elderberry wine

[Kimde]

I am new here and to wine making. I started elderberry wine from dried berries. Put it in cheesecloth along with white raisins. The bag is floating on top. Is this normal? should it be weighted down or stirred daily? When do you remove the bag? It is bubbling good.

Thanks,
Kim

 

[Wade E]

This is completely normal. You will have to punch the cap down ( pussh
the fruit down) and stir a little to make sure you get even contact
with the must ( Wine base). I would remove after 7 to 10 days. Welcome
Kimde! This is a great place to learn and buy winemaking supplies.

 

[Kimde]

Thanks Wade I appreciate the quick response. We are really looking forward to our first batch and also have another working. Thanks again!

 

[NorthernWinos]

Welcome Kimde.....hope you share your winemaking journey with us...

 

[Waldo]

Welcome Kimde....Would love to see some pictures of that elderberry a brewing

 

[kutya]

Kimde, welcome to the fourum. I just bottled some elderberry wine two weeks ago. I used fresh berries that were given to me. The initial taste was great, I will let it sit at least 6 months.. Wade gave great advice, I would add that you should squeeze the bag really good (with a pair of plastic gloves on) then discard the berries...

 

[Wade E]

Yes or with sanitized hands instead of gloves, especially at the end. Get every drop of that goodness out of those fruit!

 

[Kimde]

Thanks for the welcome from all of you as well as the advice. I'll have my wife figure out how to post a pic of the elderberry working. I am really amazed at how fast & vigourous the fermentation process is. Can't wait to get home from work at nite to check it. Thanks again for the welcome.

 

[Kimde]

Edited by: Kimde

 

[Wade E]

Kimde, I have posted a tool for resizing pictures. Since picture files
are usually to big to post or email to friends in an effective manner,
this tool shrinks the file size to fit without losing quality. It is a
free download from Microsoft and is a great tool. Just find your
picture in your computer and right click on it after you have
downloaded this tool and in the menu from right clicking you will see
the option to resize. 150 kb is maximum per post.

 

[Waldo]

Oh yeah !!!

Looking good !!!

 

[Wade E]

Looks like you posted it a minute before me. Very nice color!

 

[grapeman]

Is that a gallon batch in some tupperware? Do you cover it with some cheesecloth or something? It looks like you have a very active ferment going. It shouldn't take too long to get down to proper SG for transfer to glass. Good going.

 

[JWMINNESOTA]

Looking good! Every time I see someone making this, I hear Elton John singing Elderberry Wine !

 

[pkcook]

That looks great. Just got my first two elderberry plants in yesterday. I ordered them last year in late fall and they just now shipped!


Has anyone grown elderberries that can give some advice?

 

[kutya]

That wine looks great....

 

[NorthernWinos]

The only advice I can give is...If you live in the country protect them from critters.....


A few years agoI planted a Adams and York plant...the gophers were digging nearby and I guess they ate the roots off...should have trapped them out. So, my lonely plant grew to be huge and bloomed a couple years ago....So I bought two more plants last year....


Now...the rabbits ate the Adams to the ground....

I have two more Adams and York plants on order...will take them awhile to grow up.....going to try to find another Adams plant or two this spring to take up the slack in the pollination department....


I took some cuttings off of the York plant over a week ago....put them in a loose potting mix, put a plastic bag over them, then under lights....they areforcing out leaves...don't know yet if there are any roots going on underneath....had read they root easily...


Good luck...

 

[Cracked Cork]

Kimde, what a great start using elderberries. Yes, floating is a good sign your yeast is working, just make sure to flip it around and give it a little squish a couple of times a day. Next we need to get you a bucket so you can stir really good without fear of loosing any of your wine Crackedcork

 

[Cracked Cork]

PKCook, what kind did you get? We have had good luck with the deer leaving the elderberries alone, as long as they have some nice apple trees to eat instaed.

Crackedcork

 

[Kimde]

WOW! what great discussion. To answer a couple of questrions, yes it is a 1 1/2 gal tupperware container w/lid and I plan to transfer it to one of the 1 gal glass jugs which I found at neat place last weekend called "Fine Vine Wines". We also have 4 gal of rasberry & white grape going which was started last weekend. Although the frmentation of this is not near as vigorous as the elderberry.

We moved to the DFW area about 3yrs ago from NE Kansas where the elderberries grow wild along the country roads. Grandma "Bless her soul" made some fine wine using these and my Brother has one (1) bottle left which is now 28 yrs old.