Recipes - Elderberry Wine
Elderberry wine is a delicious wine which benefits greatly from ageing. There is an abudance of fruit available at the end of the summer, even after a summer stash of Elderflower champagne. Picking the fruits is great fun for all the family but remember to take a step ladder as the best fruits can often by found quite high up.
Equ
ipment:
Airlock x 2
A large pan (big enough to boil 4.5 litres of water)
Strainer.
Ingredients:
2 kg of Elderberries
1.5kg granulated sugar
1 Oranges
1 Lemon
1 Gallon Water
Instructions
Sanitise and rinse all equipment.
1. Bring the water to the boil
2. Wash and Remove all the berries from the stalks with a fork and place in a fermenting vessel.
3. Add the juice from the orange and lemon, a vitamin B tablet and a teaspoon of yeast nutrient.
3. Pour the water over berries and dissolve 1 kg of the sugar. Leave to cool for a while. When cool enough squeeze the fruit, add the grape juice and cover with a cloth and leave to steep for 24 hrs.
4. Add yeast and stir. Leave covered for 3 days.
5. Strain into 2 demijohns, add 1/4 kg of sugar to each and top up with cooled boiled water (if necessary) and insert airlocks.
6. Leave in a warm, dark place until bubbling has ceased, then syphon into clean demijohns.
7. Rack off again 6 weeks later and bottle when clear. Finnings may be used before bottling if the wine has not cleared.
Leave for 6 months before tasting. It will improve vastly after a year.
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