Elderflowers?

Oog

Going to make some Elderflower cordial today with my parents recipe.
Just as I was leaving, Mum said, 'Don't forget you can use the oranges/lemons for jam afterwards'.
Has anyone here done that?
And, can I do it in my slow cooker?
I'm going to have a go anyway but just wondered if anyone here had done it?

daz501

If bottling up for the second fermentation stage, you can put a balloon over the top to allow the gas to fill up the ballon a little. Then carefully make a pin hole in the rubber. This acts as an airlock, so there shouldn't be any exploding bottles!

daz501

I've strained my elder now, rinsed and sterlised everything, and put my wine back into the original (clean container). Last night when I sampled the wine, and bearing in mind it hasn't finished fermenting) it tasted very thick, syrupy, sweet and a bit vinegary.

I've haven't really let any air get to it throughout the first fermenting stage, except for when I opened the lid to stir the liquid.

Does anyone else ever get the vinegar effect? Has my wine gone bad? Will the alcohol content and flavour improve in the second fermentation stage?

It's worth mentioned that I did use A LOT of elderflower which has given it a very strong flavour.

daz501

I put some of the wine in a test bottle and stuck a balloon with a pin hole in it over the top. The wine continued fermenting in the bottle.

After I chilled it for a few days, I just tasted it, and it's amazing! The acidity has cleared up and the sugar is less present - presumably this has turned to alcohol. It 's really lovely - but still cloudy. Wine finings can help this I think. In the bottle there is sediment, so I will be carefully straining the main batch a few times

Happy drinking

Pee

I've had my first go at this and it smells lovely, but no yeast action so far. (I've done some agitation!)
A friend told me it's being sold for about £15 a bottle - she didn't buy any!
I'm a bit concerned it doesn't sound very alcoholic. People have said 3 or 4%.

It is a very easy recipe - I used the hugh F W one - what other wine recipes are this easy? I read about nettle beer on here.

splodger_seedswapper

having never ventured out of the green fingers part of mse - is there a forum / area dedicated to homebrew?

i only ask as i have over 20 demijohns on the go at the minute and would love to share a few recipes / tips etc :beer:

annie123

splodger_seedswapper wrote: »

having never ventured out of the green fingers part of mse - is there a forum / area dedicated to homebrew?

i only ask as i have over 20 demijohns on the go at the minute and would love to share a few recipes / tips etc :beer:

Yes there is
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=948049&highlight=heavy

Kaz2904

I made this last year. The first batch was delicious. The second (double) batch was like vinegar . I used it for descaling the loos for the last year! So even if it's bad, it's good. Don't waste it.

daz501

Kaz2904 wrote: »

I made this last year. The first batch was delicious. The second (double) batch was like vinegar . I used it for descaling the loos for the last year! So even if it's bad, it's good. Don't waste it.

Doesn't it all smell like vinegar initially? Mine did at first but then it was OK. It's still fermenting in the bottles and there's loads of sediment slowly forming.

I'm going to have to strain each bottle again I think to get all the muck out of the bottom. Not a problem, as long as I don't lose all the fizz and Co2 that's in there.