An awesomely simple how to guide for you to make your own sparkling elderflower wine in your home! The garden and hedgerows are absolutely intrinsically abundant with elderflower and we are not afraid to make the most of it!
Following my earlier May make of elderflower cordial, just finished my second batch! Seriously awesome stuff!
It still just #keepsongrowing so now we have to make elderflower champagne, what a shame!!
Over the last couple of years we have used River Cottage recipe and it has not failed us.
Made some slight changes to it, freestyled here and there dependant on how much elderflower, types of sugar that were available to me at that time.
Sparkling elderflower wine recipe here we go…
Step 1– Sanitise a fermenting bucket or large vessel (big enough to put 5 litres of water in)! I have a couple that I bought from Wilkinson’s ages ago. I can vouch for these, perfect for any home brewing, to get your own click here!
Step 2 – Measure 800g sugar – I tend to use whatever sugar is available in my #pantry granulated white or brown, caster, demerara all have worked fine, sometimes even mix them up if haven’t got enough of just one! Put the sugar in the sanitised bucket.
Step 3 – Pour 2 litres of boiling water over the sugar and stir with wooden spoon until melted.
Step 4 – Add 3 litres of cold water and mix – leave to cool down. Now it’s time to gather the rest of the main and best ingredients together
Gather the elderflowers for the sparkling elderflower wine!
Step 5 – Make sure you gather your elderflower heads on a super sunny warm day, you can spot the flowers better and they are at their best when picked at this point. Select and collect your elderflower heads in to another fermenting bucket.
Have a sit down – marvel at the elderflowers!
( I had a little sit down and had a bit of reading time afterwards and enjoyed an elderflower cordial at this point) and so we best get back to making the sparkling elderflower wine!
Sparkling wine here we come!
Step 6 – Trim your elderflower heads in to the sugar syrup.
Step 7 – Add half teaspoon of yeast nutrient over elderflower heads. This is another home brewing must have that can be purchased from Wilko’s too!! Love that shop…
Step 8 – Slice up a lemon and squeeze this over the elderflowers, throwing the lemon in too.
Step 9 – Stir it all up, then cover this with a lid and leave in a dark place for up to 3 days for fermentation to get started – elderflower tends to have a lot of natural yeasts in it that aid fermentation well without having to add bought yeast so I usually don’t bother, if it isn’t doing anything after 3 days then add some champagne/sparkling wine yeast and leave until fermentation has ceased. I have bought champagne yeast/sparkling wine yeast from Boyes in the past, available in store usually, not online.
The final decanter!
Step 10 – When fermentation has finished you need to use a funnel covered with muslin cloth or fine mesh fabric to decanter your liquid in to another vessel. I have bought muslin cloths that I would have used when the kids were babies- I think I got mine from Tesco’s! I also line the funnel with the new fruit/veg reusable carry bags from Lidls! Stops any little unwanted parts of the flowers/bugs etc from getting through to the final bottles.
Step 11 – Making sure your flowers and any bugs are left in the muslin fabric! Now leave this to settle and clear, this may take a couple of hours or you may want to leave over night before then siphoning into your glass bottles. Siphon kits can be purchased from any good home brew shop, but you’ve guessed it…mine was from Wilko’s again!! Love this part as you get to taste a little bit in the process!
Last stage!
Step 12 – Once cleared siphon into your glass bottles. You can get your bottles from so many different places, my favourite bottles to use for all my home-brews are the ones from Ikea, always lasted well, never exploded and very good quality and seal too, they are Korken 0.5l bottles. Leave the filled bottles in a dark place for 5 days, then simply pop in the fridge, chill and drink!
It is our favourite drink at this time of the year, no better time to make and enjoy it – what a fabulous month May is! – Amie Watson
Super tasty, watch these though as they can be very lively (some have a mind of their very own!!) I mean seriously, we have lost a few bottles over the years to extra specially lively ones!! Enjoy!
If you have enjoyed this recipe and post please like and comment. You can register to receive regular emails for more insightful eco lifestyle tips, join us on the adventure by following our Pinterest or sign up to the blog below!!
Join us on Patreon for more Eco Beginner tips for just £5 per month, gain insight into behind the scenes workings of an eco business and more. Be a Patron for Amie Alissa Design. Can’t wait to greet you there! If you just want some helpful tips but aren’t ready to dive that deep yet then either subscribe to the blog or sign up for our regular email updates, you will love them, full of interesting things for an eco life and holistic homestead.
You must be logged in to post a comment.