2013 Elderberries

[garymc]

Don't feel bad. I'm trying to grow them, but have never picked any. And if I have any this year, it will be July or August. You've already picked some.

 

[ffemt128]

We get about a gallon of juice from 10 pounds of berries, that will make between 1 and 3 gallons of wine depending on how much you like elderberry wine WVMJ

That's about what I end up with per 10 gallon as well. Last year after steaming the 85 lbs we ended up with just under 9 1/2 gallons of juice. Even at 3-4 lbs per gallon it makes a very good wine. So based on the above with a gallon of pure juice you could realistically make a 3 gallon batch. If you're using gallon ziplocks, just about 5 lbs fit in a bag for freezing.

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

Steaming changes the character a little bit, I think a lot less tannins seem to make in through the process so using 100% steamed juice makes a very nice wine. When we steam elders we also like to make mead with them, so 4 gallon steamed juice, cooled to Room Temp, 1.25 gallons of honey, toss in some pectinase and oak. We must overstuff our gallon bags because we usually cram 10 pounds of elderberries in a gallon bag, makes calculating how much we need to thaw out a lot easier on me WVMJ

That's about what I end up with per 10 gallon as well. Last year after steaming the 85 lbs we ended up with just under 9 1/2 gallons of juice. Even at 3-4 lbs per gallon it makes a very good wine. So based on the above with a gallon of pure juice you could realistically make a 3 gallon batch. If you're using gallon ziplocks, just about 5 lbs fit in a bag for freezing.

 

[Downwards]

Guys. I was picking berries off the frozen bunches, all was going well. They pretty much just fall right off as explained.
Unfortunately as I get down to the very bottom of the bucket it looks like lots of tiny frozen fruit fly larvae. They must have been on some of the fruit and then crawled to the bottom of the bucket as it got cold, because I didn't notice them till the end.
Keep going or dump the bottom 1/8 of the bucket? Rinse the berries? Or just dump them in and call it yeast nutrient? I'm leaning towards option one at this time.

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

Have you checked out our videos on picking and sorting elderberries? The little larva are like catipillars? Might be some kind of sawfly. Though a lot of people do that freeze and knock off method there is a lot of unripe fruit that comes off to, you can use cold water in a bucket to sort out the ripe from unripe fruit, except after being frozen you are going to loose some juice. I think its better to knock the berries off using a baking rack and then washing them in cold water to sort out unripe fruit and bugs, most bus float pretty well. WVMJ

 

[ffemt128]

Have you checked out our videos on picking and sorting elderberries? The little larva are like catipillars? Might be some kind of sawfly. Though a lot of people do that freeze and knock off method there is a lot of unripe fruit that comes off to, you can use cold water in a bucket to sort out the ripe from unripe fruit, except after being frozen you are going to loose some juice. I think its better to knock the berries off using a baking rack and then washing them in cold water to sort out unripe fruit and bugs, most bus float pretty well. WVMJ

I take the 2 bucket approach. Both with cold water. I'll give the clusters a dip in on bucket for a quick rinse. I've found the "fanning of the fingers through the cluster" to work pretty well. I then dump in to separate clean bucket for floating purposes.

 

[Downwards]

Have you checked out our videos on picking and sorting elderberries? The little larva are like catipillars? Might be some kind of sawfly. Though a lot of people do that freeze and knock off method there is a lot of unripe fruit that comes off to, you can use cold water in a bucket to sort out the ripe from unripe fruit, except after being frozen you are going to loose some juice. I think its better to knock the berries off using a baking rack and then washing them in cold water to sort out unripe fruit and bugs, most bus float pretty well. WVMJ

Where can I find the videos? I'd love to check this out.. OH! Never mind, just found your page. For some reason the link didn't work for me, but I googled it.

Another question. Is it ok to have a few teeny tiny stem bits in the must. I really rarely see one in there, but the few that there are will be nearly impossible to pick out, unless they show up for me (float) when I'm mixing my must together.

