Elderflower is kind of Blaaa

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Woodbee

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Howdy all.
I have ten gallons of Elderflower sitting in a couple of carboys clearing. It was started on 6/13/10. I used 2 liters of blossoms, 1 pound of golden raisins and 9.3 lbs of sugar in each of two primaries. The chems. were as follows 5 campten tabs,1 tsp acid blend,5 tsp nutrient and 2 tsp peptic enzyme. I didn't seem to write down my starting SG. I was shooting for between 11%-12% abv. I had a good even ferment down to a SG of .995. In one batch I used 1118 champagne yeast and in the other it was D-47. Both batches have been degassed and on the second racking. The acid level tests out at .65%. And the ABV is 11.3%
The problem is that it really tastes kind of Blaa. I wish that I had the words to describe it better. It indeed tastes like wine, smells like wine and indeed has a wine kick to it. It is very disappointing at this time. There is no sharpness or flavor to it. Just kind of flat.
Is .65% on my acid proper? If not, which acid would you all recommend. Luc lists this wine as one of his favorites. I am underwhelmed. I have not done any stabilizing at this point. I have a few pounds of flowers frozen. And I was planning on making some Elderflower syrup for a F-pak. I just don't know what to expect from this stuff. The flavor really needs some help, drastically. After having such high expectations for this wine, I am discouraged. HELP
Brad
 
if I am reading your recipe correctly.. you had 4 litres of flowers for 10 gallons of wine?

that seems a bit low to me.. when I made gorseflower mead, I used 14 litres of flowers to make 2 gallons.

I have a thought on the backsweetening though..over here ( NZ) we can buy bottles of elderflower cordial. ( it's a concentrate you mix with water to make a summer drink)

my suggestion would be to get hold of a few bottles and use to backsweeten after stabilising.

Allie
 
yeah I kind of thought that 2 ltr. seemed kind of light myself. I followed Lucs recipe to a Tee. I processed enough flower to fill a primary and now wished I had.
 
Hi Woodbe, I think you should check Luc's recipe again. I've misread recipes myself at times and done the maths wrong, it's easily done.
Here's Luc's recipe
Ingredients for 10 liter :

- 2160 gram sugar
- 1 liter destemmed fresh elderflowers
- 60 gram mixed acid being:
20 gram tartaric acid, 20 gram mailc acid and 20 gram citric acid.
- 10 gram nutrient

US gallons are 3.785 litres if my memory serves me right. That should work out at 3.785 litres of Elderflowers for 10 US gallons.
Feel free to shoot me down in flames if my maths are wrong.

Elderflower is a wine that is easy to get wrong. Too may flowers or leaving them in the wine too long and you can end up with Cat's Pee. Get it right and you have a beautiful summer wine.

You could suspend flowers in a bag in your wine to bring up the flavour.
Actually Allie's idea of sweetening it up with Elderflower syrup is a good one, I've done it myself. The hard work has been done for you so you can adjust it to your own taste.
By the way, on Luc's blog you can get the recipe for making the syrup yourself.
Regards to all, Winemanden.
 
Thanks. I actually used two (compressed) liters in each of two 5 gallon batches. I was afraid that I used a little too much for these two.
 
a gallon converts out to just over 4 litres, here (NZ) a gallon demijohn holds 4.7 litres.. so I work on that figure as a gallon.

so you have 2 litres of compressed flowers for 42 litres of wine on your figures..

backsweeten it with elderflower syrup... it'll be fine

Allie
 
Blaa

When you say BLAA and you say it tastes flat, that sounds as though you didn't add enough acid. 1 tspn isn't much acid for 18 litres+ of wine. Try adding some acid to a glass of your wine and see if that lifts the flavour.
If it was me, I'd try that before adding more flavouring.

Luc points out the problem of using volume measurements rather than weight.
Regards Winemanden.
 

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