Elderflower Champagne | Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall & Steve Lamb 

I have 48 successful bottles this June 2021. Again Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall &Steve Lamb's Elderflower champagne!! Hope to keep it for Christmas! I have also the Cordial which is the "Best." This November I am giving half acre to elder cuttings from the best bushes! Elderflower fritters are yummy too!

Made it last year. The same quality and it was very successful 2020. I am now making it again! Thank you Hugh for a very successful brew. Sharon 🇮🇪

step 1,,,pick with your fingers 20 to 30 flowers no green bits,,makes it taste bitter,,put flowers in your bucket and juice of 2 lemons ,, don't use any other part of the lemon makes it taste bitter,, step 2,,, dissolve 900 gram,s of white sugar with 2ltr of water, let it boil till sugar is dissolved then pour into your elderflower bucket while hot step3,,, add another 2ltr of cold water to your elderflower bucket and 1 table spoon of cider vinegar you can buy it in teco step4,,, let your elderflower bucket cool down,when your brew is just below room temperature add quarter tea spoon of champagne yeast baker yeast will do the job step5,,, store your champagne buck with a lid for 5 days open lid every day even for a few seconds to let the yeast breath and don't let it go below 18 degrees step6,,, on day 5 separate elderflower by a straining method,clean dish cloth ect step7,,, when strained on day 5 it's ready to bottle, if you use a none champagne bottle store out the back it might pop open,, when you fill your bottles you need to let them brew for another 10 days,that gets the fizz in your bottle better stored at room temperature step8,,, 10days are up time to get drunk and stoned,,,,,,,,cheers for home brew an home grown,,,,,,,, rule of thumb keep it clean

Incredible!

I love elderflower champagne!!!

I almost didn't recognize Steve in this one!

Got mine on add a bit of champagne yeast. Got it in second ferment in 2ltr plastic soda bottles time to cold crash as have been in bottles 1week and the bottles are very stiff. Love June.

Extra tips- use good quality spring water, not tap. Avoid any pith from lemon and green stalk from the flower(these create bitterness). Add extra fruit for additional flavour/abv. Gooseberry are in season at the same time and add a a nice sharpness to balance the sugar. Ferment a second time in bottles that can take pressure(not normal wine bottles, I learned from experience that they explode when extra co2(fizz) is created.(this can be slowed down by chilling in the fridge, the same way it would when proofing bread dough)screw top sparkling water bottles are my go to. It takes about 4 days to a week after bottling(at room temp) to create good fizz! I’m no expert just stuff I picked up through trial and error!

damm right there in bloom made loads today

I'd love to make this ! So do you strain after 2 days and bottle it ? How long would you leave after that before trying it ?

What is the purpose of the white wine vinegar?

Do you folks know the original recipe for a Treaty of Paris?

Could I do the same thing with lilacs?

To avoid mold, make it in a clear glass jar or plastic container, keep it in a sunny place (the warmth will help the yeast), stir it twice a day and weight down the flowers if possible (so they don't stick out of the liquid). No need to add vinegar (it ruins the taste and smell) and it's ready to drink a few days later, when it becomes fizzy, at which point you store it in the fridge to prevent it from becoming too alcoholic. Like someone else already mentioned, this is a staple of the Romanian summer. That mold could have been something harmful, I would have discarded the batch.

couil you use elderflower yeast in bread

if you want less strength then use less sugar,,the strength will also depend on what type of fruit or flower you use

Hey River Cottage, I live in Australia and I want to make this recipe but I can't get Elderflower, is there a ingredient i can replace it with that has its own yeast?

it says steve lamb but you called him steve anoni in thr vid?

Make sure to use sterile water and sugar cane sugar. I had a brew made from in unboiled tap water as well as silver spoon sugar. It tasted a little chlorine filled as well as having a slightly chemical bitterness.

Looks amazing～ I wonder how alcoholic is it？

How many percent alcohol is it?

I had one explode in my allotment shed keep checking the bottles are not building a bomb.

Champagne with extra BPA from them lovely bins

What the hell happened to Steve Lamb over the years? He looks like a hipster stud here, while nowadays he looks more like the weird uncle you hide from your friends.

But...that amount of sugar...surely, if you bottle it so soon, there will be enough left to blow your bottles to smithereens?

clasical Romanian recipe... and they call it "Champagne"...

No cobasideration for berry hunters... bad manners

Think and hope are really not good words in brewing. Better to pre culture the yeast from the flowers.

Would taste better if you didn't use you bare hands.

you should not strip the whole tree of flowers or berries this is no respect to nature or to the tree , animals birds and insects which you have just deprived of life otherwise its greed