 

[BobF]

I got tired of chasing wild berries, so I planted my own last spring. Here they are today:

Short, 45' row


Two 60' rows:



They're young, but are looking like they'll produce well this year.

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

You ought to get 30+ pounds this year, first year plants give bigger fruit than on older plants. I like your spacing, I put mine a little to close between rows and it dark in there! WVMJ

 

[ffemt128]

I got tired of chasing wild berries, so I planted my own last spring. Here they are today:

Short, 45' row
View attachment 8647

Two 60' rows:
View attachment 8648


They're young, but are looking like they'll produce well this year.

So jealous, wish I lived in a more rural are where I had the property to do that....my back yard is literally 30x30 and I have a 425 sq ft patio back there.

 

[ffemt128]

Just an fyi, anyone near the downtown area there are 2 large plants directly across from the convention center and looks to be 3-4 large plants on the riverfront walkway down along the actual river. I'll keep the status of these updated in the event anyone want's to venture down. I drive by here 2x a day so I'll let you know when they get ripe...

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

If you fill in the area you are wasting on grass with elderberries you wouldnt have to mow, wouldnt have to talk to your noisy neigbhors in the back yard, could hide from your wife when she is mad, would make the whole neighborhood smell wonderfull in the spring and shade your patio. And as a bonus pick berries and make wine WVMJ

So jealous, wish I lived in a more rural are where I had the property to do that....my back yard is literally 30x30 and I have a 425 sq ft patio back there.

 

[BobF]

So jealous, wish I lived in a more rural are where I had the property to do that....my back yard is literally 30x30 and I have a 425 sq ft patio back there.

Yeah, I hear ya'. I've been there.

My current back yard is 1320' x 660'

 

[ffemt128]

Some of the bushes are starting to get ripe berries. I've picked about 2 lbs so far in 2 outings. The berries are about 3/16" in diameter from this plant. My primary plant has not ripened yet, one of the additional plants has been picked clean by birds. The other plants I've found this year as of last weekend were still green. I have a feeling I'll be very busy this year.

 

[garymc]

Driving by and looking at the ones on the side of the road, I was still seeing lots of blooms last week. But some of the ones in my yard have had berries for a month. I haven't seen any ripe yet, though.

 

[ffemt128]

Checked on some bushes while out this evening. One of the bushes I checked is full of deep dark purple/black berries about 3/16 in diameter. The bush 30 yards away is still green and just getting some color. My primary bush which usually yields about 30+ lbs is red all over with very few dark ones as of yet. I'm figuring next week but will continue to check every few days. I have the clippers and a supply of blue bags in the truck.

With aldi having blue berry on sale I may have to mix up a batch of elderberry blueberry like I did 2 years ago. It was good.

 

[ffemt128]

Went out on my lunch break and picked 2 full grocery bags of elderberries. I'm guessing after cleaning close to 10 lbs. Got stung by a bee, wow does that hurt...

 

[ffemt128]

Well, ended up with just under 7 lbs of non-floaters. I'm satisfied with the quantity. We had about 3/4 lb of floaters. I have to say, some of those floaters looked awful dark in color. I'll check another location tomorrow. Hopefully there are some ripe ones there.

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

You can always squeeze the dark floaters to see if they were actually ripe or not. I wonder if some of them started fermenting inside the fruit so had some CO2 or just hadnt converted enough sugar yet to sink? Nothings perfect, you just sorted a few thousand berries in few minutes, would you want to do that by hand? WVMJ

 

[cintipam]

Hi all

I've enjoyed reading about your wild pickins. Last year I picked up a Purple tower elderberry and after during research it seems that elderberries which produce red berries are considered not safe for human consumption. I'm guessing that means no wine making too. Stated all varieties of the racemosa elderberry in that red group. Said for eating purple berries one needs canadensis or nigra variety. Yet I have read a few times of folks making wine from the red ones. I was hoping you experienced folks could tell me for sure if my red berries could make wine or not.

thanks for the help

Pam in cinti