2 lbs
Elderberries fresh or frozen
1 lb sultanas
1 lb bananas
14 g acid blend
1 imp gallon
water
2 lbs sugar
(approx)
1
tsp yeast nutrient
˝ tsp pectic
enzyme
Campden tablets
We pick the elderberries throughout September and freeze them. An easy de-stemming method is after freezing for three days…flail them around in their plastic pail till the majority come off like brittle BB shots. The larger stems can be picked out and by winnowing them from bucket to bucket in a strong wind the fine particles blow away. Even a man-made wind of an old squirrel cage furnace fan will do. Needless to say we buy all the ingredients on sale and keep the cost down to approx. 35 cents a bottle. But fruit wines are more labour intensive than grapes.
Prepare the raisin/banana portion of the wine. We have found crushing the raisins and bananas is better than chopping them too fine in a food processor. They will be easier to press in time. We have found that to reconstitute sultanas requires 2/5 of a gallon (64 oz) of water per pound to arrive at a 1.094 SG must. Place raisins to soak for a couple hours before crushing them. Half required water will do. Pour off water into fermentation vessel before crushing; add back to water when crushed. Stir well and extract a sample of juice to make a yeast starter. Now, crush bananas and add to raisin must and add crushed C. tablets (2/gal). You can use some of the balance of water needed for the raisin/banana must for cleaning up the crusher and any other sticky equipment from crushing operations. Place must in a cool place till next day.
Day Two
Stir in balance of water in which pectic enzymes and yeast nutrient have been dissolved. (Remember we needed 64 oz water for each pound of raisins?) Now…pour in yeast starter, which of course is active by now. I just pour starters in the middle of a must and don’t stir. I find the yeast spreads more readily from a central position. Cover and allow fermenting at room temperature or cooler. A thermometer floating in the must is good. A temp of 65-70F is ideal. Let this portion of wine ferment for 4 – 5 days…. rotating the cap that forms on the surface every 6 hours or so.
Day Three
Rotate fermenting cap.
Day Four
Rotate cap every 6 or 7 hours and remove Elderberries from freezer.
Day Five
Start elderberry portion of wine. If elderberries need further defrosting a measured amount of hot water will do. Remember 3/5 of water is used for the elderberry portion of wine. Crush elderberries and run through press. Store juicy water with a C tablet. Return pressed elderberries to original container and wash them with measured amounts of water. Re-press the elderberries and store this juicy water with a C tablet in a cool place. Now mix in the pressed elderberry skins into the sultana/banana fermenting must.
Day Six
Rotate cap on must or you can telescope Day Seven to Day Six if fermentation has slowed.
Day Seven
While pressing the sultana/banana/elderberry skin must off which is time consuming you can make the elderberry portion. Add the elderberry water juices to a suitable fermenting container and the acid blend plus sufficient sugar dissolved in the balance of water allotted to the elderberry portion 3/5 of total to a S.G. of 1.095. Now add the wine from the press and ferment out for 3 or 4 days when water sealing takes place. Rack in time – cold stabilizing and malolactic fermentation is a plus. A year in oak or chip treatment helps.
Elderberry Wine Song by Elton John
There's a fly in the window
A dog in the yard
And a year since I saw you
There's a trunk in the corner
I keep all my letters
My bills and demands I keep too
Well I can't help thinking
About the times
You were a wife of mine
You aimed to please me
Cooked black-eyed peas-me
Made elderberry wine
Drunk all the time
Feeling fine on elderberry wine
Those were the days
We'd lay in the haze
Forget depressive times
How can I ever get it together
Without a wife in line
To pick the crop and get me hot
On elderberry wine
Round a tree in the summer
A fire in the fall
Flat out when they couldn't stand
The bottle went round
Like a woman down south
Passed on from hand to hand
WINE MAKERS
