Home Brew Flower Wines

Simple Recipe for Elderflower, Dandelion and other Home Made Wines

May 1, 2008 Joanne E. Brannan

Home Brew Country Wines are delightful drinks to serve to friends, full of natural flavor from spring flowers. This simple home brew winemaking recipe gives great results

This recipe is a simple and reliable way to home brew wine from fragrant edible flowers.

Flowers to use

For one gallon of water, use the following quantity of your chosen flower:

  • Dandelion: 1 quart (2 pints) of gently pressed down flowers with stems removed.
  • Elderflower: 1 pint of flowers cut from their stems and gently pressed down
  • Comment Gorse: 3 pints of flowers
  • Rose petals: 3 pints of petals
  • Red Clover: 2 pints of flowers, stems removed.

Be careful to identify your flowers correctly before picking for wine making. Avoid flowers that have been treated with potentially harmful chemicals.

Why not also try edible flowers in colorful flower salads or make your own crystallized flowers for cake decoration?

Ingredients

  • 1 gallon of boiling water
  • 1 packet wine yeast
  • 3 lbs white sugar
  • A small cup of very strong black tea
  • Juice of two lemons or 1 teaspoon citric acid
  • 1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
  • Your flowers

Equipment

  • Two one gallon demijohns
  • A large unchipped enamel container or stoneware crock.
  • Clean cloth for covering this container
  • Airlock and bung to fit demijohn
  • 2 meter length of clear food grade plastic tubing
  • Sodium Metabisulfite or Camden tablets for sterilizing equipment
  • Large plastic spoon
  • Home brew thermometer
  • Extra boiling water for rinsing off sterilizing solution
  • Sieve
  • Large Funnel

Method

  1. Clean and sterilize the enamel pot or the crock, the thermometer and the spoon. Rinse off the sterilizing solution with boiling water.
  2. Add all the ingredients except the yeast, yeast nutrient and two of the three pounds of sugar to the crock or enamel container and pour on the boiling water and stir well. Insert the thermometer, cover, and leave to cool.
  3. When luke warm add the yeast and yeast nutrient, and stir in with the spoon (which must again be sterilized).
  4. Remove the thermometer, cover with the clean cloth to keep flies out, and leave to ferment in a warm place for three days.
  5. After these three days, sterilize one demijohn, the airlock and bung, the sieve and funnel, and rinse all this equipment with boiling water.
  6. Pour the remaining two pounds of sugar into the demijohn using the funnel and then strain the fermented flower mix into the demijohn, over the sugar. Fill so that the wine is around and inch (2.5 cm) below the fitted bung. Fit the bung and airlock (which should contain a little sterilizing solution to prevent contamination by flies) and leave to ferment in a warm place for a couple of months.
  7. After these two months, sterilize the second demijohn and the plastic tubing, and rinse with boiling water. Remove the airlock and bung, and carefully siphon the wine off the yeast sediment into the fresh demijohn. If necessary make up the volume with a very little boiling water. After sterilizing and rinsing the bung with boiling water, and refreshing the sterilizing fluid in the airlock, refit the bung and airlock on the new demijohn.
  8. Leave to ferment until the airlock no longer bubbles, meaning that fermentation is complete. Your wine is ready to drink, or you may prefer to let it mature a little longer by siphoning into sterilized wine bottles.

The copyright of the article Home Brew Flower Wines in Recipes is owned by Joanne E. Brannan. Permission to republish Home Brew Flower Wines in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
Dandelion Flower, Joanne E Brannan Dandelion Flower
   
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