Elderberry Wine III: 23 September 2010

So.... in addition to what we've done already.  The full amount of berries was added on 14th September, nine days ago.  According to the recipe, we've overdone the amount of time that the berries need to stand in the sugar and yeast.  Also, we failed to add more than 4kg of sugar at that time.

Despite this, the fermentation was still carrying on today when we opened the barrel, as evidenced by the bubbling of the water escape trap at the top of the barrel.

Tonight, we strained off the fruit, separating from the icor (burgundy-red juice) with a coarse muslin bag.    We transferred the liquid from one 60l barrel to another, newly sterilised with Campden tablets, using a jug and the muslin as shown in the photo above.  We squeezed out the fruit as much as possible to extract every ounce of juice remaining in the fruit. By the end of the process of washing the fruit through with more water, and squeezing it out, we ended up with the sixty litre barrel full of purple-coloured proto-wine.  Assuming that fermentation will continue, we have also added a further 7 kg of sugar, bringing the total to 11kg - which should hopefully result in a dry red wine which is drinkable.  

The next stage will occur 4-6 weeks from now, at around the end of October, when we'll rack off the sediment - strain the wine through muslin again - at which point the primary fermentation ought to have ceased. Until then, the barrel is back into a warm outhouse with a water escape airlock on top to release the gas produced by the action of the yeast and sugar.

Raspberry Jam

Raspberry Jam in the making

The raspberries from the allotment are just about ready to pick now.  The first fruit have been ready for about a week already, and there are many small green set fruit remaining on the plants, which suggests that the Durham crop will continue for the next few weeks at least.

Robin's Recipe:

1. Take raspberries and sugar in equal weights
2. On a low heat, warm the fruit until the berries start to break down and liquify
3. Slowly, while stirring, add the sugar
4. Increase the temperature until the fruit/sugar mix achieves a rolling boil (no lid on the pan)
5. Stir occasionally for about 20 minutes. 
6. Check to see when jam is ready by dropping a blob of it onto a cool plate.  If the blob sets and wrinkles when pushed with your finger, then its ready. If not, keep boiling it.
7. Pour mixture from pan to a sterilised pot.

Elderberry Wine II

The Durham Elderberries

Another 4kgs of elderberries from the St. Margaret's allotment hedges behind the house at Allergate.  I've just added 2kgs of sugar, 4 pints of boiling water and another sachet of wine-making yeast to this jam-pan full of fruit.  I gave the mixture a good mashing up and a blend to release the fruit juice, and when the whole thing has cooled down, then I'll combine this second batch with the elderberries which we gathered from the hedgerows around Duns Tew on Thursday of last week.  

All together in the same 60 litre barrel, we will have around 8kgs of fruit, which we hope we can top up with water and leave once the primary fermentation has gone on for about a further four days from today.

Allotment: September 2010

Rosie Weeding the Main Beds

As usual at this time of year, the weeds are getting out of control.  In the picture above, we look across the main vegetable bed, which we planted with a green manure clover seed earlier in the year.  It also contained our garlic, onion and shallots.  Out of shot to the right are two lines of rainbow chard, spinach and love-in-the-mist.  

Rainbow chard

Rosie is digging the onions, which haven't been great this year.  Probably we put them into the ground too late without any prior composting of the soil.  The main bed really hasn't been a great success this year, other than the chard, which as usual is fantastic.  

Behind Rosie in the pictures above and top are the scraggy pale beans, which have been awful this year, and behind them, the rhubarb, which has been great.

Hannah downs tools for drinking.

We have undertaken the following tasks:

• harvesting artichokes, onions, shallots, autumn raspberries, Victoria plums, chard, spinach, and rocket.
• weeding creeping buttercup, comfrey, and thistles from the main bed, paths and 'grassy' area around the shed.
• digging new bed between the blackcurrant bushes and summer raspberries.
• moving rocket, mint, marjoram and horseradish to the new bed.
• moving gladioli to newly weeded bed by the gate; and hollyhocks from the main bed to the gladioli bed and in front of the shed.
• buying onion sets and daffodils to be planted on our next visit.
• harvesting elderberries for wine.
• trimming the boundary hedges. 
• fire

Artichokes

The Olde Elm Tree

Rosie Moving the Hollyhocks

Weeding

 

Digging

 

Some of the September Crop

 

Clearing the main bed

 

Space for the next crop

Rhubarb Wine 2009: Bottling

The 2009 Rhubarb, from the allotment has been sitting in a 60 litre barrel since about May last year.  Its now clear and dry, the sediment has settled, and we felt that the time was ripe for bottling.  The first stage was to clean and de-label 80 bottles using the overnight soaking and a good scrape-down with a knife.  This is the least fun part of the operation, and took several days to accumulate the requisite empties. Ho I suffered.

