What yeast do you recommend for a dry elderberry wine?

[Scientific hippie]

I am eagerly awaiting the delivery of my wine kit so that I can practice making elderberry wine with canned and dried berries before my own shrubs mature next year. The kit comes with "wine yeast," with no further description. I have found some recipes from a Texas winemaker that call for Montrachet yeast, which I have ordered. Now I read that Montrachet is usually used for sweet wines. I like red wine that is dry, with lots of fruit. Tannin is good, but I don't like oaky or an acid "bite." Is Montrachet the way to go, or should I use something else? PRM and bernardsmith have given me valuable advice on batch size; I am planning on several one-gallon batches with different tweaks. I will do one with canned berries, one with dried berries. I could do some with different kinds of yeast. Suggestions?

 

[BigBlueDog]

Montrachet would be a fine choice. It is a fast fermenter with a wide temperature range, so is fairly forgiving. It will ferment to dry but leave some body. I have had good success with Red Star's Pasteur Red when fermenting dark berry wines. To preserve fruit flavor/aroma, I like Lalvin D-47. However, it has a narrower temperature range and is best fermented on the cool side, so temperature control is a consideration.

 

[Masbustelo]

Montrachet has fallen out of favor. It is known as having high nitrogen needs and producing sulfur related odors and flavors. Any yeast will produce a dry wine. For fruit forward flavor, take a look at Cotes des Blancs. Also Elderberry tends to be high Ph,alkaline, like Ph 4.0. Check your acid and you might need to add some acid to bring it down to 3.4-3.6.

 

[Scientific hippie]

Thanks, guys! It looks like I'll be doing one batch with Montrachet and one batch with Pasteur Red (It seems to be called Premium Rouge now) or Cotes des Blancs! I haven't even gotten the kit yet, so I'll tackle the acid when I get to it. I know the kit has pH balancing stuff in it.

 

[Scientific hippie]

I have finally found a winemaking supply place near me. Of course, they have their own elderberry wine recipe. They suggest D47 also, or Premier Cuvee. Fortunately, they have inexpensive 1 gal jugs, so I can experiment.

 

[hamiltonkiler]

1118 is best for me. Ferments quick and drys up quick. Everything I've done with 47 seems to be way mouthy for me. Kinda yeasty. I ferment at room 72-74f temperature. So that could be the issue.

 

[Scientific hippie]

1118 is best for me. Ferments quick and drys up quick. Everything I've done with 47 seems to be way mouthy for me. Kinda yeasty. I ferment at room 72-74f temperature. So that could be the issue.

Is that a Lalvin yeast? What do you mean by "mouthy"? I do need to pay attention to temperature; our boiler is in the basement, so the temperature, while fairly stable, isn't too cool.

 

[Masbustelo]

He means KV1-1116, which is a very good yeast as well. Especially for hot climates.

 

[WTD]

He means KV1-1116, which is a very good yeast as well. Especially for hot climates.

i think he means Lalvin EC-1118.

 

[BigBlueDog]

EC-1118 is a beast. Many wine kits come with this Lalvin yeast because it is reliable and neutral across a wide fermentation temperature range.

The recommended temperature range for Lalvin D-47 is 15-20 C, so 68 F on the high end. I have used it with meads and white wines. Just finishing a rosé with it and looking forward to how it turns out.

 

[Scientific hippie]

OK, I found a winemaking/beer brewing place right near my house! The salesperson was very helpful; he, too, is interested in permaculture, and he remembered the line from the movie "The Martian": "I'm going to have to science the sh*t out of this." He, of course, had his own recommendations for yeast; he recommended Lalvin 1122 or 1116, which I bought, along with more dried elderberries, four one-gallon jugs, and various and sundry other items. When I got home, I realized that the yeast that had been sent with my kit wasn't some random yeast but was Montrachet. He was meh about adding chopped raisins to the dried berries. Now that I have a total of five one-gallon jugs, I am thinking about the following: two jugs with Montrachet and dried berries, one with and one without raisins; two jugs with 1116 (recommended for berry wines and concentrates, according to the Kraus catalog), one with and one without raisins; one jug with 1122 or 1116 and the canned concentrate. Interestingly, the recipe in the C.J.J. Berry book (how's that for a pseudonym!) that came with my kit calls for the addition of cooking liquid from green beans to the fermentation. I don't think I want to try that now; maybe in the future. Hopefully, in one year, when my shrubs are heavy with berries, I will have hit upon a good recipe. My husband is willingly giving up a table in the man cave and is thinking about installing a potboiler faucet connected to a water filter; he was so impressed with the prices that he may buy a grape wine kit. I am looking forward to the long rainy weekend; I need to make more kombucha, set up the Wine Experiment, and knit stuff.

 

[Scientific hippie]

Wow! I just set up my first ferment; it only took me a couple of hours. I used the juice concentrate and the 1116 yeast and the recipe on the can reduced to make one gallon. The kitchen remained spotless until I opened the freezer door and the plastic bag of leftover juice, not yet frozen, fell out and splattered all over the kitchen floor! I just checked the airlock, and it is already bubbling! What a thrill! Thanks to everybody for all your great advice.