elderflowers

[winesilly]

I am new to this and I am starting my first batch of wine. I have elderflowers sitting on the top of my juice in my bucket and I am just wondering what I do before racking into my carboy. I am on day 4 and will be testing soon to see if I can move over to carboy. Do I scoop them out before racking the the wine to stage 2 or just leave them there.

Help a newbe please

 

[Tenbears]

I generally put any such items in a fruit bag prior to fermentation. Then when ready I simply pull the bag, give it a squeeze, or two depending on what it contains, then I can wait a day or so for it to settle and rack. Since you did not use a fruit bag, you may want to strain the flowers out. I have a large wire mesh spoon that I use for scoop straining such things also. I would leave the flowers in the must until the SG get down around 1.000, Remove them and let stand until the SG stays below 1.000 for 3 days then rack into carboy.

 

[salcoco]

I would stir every day to increase the elderflower presence in the wine. Do not stir the day you plan to siphon the wine.Keep the siphon below the elderflowers and they will be just lower with the top until the primary is empty. should some get sucked into the secondary, I always rack after three days and these elderflowers sill rack out then.

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

Is this a kit? You can put a pantyhose stocking into the neck of your carboy and put your racking cane into it to strain out the elderflowers easy. You should try to stir them into the must so they get everything out of the flowers. WVMJ

 

[winesilly]

Yes this is a World Vineyard kit.

 

[winesilly]

Is there anyone else out there that has any comments.

 

[cintipam]

winesilly, you have had 3 great answers from 3 experienced folks, one who is the absolute expert on elderberry and elderflower wines. I learned something from that post. Are you asking for instructions after you transfer to secondary, or do you have other questions/ Specify what troubles you. it is hard the first time around to know what tp do, but it really helps if you are clear where you need most help.

Pam in cinti

 

[cintipam]

Hi winesilly

Welcome to WMT. Sorry my last post was rushed, thought I'd try again. In general, the advice given for kits is to follow the directions since the manufacturers spend a lot of time and money making sure they make it as foolproof as possible. And in my opinion not too many of us here have much experience with elderflowers. So I do believe that getting the answers you already got might be the best of all with experience has to offer. It seems they all agree that the flowers should only be in the primary, and stirred to help get all you can out of them. That stirring thing might be against what the kit said, so that might be part of your confusion. Do not stir the day you plan to rack to secondary. Jack's idea about a new cleaned sanitized hose over the racking can is a great idea to stop the flowers from being sucked into the tube. Or you could scoop out what ever you can get with a sanitized scoop or screen. Beyond the elderflower thing if you have additional questions or concerns then ask away. Lots more of us can offer help if just about winemaking.

Pam in cinti

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

There are going to be little bits and pieces from the flowers that are floating with a neutral balance right in the middle sometimes, so the strainers will only get whatever is floating on top but not anything that has sunk. If you want more elderflower contribution we also like to put them in the secondary carboy and let them stay there until the next racking using some more elderflowers. The fresh ones leave an intense yellow pollen layer on the lees. WVMJ

 

[winesilly]

Thanks everyone for your comments. I dipped the elderflowers off the top yesterday and plan to rack the wine over to a carboy tonight. Just wondering if there is anything that I should watch for while doing this. Again thanks for your help.

 

[francois_du_nord]

Howdy WS, and welcome to WMT.

I'm about to make my first wine with elderflowers, also a WineExpert kit. I did see a post from somebody over here (maybe RichMKE??) where he or she said that the leftover flowers in the primary fermenter scratched the sides when cleaning, and that in retrospect a couple of good rinses to get the detrius out of the fermenter prior to scrubbing would be recommended.

Good on ya for jumping right in and asking questions. There are lots of little nuances that early on create a lot of concerns for newbies.

Best, Fran

 

[winesilly]

Thanks Fran

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

There is no way elderflowers can scratch anything, they are soft flowers, nothing about them is scratchy. WVMJ

 

[winesilly]

Thanks everyone