Next, we open the barrel and lift it a very short distance onto a strong low stool. Gently gently, so as not to stir up the long settled sediment.  While it was recovering from this upsetting move, we washed out 80 bottles inside using a solution made up from campden tablets with water. By the time this operation was completed, the wine was ready to go.  I used a multi-thickness of muslin over the intake end of the decanting tube.  With this in the barrel, gravity and a little initial suction did the rest.

We do about 25 bottle at a time, then cork them using the little corking gizmo to prevent the fruit flies getting in.  The flies were very keen today. Drunk on the fumes no doubt. But we defeated them in the end.

All in all, we filled 80 bottles exactly before the cloudy must at the bottom of the barrel started to appear in the siphoning tube. At that point, we stopped and fed the residue from the barrel to the fig trees outside the kitchen, by way of a reward.  The rhubarb is a light delicate pink colour, and quite dry. Very pleasant.

Banbury Elderberry Wine

Thursday 9th September 2010
Using the recipe in the previous post:

We are starting with 4 kilos of berries (which we weighed after we had stripped them from the stalks with a fork.)
In the 60 litre barrel, we add 5 pints of boiling water; and
Stir in 2.5 kilos of sugar.
When it cools, we will add one 5g packet of winemakers yeast, but no citric acid at this stage.
We will cover the barrel top with a cloth to allow the air in and keep the flies out.

On Tuesday 14th at the latest (presuming we don't collect more fruit to complicate the process), we will have to move to stage 2.

ELDERBERRY WINE RECIPE : Whytes Home Wine Equipment

ELDERBERRY WINE RECIPE : Whytes Home Wine Equipment

This red wine made from the bluish berries of the Elder Tree is well worth making. A very popular wine, deep red in colour, a full bodied, tannic wine that imitates a good quality commerical red table wine. The recipe can be adapted to make wine from dried elderberries or sloes all the year round

FRESH ELDERBERRY WINE (recipe to make one gallon of wine) OR USING DRIED ELDERBERRIES

Fresh Elderberries 1.5 kilos (3lbs)
or 250 grams of Dried Elderberries
White Granulated Sugar 1 kilo for dry wine
Or White Granulated Sugar 1.25 kilos for a medium wine
Or White Granulated Sugar 1.5 kilos for a sweet wine
Citric Acid (1 teaspoon)
Yeast and Yeast nutrient
Water

1 Campden Tablet
Potassium Sorbate (Stoppitt) as directed

EQUIPMENT NEEDED TO MAKE ONE GALLON OF WINE

5 litre/1 gallon white plastic food grade bin and lid
5 litre/1 gallon demijohn either glass or plastic
Cork with hole and airlock
Fine nylon Straining bag
Syphon
Hydrometer/Trial Jar (Optional)

RECIPE

Strip the fresh elderberries from the stalk by using a culinary fork, then weigh the berries and crush them in a food grade white polythene bucket. If using dried elderberries or sloes put them directly in the bin and pour on 2 pints of boiling water and dissolve the amount of granulated sugar required. Once cool - approximately 21C (75f) add the yeast, yeast nutrient and citric acid.

Cover well and leave in a warm place to ferment for 4/5 days.

Strain of the liquid into a glass demijohn, top up with cool boiled water and fit a cork and airlock. Continue to leave to ferment for approximately 4 to 6 weeks. When the wine has finished fermenting (test using a hydrometer, the reading should for a dry wine read 0.998sg.). Rack again in one months time. The wine should be stored in either a glass demijohn or bottled. If storing in a demijohn, top up with cool boiled water or red wine up to the neck of the demijohn and add one campden tablet and 1/4 teaspoon of Stoppit. Rack again in two months time.
The wine can be sweetened if necessary . This wine can be drunk within 3/6 months or left to mature

TIP: Adding an extra kilo of blackberries (2lb) at the bucket stage makes an excellent Port style wine