My first time to make Dandiline wine
- Thread starter Harry
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NorthernWinos
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We had a mild winter down here in south central Texas , My Black berrys are looking good and see signs of flowers , It was in the mid 70's yesterday. I had double Hernia surgery last thursday and was getting stur crazy , wife and kid wouldnt let me do anything so i went in the pasture and picked flowers LOL. Waldo i have 2 recipes for Dandiline wine one says to use just the peddles the other says use the whole flower , So what the heck i have nothing else to do so why not pick the peddles. My daughter came by to see me as i was picking peddles ,she told me Daddy that looks like a lot of work an offered to buy me a bottle of wine LMAO
Hi pkcook
I left it in the primary until it cooled off so i could pitch the yeast. My SG was a little high 1.145 So i used Red Star Premier Cuv'ee I usualy put the sugar in a little at a time but recipe called for 3 pounds so i dumped it all in. I let it sit for about 3 hours and stured it well then put it in the carboy.I sat about 30 minutes and ala millions of bubbles started& has been going fine so far. Wil send pics when it starts to clear.Here is the recipe i used.
Harry
<CENTER>Dandelion Wine (2)</CENTER>
<UL>
<LI>2 qts dandelion flowers
<LI>3 lbs granulated sugar
<LI>4 oranges
<LI>1 gallon water
<LI>yeast and nutrient </LI>[/list]
This is the traditional "Midday Dandelion Wine" of old, named because the flowers must be picked at midday when they are fully open. Pick the flowers and bring into the kitchen. Set one gallon of water to boil. While it heats up to a boil, remove as much of the green material from the flower heads as possible (the original recipe calls for two quarts of petals only, but this will work as long as you end up with two quarts of prepared flowers). Pour the boiling water over the flowers, cover with cloth, and leave to seep for two days. Do not exceed two days. Pour the mixture back into a pot and bring to a boil. Add the peelings from the four oranges (again, no white pith) and boil for ten minutes. Strain through a muslin cloth or bag onto acrock or plastic pail containing the sugar, stirring to dissolve. When cool, add the juice of the oranges, the yeast and yeast nutrient. Pour into secondary fermentation vessel, fit fermentation trap, and allow to ferment completely. Rack and bottle when wine clears. Again, allow it to age six months in the bottle before tasting, but a year will improve it vastly. This wine has less body than the first recipe produces, but every bit as much flavor (some say more!).
COMMENTS: Dandelion wine is typically a light wine lacking body. One of the recipes above used raisins as a body-builder, but you could use dates or figs or rhubarb instead. Whatever you use will affect the color, so golden raisins or golden figs are usually used with dandelions (both are usually available in bulk at Sun Harvest, Giant Foods, or many other stores).
Both recipes call for 3 lbs granulated sugar per gallon of wine. Whether this produces a dry, sweet or semi-sweet wine will depend on the yeast you use, as those which convert additional sugar into higher alcohol percentages will result in drier wine unless additional sugar is added (no more that 1/4 lb per gallon). I tell people to make what they like. If you like dry wine, use 1/4 lb less sugar or champagne yeast. If you like sweet wine, add a little more just before bottling (along with wine stabilizer to stop all fermentation). Personally, I always push the yeast into the most fermentation it will give by adding sugar after racking and giving it another month to raise the alcohol level. This requires an additional racking before bottling. Also, the yeast usually doesn't use up all the additional sugar so my wines are usually a little on the sweet side (which I prefer).
If you omit the body-building ingredient, dandelion wine is light and invigorating and suited perfectly for tossed salad and baked fish (especially trout). If you ferment with a body-enhancer but shave the sugar, the wine will serve well with pastas, heavier salads, fish, or fowl. Sweetened, it goes well before or after dinner.
Finally, dandelion wine is well-suited to make into a sparkling wine and may even do splendid if kept semi-dry to semi-sweet. In that case I'd use no more than 3/4 lb of raisins per gallon if you use that recipe -- you don't want too much body weighing it down. Good luck, and may your yeast always give you an extra day's work!.
My thanks to Lance, Ted, Alex, and Dave at L & R Sturgill for the request. I hope you had good luck with one of these recipes.
I left it in the primary until it cooled off so i could pitch the yeast. My SG was a little high 1.145 So i used Red Star Premier Cuv'ee I usualy put the sugar in a little at a time but recipe called for 3 pounds so i dumped it all in. I let it sit for about 3 hours and stured it well then put it in the carboy.I sat about 30 minutes and ala millions of bubbles started& has been going fine so far. Wil send pics when it starts to clear.Here is the recipe i used.
Harry
<CENTER>Dandelion Wine (2)</CENTER>
<UL>
<LI>2 qts dandelion flowers
<LI>3 lbs granulated sugar
<LI>4 oranges
<LI>1 gallon water
<LI>yeast and nutrient </LI>[/list]
This is the traditional "Midday Dandelion Wine" of old, named because the flowers must be picked at midday when they are fully open. Pick the flowers and bring into the kitchen. Set one gallon of water to boil. While it heats up to a boil, remove as much of the green material from the flower heads as possible (the original recipe calls for two quarts of petals only, but this will work as long as you end up with two quarts of prepared flowers). Pour the boiling water over the flowers, cover with cloth, and leave to seep for two days. Do not exceed two days. Pour the mixture back into a pot and bring to a boil. Add the peelings from the four oranges (again, no white pith) and boil for ten minutes. Strain through a muslin cloth or bag onto acrock or plastic pail containing the sugar, stirring to dissolve. When cool, add the juice of the oranges, the yeast and yeast nutrient. Pour into secondary fermentation vessel, fit fermentation trap, and allow to ferment completely. Rack and bottle when wine clears. Again, allow it to age six months in the bottle before tasting, but a year will improve it vastly. This wine has less body than the first recipe produces, but every bit as much flavor (some say more!).
COMMENTS: Dandelion wine is typically a light wine lacking body. One of the recipes above used raisins as a body-builder, but you could use dates or figs or rhubarb instead. Whatever you use will affect the color, so golden raisins or golden figs are usually used with dandelions (both are usually available in bulk at Sun Harvest, Giant Foods, or many other stores).
Both recipes call for 3 lbs granulated sugar per gallon of wine. Whether this produces a dry, sweet or semi-sweet wine will depend on the yeast you use, as those which convert additional sugar into higher alcohol percentages will result in drier wine unless additional sugar is added (no more that 1/4 lb per gallon). I tell people to make what they like. If you like dry wine, use 1/4 lb less sugar or champagne yeast. If you like sweet wine, add a little more just before bottling (along with wine stabilizer to stop all fermentation). Personally, I always push the yeast into the most fermentation it will give by adding sugar after racking and giving it another month to raise the alcohol level. This requires an additional racking before bottling. Also, the yeast usually doesn't use up all the additional sugar so my wines are usually a little on the sweet side (which I prefer).
If you omit the body-building ingredient, dandelion wine is light and invigorating and suited perfectly for tossed salad and baked fish (especially trout). If you ferment with a body-enhancer but shave the sugar, the wine will serve well with pastas, heavier salads, fish, or fowl. Sweetened, it goes well before or after dinner.
Finally, dandelion wine is well-suited to make into a sparkling wine and may even do splendid if kept semi-dry to semi-sweet. In that case I'd use no more than 3/4 lb of raisins per gallon if you use that recipe -- you don't want too much body weighing it down. Good luck, and may your yeast always give you an extra day's work!.
My thanks to Lance, Ted, Alex, and Dave at L & R Sturgill for the request. I hope you had good luck with one of these recipes.
