Problem with Dandelion Wine??

The recipe that i got off of the guy I get my equipment off of says to leave the dandelions and other things sit in a primary for ten days. Today is day nine and there seems to be a white film forming on the top of it and when stirred it clumps together. My first time making dandelion wine. Had some of his and it was amazing. I was wondering if anyone with experience with this kind of wine knows if it is expected or not???
Recipe:
5 quart dandelion heads
5 oranges
3 lemons
1.5 lbs raisin
Pour hot water on it and let sit for ten days breaking up the cap twice a day
Then press it and then add 3.5 gallons of water with 12.5 lbs of sugar and let it sit for the rest of the summer with an air lock.

He said this was the way his dad made it when he was a kid.

Yooper will know more about this then myself. But. It sounds like it is just getting off to a slow start with the airborne/natural yeast. I am imagining this is what you are using. The recipe seems ok. Fermentation needs to start before you can do step two and add that sugar and the other water. If it is not started and you put that airlock on and just let it set I would imagine that it wouldnt start. Although I am not sure considering that there would be natural yeasts on the dandelions and the other fruit and sugar that is in there. All else fails, pitch so montrachet or lavlin.

Thanks for the reply. Thats what I figured was going on I just didnt want to throw in the sugar if it was infected or something.

Update: I mixed in the sugar water last night and within three hours there were signs of fermentation and then when i looked at it this morning its going crazy inside the carboy. Its wonderful. Hopefully this tastes as good as the stuff he had.

This is an interesting thread to a beginner like me.

It seems like this is a very inexpensive way to practice a few skills.

How much hot water do you use when starting this recipe?

Thanks,

Pogo

Enough to cover everything in the primary.

KiRbY29869 said:

5 quart dandelion heads

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I've never made wine before but really want to make dandelion wine this year. Most recipes say to trim the tops but I don't know exactly what to trim.?....Just the things with the pollen on them?....Just the petals with no greens? I see this recipe calls for the whole dandelion head including the greens....no trimming, is that right?

Well, I use just the yellow petals. The green calyx is very bitter and causes some bitterness in the wine. I pick the dandelions, and then sit and take all the petals off. It's a pain, but it makes awesome wine. I know some people have used some of the green, but I haven't liked the results with those.

My recipe is under my avatar. It's my favorite!

This Basic Brewing podcast on Dandelion wine was interesting

May 8, 2008 - Dandelion Wine
Tired of looking at those dandelions in your yard? Home brewer Don Osborn tells us how to put them to good use in the fermenter.

- Don's Dandelion Wine recipe page;
http://www.donosborn.com/homebrew/dandelion.htm

To listen;

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

Click to expand...

Being a newbie myself, I'm a little hesitant to offer advice to anyone here on anything.

But, your problem just might be related to my partner's sag in activity with his strawberry wine.

While he relied on wild yeast spores to provide fermentation in the 'old world' tradition, it appears that the most likely culprit was the clorinated 'new world' tap water he used to disolve the additional sugar he used in his second fermentation.

I'm sure that all of the old vets here on this site, leap this hurdle without giving it a second thought, as will I in the future.

So, I have no idea if you're a noob, like me, or not, but in the future when I see a tyro post about problems, this is going to be the first suggestion I offer.

Good luck,

Pogo