elderberry wine...pleasantly surprised

[bmeyer46]

I just tried my elderberry wine that I made this fall.
I was expecting tannins out the wazoo, but couldn't believe how mild it actually was.
I have it on oak now, ( racked to the secondary on February 9th ) and could probably bottle it as it is, but I'm trying to get a bit more oak character to it.
From all the reading I've done about elderberry wine I was really shocked for it was as good as it was.
Sometimes surpises are good ones!

 

[Dicky]

It is a good wine when it goes right, isn't it?

It was one of my best successes, and one that I shall be repeating this Autumn.
Out of curiosity, did you add any acid blend? If so, how much?

Dicky

 

[bmeyer46]

here's the recipe I used.
the basic recipe came from winemaker magazine, but I adjusted to make 3 gallons

7 lbs. (1.6 kg) elderberries
6 quarts (~3 L) boiling water
4 lbs. (0.91 kg) granulated sugar
24 oz. concord grape juice
juice of 2 medium lemons
juice of 4small oranges

2 tsp. yeast nutrient
4 Campden tablets
1 tsp. potassium sorbate
oak beans (optional)
1 sachet Red Star Pasteur Red

I didn't get the dreaded green goo either?

 

[Dicky]

Green goo? I wasn't aware of any green goo. 2 lemons though. That will add citric acid, thanks very much.

I made my recipe up as I went along for 1 imperial gallon. I took influence from Jack Keller, but forgot that US gallons differ.

I added about 1kg (2 oz) of elderberries,
1 teaspoon citric acid,
Water up to 1 gallon,
Granulated sugar to 1.090.

Turned out that was too much acid, and I think acid blend would have worked better rather than straight citric acid. I'm hoping that ageing will mellow the wine, but overall the flavour was good.
But, it was my first elderberry. You live, you learn.

Dicky

 

[saramc]

The variety of elderberry used will determine whether you get the elderberry goo. Can't recall which varieties cause it and which do not..but no worries, if you do get it just use vegetable oil to clean up. And if you use dried elderberries they don't cause the goo.

I have an elderberry wine and a mead that were started in the fall, I am looking forward to them. Don't forget to put some away, an aged elderberry wine is wonderful.