Hunt
Junior Member
- Joined
- May 20, 2013
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Hey all I have been doing some research into Dandelion wine for the last few days and have even started collecting the flowers needed to make it ( 2 hours and 1/4 gallon bucket later). I have some questions before i go much farther with this. Im gonna freeze the flowers for 24 hours to kill anything should the flowers be washed before being steeped to make a tea so as to remove any unwanted bugs and contaminants that die off once frozen. I still have days worth of picking flowers to go before i can even think about making this.
Another question that i cant seem to get answered is once you are steeping the flowers for a tea should it be refrigerated for the 2 days the recipe im using calls for or just left at room temp. I pretty much understand everything else.
Here is what im using
(6 gallons)
• (5) 1-gallon zip top bags of dandelion flowers
• 6 canisters of frozen 100% white grape juice
• 3+ gallons water (more to top up to 6 gallons)
• 12 lbs granulated sugar
• 10 lemons
• 5 oranges
• 1.5 tsp liquid tannin
• EC-1118 yeast and Go-Ferm
• Fermaid-K (added when must is strained on day 3-4)
Step by step
Pick the flowers after they have fully opened, ideally under full sun. You can freeze them if you can't use them
right away. For this recipe you do not need to pick the petals off the flower heads, but the heads should be
trimmed of any stalk and rinsed well with cool water.
Bring 1 gallon of water to a boil in a large stock pot. Remove from the heat. Add the dandelion flowers and stir.
Cover with plastic wrap. Mix twice per day for two days. Don't allow the flowers to steep longer than this.
Bring the steeped flowers to a low boil. Add the peels of the lemons & oranges. Boil gently for 1 hour.
Remove the stock pot from the heat. Strain the liquid through a fine sieve into a primary fermenter. Add the
sugar, white grape juice, tannin and the juice of the lemons & oranges. Use water to top up to 6 gallons. Mix
well.
Allow the mixture to cool to 70 degrees. Rehydrate the yeast and pitch when it has cooled to within 10 degrees
of the must. Gently place the cover (with an airlock affixed) on the fermenter. Don't close the top for 24 hours to
allow the yeast to have some access to oxygen. After 24 hours close the top firmly and allow fermentation to
occur.
The starting gravity will be somewhere around 1.100 which if fermented completely dry will be quite potent.
Fermentation can be suspended early to retain sweetness or the dry wine can be diluted and sweetened to
taste.
Another question that i cant seem to get answered is once you are steeping the flowers for a tea should it be refrigerated for the 2 days the recipe im using calls for or just left at room temp. I pretty much understand everything else.
Here is what im using
(6 gallons)
• (5) 1-gallon zip top bags of dandelion flowers
• 6 canisters of frozen 100% white grape juice
• 3+ gallons water (more to top up to 6 gallons)
• 12 lbs granulated sugar
• 10 lemons
• 5 oranges
• 1.5 tsp liquid tannin
• EC-1118 yeast and Go-Ferm
• Fermaid-K (added when must is strained on day 3-4)
Step by step
Pick the flowers after they have fully opened, ideally under full sun. You can freeze them if you can't use them
right away. For this recipe you do not need to pick the petals off the flower heads, but the heads should be
trimmed of any stalk and rinsed well with cool water.
Bring 1 gallon of water to a boil in a large stock pot. Remove from the heat. Add the dandelion flowers and stir.
Cover with plastic wrap. Mix twice per day for two days. Don't allow the flowers to steep longer than this.
Bring the steeped flowers to a low boil. Add the peels of the lemons & oranges. Boil gently for 1 hour.
Remove the stock pot from the heat. Strain the liquid through a fine sieve into a primary fermenter. Add the
sugar, white grape juice, tannin and the juice of the lemons & oranges. Use water to top up to 6 gallons. Mix
well.
Allow the mixture to cool to 70 degrees. Rehydrate the yeast and pitch when it has cooled to within 10 degrees
of the must. Gently place the cover (with an airlock affixed) on the fermenter. Don't close the top for 24 hours to
allow the yeast to have some access to oxygen. After 24 hours close the top firmly and allow fermentation to
occur.
The starting gravity will be somewhere around 1.100 which if fermented completely dry will be quite potent.
Fermentation can be suspended early to retain sweetness or the dry wine can be diluted and sweetened to
taste.