YooperBrew

Recipes 

__________________
Broken Leg Brewery
Giving beer a leg to stand on since 2006

GWF

Recipes 

What does this taste like? I've never tried dandelion before but I'm willing to try it if it's nice.

YooperBrew

Recipes 

Well, it's hard to describe. Sort of fruity, dry and crisp. Kind of like a pinot grigio, to compare it to a commercial wine. I sweetened one batch and didn't like it as much, but other people did. It's really good wine, and I will keep making it.

__________________
Broken Leg Brewery
Giving beer a leg to stand on since 2006

HenryHill

Recipes 

Picking the dandelions isn't easy, but it is by the far the easiest part of working with them.

To make this as easy on yourself as possible, pick in late morning to early afternoon, so the blossoms are open and the grass is dry. Picking a day after a moderate rain will insure that they are as healthy and fresh as can be. Do not pick on a windy day-the petals are light and will drift away from the receiving vessel. The wind will also dry out the flowers, making them more difficult to work with. Cold, dark, cloudy days will cause the flowers to close making this much more difficult.

Avoid any grassy areas that are mowed, because this reduces the size of the blooms, and lays open the possibility that they have been sprayed. I have found that pasture fields are best-where they grow with clover. Also along side roads on the angled sides of ditches.

DO NOT think that picking the small ones out of your lawn is doing yourself a favor! The picking is the easy part; plucking the petals is tough enough so aim for ONLY the largest, fullest, 3-dimensional hemispherical shaped blooms that you can find. You want them to look like the apples in the store that they sell separate-not the 3 pound bags of apples that are cheap. Flat shaped ones yield little and show a lack of sugars and overall vigor. Roughly 2"- 2 1/4" flowers will make this much easier on you. Try to pick only the heads. The stems will be discarded when you pluck but handling them with the stems is just plain awkward. Try to find a place where large flowers are densely grouped-bending over is tough, compared to kneeling in an area that is densely populated.

NOW, as for how to pluck:

I used a small sharp paring knife. Holding a few in my left hand, the knife in my right hand, I used my thumb and forefinger of each hand alternately, to 'close' the bloom and then cut HALFWAY into the base just ABOVE the green fingers that separate the yellow bloom from the green fingers. I then pulled the remaining petals free from the green head, with my left thumb and forefinger. This is similar to eating a lot of shrimp; you lightly bite the third section of shell while hanging onto the first and second segments at the tail. After the quick 'bite' , you grab the body of the shrimp with your teeth and pull it from the shell.

Anything green that falls into the finished bucket is darn near impossible to remove, so being nimble-figured when cutting and plucking is essential.

I did 5 gallons, measured my final product on a scale, and it took me all day.

__________________

scinerd3000

Recipes 

sounds like alot of work. Have you ever seen any commerically produced versions

__________________
THIRSTY GOAT BREWING COMPANY
On Deck:Alaskan Amber
Primary:
Secondary: Creme De Phlegm Flemish Red
Bottled: Apfelwein, Stoneface RIS, Helles Bock, Tusch's Blueberry Cider, Tangerine Wine, Cherry Dubbel, Banana Wine, Parched Villager IPA, Vanilla Bourbon Porter, Chocolate Porter
Kegged:Kitchen Sink (sorta) Black IPA
Projects: Keezer Conversion
Brix-->SG


1,2,3,4

Bokonon

Recipes 

Very timely topic. I noticed that the latest basic brewing radio podcast was about Dandelion wine.

I haven't listened yet, but I'm sure I'll check out the episode in the next few days

http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbr05-08-08dandelion.mp3

__________________
My Brewing Website

JustDave

Recipes 

We're out visiting my parents for Mother's Day, and my parents' yard is FULL of dandelions. With 4 eager nephews/nieces there to help, I knew I had to pick as many as we could. Child labor rules.

I just knew you'd have a recipe for it, Yooper! Can't wait to start on it tomorrow ...

HenryHill

Recipes 

Commercially produced dandelion I have not seen.

Google 'dandelion wine' and even actual recipes (those that have terms such as what type of yeast and OG and FG) are rare.

__________________

YooperBrew

Recipes 

I've used several different wine yeasts and several different recipes, and I've found that there really isn't much difference in the wine using champagne yeast vs. cotes des blanc for example. I didn't like the other recipes that I've tried as much, but Jack Keller's website has tons of dandelion recipes! Here's a link: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/dandelion.asp

My posted recipe (above) comes direction from that site. I made his dandelion (2) recipe last year, and didn't like it as much. I found it lacking a bit in body and flavor and liked the first one much more!

__________________
Broken Leg Brewery
Giving beer a leg to stand on since 2006

KiRbY29869

Recipes 

Breitinbach--- not sure of the spelling but thats what it sounds like. They are a winery here in Ohio that commercially makes dandelion. I heard that it is pretty good but haven't tried it myself. I think they have a festival for it every year. Something to check out for those of you wondering.
http://www.breitenbachwine.com/ it's under fruit wines $9.75 a bottle