Elderberry Blush questions

[pwrose]

I have 6 lbs of elderberries left over from last year. I want to clear out the freezer because I already have berries from this year building up in there. What would be the best way to make an elderberry blush wine with 6 lbs of elderberries.

Post me some recipes please. For a blush only because I already have the recipe I am going to use for the fresh elderberries this year. With any luck I will be able to make 10 gallons this year. I found a hidden stash of elder bushes this year. LOL.

 

[jtstar]

This recipe makes five gallon of Elderberry Blush

Use your Elderberries from your Elderberry wine to make the Elderberry Blush

Ingredients:
15 Pounds Fresh or Frozen Elderberries
2 gallons water
(6) 11.5 Oz. Cans Welch's Frozen White grape juice
7-8 Pounds sugar, approximately enough to bring S.G. to 1.090-1.095
2-3 Tbls. Acid blend approximately enough to bring acid level to 0.65
2 Tbls. Yeast Nutrient
2 tsp. Pectic Enzyme
5 Campden tablets (crushed)
1 Packet Lalvin RC 212 Yeast

Place your strainer bag full of Elderberries in your primary cover with 2 gallons of boiling water and let cool then add pectic enzyme cover and wait 12 hours. Thaw the six cans of white grape juice add it to the primary and bring the water level up to the five gallon level. Take a reading with your hydrometer and add enough sugar to bring the S.G. to approximately 1.090-1.095. If you have a TA kit check the titratable acidity and correct it to 0.65. Add the yeast nutrient and the crushed campden tablets wait 24 hours and add the yeast. Cover the primary with a cloth and check the S.G. daily. When the must reaches 1.010 in approximately one week rack to a secondary and put under an air lock. Rack again every two months until clear.

 

[pwrose]

Thanks for the recipe, got some questions though.

So your reusing the elderberry pulp left over from an elderberry wine?
If so would I be able to use the same pulp left over after I run them through a juicer. The way I make my elderberry wine is to juice the berries first and not ferment on the pulp.

 

[Julie]

No pw, you would need the pulp. Why don't you try a 5g batch using the juice from your elderberries and 6 cans of welch's white grape concentate?

 

[jtstar]

No pw, you would need the pulp. Why don't you try a 5g batch using the juice from your elderberries and 6 cans of welch's white grape concentate?

Hi Julie
I don't have a steam juicer so I don't know what I am talking about but was just wondering if one could use like five pounds of fresh or frozen elderberrys or the equivelant of juice from a steam juicer with this recipe and get about the same results

 

[Julie]

I'm not sure if you can get the same results. Actually, I am not thinking you would be able to juice enough berries for a 5g batch then turn around and use the pulp for a second.

 

[pwrose]

Julie your first post confused me, but I think I got it now.
Use the juice and the pulp from the berries just add the grape juice to it to lighten it up.
Is that correct?

The way jtstar's recipe was reading was to use the pulp from a 5 gallon batch of elderberry wine and then add the grape juice. That is why I asked if the pulp from the juicer would work. But If I need the juice and the pulp would I lower the amount of berries per gallon or still use the same 15 lbs for the 5 gallon batch? Looks like if I were to use the juice it would come out more like a red wine than a blush.

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

You might want to add your elderberries to some black raspberry or some other berry, making a blush from elderberries by itself wont be very satisfying when you compare it to the full fruit ones you make later. Crackedcork

I have 6 lbs of elderberries left over from last year. I want to clear out the freezer because I already have berries from this year building up in there. What would be the best way to make an elderberry blush wine with 6 lbs of elderberries.

Post me some recipes please. For a blush only because I already have the recipe I am going to use for the fresh elderberries this year. With any luck I will be able to make 10 gallons this year. I found a hidden stash of elder bushes this year. LOL.

 

[jtstar]

Julie your first post confused me, but I think I got it now.
Use the juice and the pulp from the berries just add the grape juice to it to lighten it up.
Is that correct?

The way jtstar's recipe was reading was to use the pulp from a 5 gallon batch of elderberry wine and then add the grape juice. That is why I asked if the pulp from the juicer would work. But If I need the juice and the pulp would I lower the amount of berries per gallon or still use the same 15 lbs for the 5 gallon batch? Looks like if I were to use the juice it would come out more like a red wine than a blush.

Sorry but I know that you are getting confused No you do not need to use the juice just the pulp from the elderberries to make the blush if you are going to try the recipe that I posted which by the way came from Julie and I am now drinking the blush that I made from her recipe and it is very good I do believe that I still have Julie's Elderberry recipe if you need it. What kind of juicer are you using ?

 

[Julie]

PW, I am not thinking the pulp from the juicer would work but I don't use a juicer so I am not sure how much juice is left in the pulp. When you use a juicer is the pulp on the dry side, if so I am not thinking this would work. When I do my seconds there is still a good bit of juice left.

 

[pwrose]

Crackedcork I made an elderberry port last year and absolutly loved it and plan on making 5 gallons of it this year. I also am planning 5 gallons of a regular elderberry wine. Currently I have 40 lbs of blackberries going in an 18 gallon tote and will be taking the pulp out tomorrow. What do you think about adding the 6lbs of elderberries that I currently have in the freezer to the blackberry pulp and making a 5 gallon batch that way. Would it come out as a blush or darker? Also should I use the white grape juice with it still or maybe even cut it back some.

