Dandelion

Brewer's Friend 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
T_Baggins

T_Baggins

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2013
Messages
822
Reaction score
87
Does anyone have a reliable recipe and technique for GOOD dandelion wine? My local Brew shop owner mentioned about 5qts of dandelion for a 1gal batch. He also stated there is debate over using the greens as well as the flower, and using only the flower. Would any one care to expand on this? I think, personally, I would be in the "flower only" camp.
 
Yooper's Dandelion Wine!!!! Everybody loves it!!!! And everybody will love you for making it!!!! Sorry if I sound a little over-enthusiastic!!!!
You can find it on the Recipe page!!!!
 
Is Yooper paying you for this advertising?

Per exclamation point?
 
That dandelion recipe is really great! (It's under my avatar on the left under "recipes"). I love it, and would recommend it to anybody.

I've made it dry, and sweetened some as well, and I like it both ways.
 
Thanks Yooper, I just checked out your recipe, sounds good! Some of the responses to your recipe include some instruction for preparing the flowers, I'm STILL a little fuzzy on this part. Maybe someone could post a few step by step pics of prepping the flower?
Oh yeah, can I discard the raisins? maybe replace with black or raspberry? I am an anti-grapist.
 
Thanks Yooper, I just checked out your recipe, sounds good! Some of the responses to your recipe include some instruction for preparing the flowers, I'm STILL a little fuzzy on this part. Maybe someone could post a few step by step pics of prepping the flower?
Oh yeah, can I discard the raisins? maybe replace with black or raspberry? I am an anti-grapist.
 
The raisins are almost definitely for use for yeast nutrients, rather than flavor. You can use actual wine yeast nutrient instead, following the directions that come with it.
 
The raisins are for nutrients, but they also provide body to the wine. Without them, the body would be very thin. Instead, you could try bananas (just a small amount) for body but I haven't ever tried that.

Preparing the petals is easy. You just sit down in the shade and depetal the flowers and put them in a ziploc bag. It's easier if you sort of roll them between your thumb and index finger and squeeze them loose.
 
Yooper said:
The raisins are for nutrients, but they also provide body to the wine. Without them, the body would be very thin. Instead, you could try bananas (just a small amount) for body but I haven't ever tried that.
Click to expand...

I'm assuming the body mostly comes from tannin, so could you not just use some tannin in addition to yeast nutrient? Of course at this point, it sounds easier to just use raisins :drunk:
 
emjay said:
I'm assuming the body mostly comes from tannin, so could you not just use some tannin in addition to yeast nutrient? Of course at this point, it sounds easier to just use raisins :drunk:
Click to expand...

I often add some tannin, but tannin doesn't really give body. The body comes from raisins or something like bananas- bananas give quite a bit of "legs" to a wine. But I wouldn't want a banana overtaste in this, so I'd be hesitant to do it. It's such a pretty white wine that I wouldn't use a fruit with color as an additive.

You could leave out the raisins, and I have made some dandelion wines without raisins, but it's not as good.
 
Yooper said:
I often add some tannin, but tannin doesn't really give body. The body comes from raisins or something like bananas- bananas give quite a bit of "legs" to a wine. But I wouldn't want a banana overtaste in this, so I'd be hesitant to do it. It's such a pretty white wine that I wouldn't use a fruit with color as an additive.

You could leave out the raisins, and I have made some dandelion wines without raisins, but it's not as good.
Click to expand...

I thought legs were an indication of alcohol content, do the raisins have unfermentable sugars or something to contribute to viscosity to add 'body'?
 
Hmmm...Well ,for the discussion above. I guess if the raisins don't add or detract from the flavor of the wine, I'll try it. As a note, I saw another recipe where apricot was used and honey for the sugars. Would the honey have any yeast nutrient value?
 
T_Baggins said:
Hmmm...Well ,for the discussion above. I guess if the raisins don't add or detract from the flavor of the wine, I'll try it. As a note, I saw another recipe where apricot was used and honey for the sugars. Would the honey have any yeast nutrient value?
Click to expand...

Honey is very low nutrient, it's really slow to ferment without adding nutrient.
 
Hm. My late mom used to make dandelion wine, I recall well crawling around the yard plucking dandelion petals, doing combat with the bees.

It's been more than 40 years, but I recall an open crock, and lots of floating citrus fruit, complete with peels. I'm not sure whether the dead bees contributed anything to the flavor, but there was no shortage of them.
 

Similar threads

P
Flowers in the mead
Replies
7
Views
2K
ckil
C
M
Dandelion Highs
Replies
7
Views
1K
Mustketeer
M
A
Redbud wine (and other floral wines)
Replies
1
Views
2K
jtratcliff
jtratcliff
SMK
Hello & persimmon wine question
Replies
2
Views
290
SMK
SMK
W
Cider from pulp?
Replies
2
Views
787
madscientist451
madscientist451
InkBird 300

Latest posts

Back
Top