Dandelion Wine - Page 4

**Yooper** · 08-10-2009, 11:09 PM

I have no idea. I only used dandelions.

Daddymem · 08-15-2009, 08:18 PM

Thanks Yoop. They sure look and smell the same. No luck with dandelions this year, lots of catsear though. May give it a shot as it is also edible like dandelion.

captianoats · 10-14-2009, 01:03 AM

I made a gallon of this. It sat about 6 months, and I racked and bottled yesterday. I had about 1 glass left over after bottling, and I can say it was great. I lightly sweetened to somewhere around semi-dry. It was very floral, light, and citrusy. I may change to 2 oranges/1 lemon next time (maybe not), but I will definately make it again.

Fletch78 · 02-20-2010, 03:42 PM

From volume 2 of the Foxfire series:

Quote:

Dandelion wine: pour one gallon boiling water over one gallon dandelion flowers. Let stand until blossoms rise (twenty-four to forty-eight hours). Strain into stone jar. Add juices of four oranges and four lemons, and four pounds of sugar, plus one yeast cake. Stir four or five times a day until it stops fermenting. Keep well covered. In two weeks, strain, bottle and cork tightly.

That's how they did it in the Appalachians of N. GA in 1966, right around the time Deliverance was filmed in the same area. I think I'm going to give that a try this spring.

**ChshreCat** · 04-18-2010, 05:16 AM

I'm thinking about giving this a try. I'm fighting a losing battle with dandelions in my yard and it would be most satisfying to harness the little bastids for the power of good.

In the recipe it says 3 quarts of dandelion flowers. I'm assuming that's the whole flowers and then you start plucking afterwards? Or is that 3 quarts of plucked petals?

**Yooper** · 04-18-2010, 01:49 PM

That is three quarts of petals! It's a LOT of dandelions. I plucked a few, then froze them in ziplock bags. I went by weight, since they really smooshed down in the freezer.

**ChshreCat** · 04-18-2010, 06:56 PM

Holy crap! I was thinking 3 quarts of flowers. Not sure if I have that much in the yard. I'll need to pick pluck and freeze several times.

TerapinChef · 04-23-2010, 10:08 PM

So I've got 135g in the freezer and a whole paper shopping bag of heads to sit down and work on tonight...

**JadeMonkeyStang** · 04-27-2010, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scinerd3000

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

I know that post is really old, but figured there might still be some interest.

Chateau Buffalo (in Buffalo, NY) produces a dandelion wine that is excellent. It's not cheap at $39 a bottle but all of the proceeds go to support the restoration/preservation efforts of Frank Lloyd Wright's Graycliff Estate, which is located just outside of Buffalo. Both the wine and the estate are unique and worth checking out.

The wine is not listed on their website atm, but you can call them and they can ship a bottle out to you.

TerapinChef · 05-04-2010, 09:15 PM

So I'm @ day 2 of fermentation, it's bubbling hard! I'm confused about this rack step at 3 days. This is going to be going through active fermentation when I rack it into a carboy, and this is a new thing for me. Why is it racked off the petals so fast?

Also, I'm wondering if this is going to clog the heck out of my autosiphon. The escaping CO2 has pushed most of the petals into a raft on top of the liquid, and I was thinking I'd get most of it out before the petals even become a problem, but I was wondering about any personal experience/advice that may be out there. I'm also curious if this is going to turn my autosiphon as yellow as it did the plastic brewspoon I was stirring my "tea" with.