Julie I can stop the juicer before the pulp goes completely dry although it never really gets that dry at least the way I do it. However I think I am going to see what crackedcork has to say about the blackberry pulp with the elderberry mix for that blush. Any suggestions you have are certainly welcomed as well.

jtstar this is the juicer I have
Mehu-liisa 10 Liter Stainless Steel Steam Juicer

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

Hi PWR, I would think that would work, though it would be better to add the elderberries to the blackberries you got in the tote, blackberry elderberry is really good.

What kind of juicer do you use?

CC

 

[pwrose]

the juicer is listed in above post

I got some plans for this blackberry already, however if I can get some more I might try that mix as well. If not this year maybe next.

The blackberry plans are to put this batch in a secondary until the 25lbs of blueberry finishes in the primary and mix the two.
I should have right around 9-10 gallons once mixed, of course that will depend on how the mixing and tasting and mixing and tasting and tasting and you get the picture goes. LOL. Last years blackberry I used blueberry juice to backsweeten and it was gone before it was completley clear. So that is the reason for the mixing of the two this year.

Here is what I am thinking for the blush
blackberry pulp in mesh bag
juice the 6lbs of elderberries and use just the juice
6 cans of the white grape concentrate
and all the other fun additives that go with a batch of wine
making 5 gallons with this and hoping that the blackberries in the mesh bag will still have enough yeast to get it going. Sorta like doing a skeeter pee with a slurry, just using the pulp instead.

Any changes you would make?

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

PWR, I see you guys have honey, we are fostering some 9 hives for a beekeeper that needed room to expand his hives and they love our Wineyard. Have you guys made any meads yet? Sorry but I dont see what kind of juicer you are using, is it one of those ones you crank by hand that has a berry screen? CC

 

[Julie]

the juicer is listed in above post

I got some plans for this blackberry already, however if I can get some more I might try that mix as well. If not this year maybe next.

The blackberry plans are to put this batch in a secondary until the 25lbs of blueberry finishes in the primary and mix the two.
I should have right around 9-10 gallons once mixed, of course that will depend on how the mixing and tasting and mixing and tasting and tasting and you get the picture goes. LOL. Last years blackberry I used blueberry juice to backsweeten and it was gone before it was completley clear. So that is the reason for the mixing of the two this year.

Here is what I am thinking for the blush
blackberry pulp in mesh bag
juice the 6lbs of elderberries and use just the juice
6 cans of the white grape concentrate
and all the other fun additives that go with a batch of wine
making 5 gallons with this and hoping that the blackberries in the mesh bag will still have enough yeast to get it going. Sorta like doing a skeeter pee with a slurry, just using the pulp instead.

Any changes you would make?

Take an acid test, keep the sg reading around 1.080 and I think you got something going here.

last year I had 8 #'s of coke cherries and 3 gallon of cherry juice and just finished making an elderberry wine and then a blush. The elderberries still seem to have a lot of juice in them so I took out the choke cherries, poured 2 gallon of hot water on them, added the cherry juice and added the elderberries. Boy do I like this wine, it has a smokey, slightly elderberry, cherry taste.

 

[pwrose]

crackedcork this is the juicer
Mehu-liisa 10 Liter Stainless Steel Steam Juicer
no picture just the name.
As far as mead well thats funny because I tried to screw up a mead last year and did an excellent job at it. It was way to high on the SG and never worked out the way I wanted it to. I will say that I plan to do some more but it probably wont be until next year. We didn't make alot of our own honey this year. We are primarily a pollination company and run over 1000 hive and are working towards 2500 by next year. Got to get the almond pollination contracts squared away and we will be in business big time by this time next year. Ok enough rambling on that, I will make some mead next year once we harvest the clary sage honey crop.
I also have to give a plug to a meadery that I found on my last trip to Alaska, Homer to be exact and the name of the meadery is Ring of Fire Meadery. You can find them on the net by adding the .com to the end of the name or just google it. Very nice people and the owner even wants to try and get some our clary sage honey to make a new mead with.

Julie thank you and I will do just that. I just got a new acid test kit and will give it a shot when I get home from work tomorrow. Do you think that is enough grape juice or should I add more or take away some.

 

[pwrose]

Well I am not sure how it will turn out but here is the link to the blog on it.
http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/blog.php?b=52

I have all my blogs locked for adding commits, so please add them here.

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

Mehu-liisa 10 Liter Stainless Steel Steam Juicer very nice for elderberries. Glad to see you guys having so many bees, we are hosting 9 hives, 7 were empty this spring, full of honey but no bees, the other 2 hives were thriving, now all of them are doing well. For the last several years we havent seen hardly any bees, once we hosted some hives we really can tell what we have been missing.

Crackedcork

 

[pwrose]

It would neat to have one hive on your elderberries when they are blooming and see if they could make a honey crop off of them. Elderberry honey, talk about something unique and extremeley rare. That would also depend on what other flowering plants and trees you have flowering at the same time.
What exactly do you mean by hosting the bees. Is someone putting them there trying to make a honey crop or are you renting them for pollination?
We are more commercial than hobby, and most if not all of our hives are rented out for pollination. (hehe shhhh, thats where most of my fruits and berries come from. either free like the blackberries and blueberries or really cheap like this years strawberries. watermelons are next)

 

[pwrose]

I took the blush out of the primary and put it in a 5 gallon carboy, but the SG was still at 1.030. There was much action as far as bubbling went but it was still going. I just hope it doesn't decide to take off to finish and bubble over lol.
It smelled really good and looked a lot like the strawberry from this year. Hopefully it will lighten on up to be a blush more than a light red wine.