Dandelion wine bottled

[whino-wino]

I had a batch of Dandelion that's been bulk aging in the carboy since last June so I figured it was time to go ahead and bottle it. I had done a 3 gallon batch but lost about a bottle or so during the filtering process. I always toss the first couple of cups off the filter as there seem to be a lot of "floaties" in it and I also soak the filters in K-meta before using them. I don't want all those extra sulfites in my wine so losing a bottle is pretty common for me no matter what the batch size (this is why I don't normally filter gallon batches). Anyway subract that one and the wife and I downed another so I only ended up with 13 bottles:

The labels I made were small, but I kind of like them:

The cool part about the label is that the dandelion in the picture is actually in the wine.


I was veryimpressed with this one. I had never made a wine from flowers before so this was my first attempt. I did add 3 cans (1 per gallon) of frozen Welch's White Grape concentrate for body but I didn't dare do more as I didn't want to overpower the flower (hey, that could be in a rap song

). To my surprise it is a very "fruity" wine and smells great (definitely dandelion). It is a little bit of a light wine, but I actually think it balances out quite well overall. I'd almost have to say it's one of the best I've ever made. I was not expecting this from a weed that grows on my lawn.


My wife loves it. She said, "It's like drinking sunshine."


Couldn't have put it better myself.


I will admit though, this is one of the most time consuming and labor intensive wines I think anyone can attempt. Cutting flower petals off of hundreds, if not thousands, of dandelionsjust to get a couple of gallons is a painstaking process to say the least but it seems that it is well worth the effort.

 

[Waldo]

Great job on itt whino..I like the label too

 

[Scott]

Nice label and yes it is labor intensive and I made 10 gals of it. By the end I was laying down in the yard picking the little buggers, good thing there aren't any close neghbors!

 

[grapeman]

So you cut the petals off and didn't pluck them? I still haven't gotten the nerve or committed to the time to try a batch of this stuff. I have had it before, but the other person always makes it way to sweet for my taste.


Sounds like yours turned out really good. Nice little labels there you made. Great job.

 

[hannabarn]

I was tempted to try making that last spring but I don't think my old back can take that much exercise any more!!

 

[NorthernWinos]

Hummm....The pelican's gave us a bottle of their Dandelion Wine....will have to try it soon.

 

[Bostaevski]

Is this something a total beginner could try? In the last 2 months I've started 4 different kits but never anything from scratch.

There's a field near my house where I see a hundred thousand dandelions pop up every year. I've always wanted to try it (and try making it) ever since I heard old Liam Clancy and the late Tommy Makem sing about it:
Listen to Dandelion Wine at Rhapsody

 

[Wade E]

Im such a fool! I did as you mentioned and gathered enough for a 3 gallon batch and sat there and cut all the green stuff off and bagged it up and then stuck it all in the freezer for a month or so then threw them all away!

what a dope!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[whino-wino]

So you cut the petals off and didn't pluck them? I still haven't gotten the nerve or committed to the time to try a batch of this stuff. I have had it before, but the other person always makes it way to sweet for my taste.


Sounds like yours turned out really good. Nice little labels there you made. Great job.

I cut the green from underneath the petals with a scissors and then in one snip cut the petals into a bucket. Just seemed to me that it would be easier that way. Also, by doing this your fingers won't turn yellow for a month.


I didn't sweeten mine at all. It's bone dry.

 

[whino-wino]

Nice label and yes it is labor intensive and I made 10 gals of it. By the end I was laying down in the yard picking the little buggers, good thing there aren't any close neghbors!

I was tempted to try making that last spring but I don't think my old back can take that much exercise any more!!

I had my 2 and 4 year old daughters handle most of the picking chores. Gave them each an ice cream bucket and kept sending them out for more. They didn't mind one bit.

 

[whino-wino]

Im such a fool! I did as you mentioned and gathered enough for a 3 gallon batch and sat there and cut all the green stuff off and bagged it up and then stuck it all in the freezer for a month or so then threw them all away!

what a dope!!!!!!!!!!!

That's too bad. The hard part was over!

 

[Wade E]

I know and thats the part where I feel like such an idiot!

 

[whino-wino]

Is this something a total beginner could try? In the last 2 months I've started 4 different kits but never anything from scratch.

There's a field near my house where I see a hundred thousand dandelions pop up every year. I've always wanted to try it (and try making it) ever since I heard old Liam Clancy and the late Tommy Makem sing about it:
Listen to Dandelion Wine at Rhapsody

I don't see why this can't be done by a beginner. It's not a hard wine to make, just labor intensive. You have to pick a ton of flowers, then get just the petals off before the flower heads close up on you again. I wasn't kidding when I said it takes hundreds, if not thousands, of dandelions. Once you get that part done it's actually pretty easy.


You will need some extra things though.


Yeast Nutrient or Energizer
Potassium Sorbate
Ascorbic Acid
Acid Blend or a couple of ripe lemons (recipe I used called for lemon juice)


and of course the usual suspects. Sugar, Yeast maybe some golden raisins or Welch's white grape concentrate for body.


I'll post my recipeonce Ifind it. It's buried in my wine log somewhere which I seem to have misplaced (I just had it the other day!!....Kids might have moved it.)

 

[hannabarn]

Maybe I should bring my buckets over to Minnesota and borrow you daughters and your lawn.

 

[grapeman]

Somebody here needs to invent a dandelion flower harvester. The ideal one would use a big vacuum to suck the flowers off and let them drop into a screen/cutter. The heavier stem would drop/get sucked downward into the screen until it was full- like a vacuum seeder. Once it was full, a big knife would slice across the flowers all at once and temporarily stay in place, the stems drop down and are discarded. A diverter moves in place and the slicer opens back up releasing the tray of petals to fall into the collection chute. Suction resumes and the process repeats. I guestimate about1/4 acre per hour harvest rate yielding enough dandelion petals for 100 gallons of wine.


Any takers to develop it?

 

[Scott]

I nominate Appleman, looks like he has it figured out!!

 

[hannabarn]

Nice label and yes it is labor intensive and I made 10 gals of it. By the end I was laying down in the yard picking the little buggers, good thing there aren't any close neghbors!

I was tempted to try making that last spring but I don't think my old back can take that much exercise any more!!

I had my 2 and 4 year old daughters handle most of the picking chores. Gave them each an ice cream bucket and kept sending them out for more. They didn't mind one bit.

I have a 2 year old great grandson! Maybe I could bring him along!!!

 

[NorthernWinos]

Part of our new yard is sometimes just yellow with Dandelions...The neighbors asked if we were making Dandelion wine...

I kept telling Jim he couldn't spray 2-4-D because of the grapes....He got some Amine 2-4-D [I think that's how it's spelled]... It's not suppose to drift...He is spraying the outer regions of the lawn...working his way closer to the garden.

Now when they get ripe...we could use Appleman's vacuum idea and suck up all those fluffy white seeds...

Maybe we should try Pelican's Dandelion Wine before the flower season....
Might have to save the flowers...

 

[PolishWineP]

When I was in Vermont a few years ago, all the pastures were yellow with beautiful flowers. They were dandelions. It was very pretty. Nature's flowers, cheap and pretty. I've given up on them. They hold the soil in place and are mowable.

 

[grapeman]

Across the "Lake" from Vermonton this side we have lots of those "Beautiful Flowers" also

. I think their farmer's pasture a bit more than on this side of the lake. Things were different 25-30 years ago, but now few farmers over here pasture anymore. Land taxes make it too expensive to farm that way. Everything has to be "intensively farmed" or not at all.