If you re-bottle, there is a chance you could lose too much of the yeast and end up with a flat brew but if you dont you could get no brew as it will be dripping off the ceiling! I would just keep de-gassing at more regular intervals and see if it calms down