Making Elderflower Champagne The Easy Way 

I still burp them occasionally :)

Can u taste the vinegar in it? It’s the only thing putting me off

@@homegrownharvest211 nope

How'd that turn out, and how much ginger did you add to how many litres? Cheers.

I made the cordial man o man it was lovely, did mine yesterday l drank the lot

Did it work?

Pretty much :)

Burping :) with glass I'd do it every 2 or 3 weeks. But in future I wouldn't use glass

between 1 and 2 abv

its normally about 2%abv unless you add extra yeast

Which kind of yeast can I add to make it a bit more alcoholic? 😍 I started the batch yesterday evening (THANK YOU FOR THE VIDEO! 😍😍), is it too late to add some yeast now? It's spring and here in Bosnia there's sooooo much elderflower everywhere! I'm making lots of stuff! Here in Bosnia traditionally we make syrup, but I've been exploring variations! 😍 Thank you for the elderflower champagne idea!

Not really. Apart from the potential explosions you'll find it hard to re-decant.

The yeast is in the flower heads

Leave them out to let bugs crawl out Shake them off if necessary.

As Rob says. Don't wash them

James Collins cider vinegar?

apple cider vinegar is fine

I don't think it would work as you need to acidity

@@WildFoodUK1 I'm not really a fan of using lemons or vinegar, but i'm guessing as long as the fruit used is low on the Ph scale, and I can get the balance right, neither the vinegar or lemons are necassary. I was thinking of experimenting with rasberries. They still contain a small amount of citric acid but I guess it doesn't have to even be citric acid in particular as most conventional brewed wines would use a synthetic citric acid which isn't really citric acid.

I hope so, but I've never tried. Let me know how you get on :)

I've made this the past few years so I can help... Unfortunately, the exact time between making it and bottling has a lot of variables - temperature being a large one. The first time I made it, I did exactly as he did and I believe I bottled it after around a week. I would recommend putting the plastic lid on the top which usually comes with these buckets and pushing it down when putting it on... This will allow you to monitor how long it takes for it to pop up (giving you a rough rate in which Co2 is being expelled. When this begins to slow a little I would bottle. Keep an eye on the bottles though, I've had a good number of them blow! You can let a little gas out every couple of days if you bottle too early. Also, I've made this with 3kg of sugar to increase the alcohol - if you've done this then give it longer. maybe 2 weeks. Also a final point - sometimes the flowers don't contain enough natural yeast and you wont get any fermentation. It's worth having some sparkling wine yeast/champagne yeast to hand. This way, if after a few days you aren't getting any bubbles you can give it a kick start with the yeast.

I'll give it a try soon and let you know. The first flowers came out here the other day :)

If its in the bottles and going mouldy on the top then something has gone wrong. If its a bit mouldy on top of the mix in the bucket dont worry about that just filter it well and it should still work, depending on how mouldy it was...

no there is yeast in the flowers

Yes just realized you are using the natural yeast's. Seemingly if fermentation doesn't start after 48 hours you can add a small amount of yeast to help. Thanks for sharing.

for all the coughing and nose wiping he did,i sure hope so

No, it's non-alcoholic. The 'champagne' thing is because it has a similar light frothy fizz and a delicate flavour.

@@papercup2517 yes it is ,he is converting sugar to alc

@@ARCSTREAMS You may be right - I nearly came back and edited my reply after seeing some other descriptions of it as being mildly alcoholic. When I made it back in the 1970s it didn't seem to be though. :-)

@@papercup2517 yeah its elderflower sparkling wine typically 8-11% alc

Bugs do disappear after a few hours. I leave my flowers on the terrace for 2-3 hrs before taking them in. Bugs seem to somehow get that the plantpart they're on is dying already and so they leave.

I wouldn't clean them as you'll lose flavour and yeast. muz chan has the right idea.

pynappel I had to sieve mine...lots of very small flies

@@markthomasson5077 fruit flies?

Muz, not sure.....but they sure were not good at swimming. Will try leaving them outside next time, all critters deserve respect....well perhaps not Scottish midges

I meant rowan ☺️

Probs be ok. It's just a failsafe to make sure the batch doesn't go bad.

I have never tried. Please let me know how you get on.

Yes it’s outstanding 👌

@@benlogan1655 lol, Good answer.............

They’ve never bothered me when I’ve done this. You’ll have to filter it when you bottle anyway

agreed :)

I assume it's an addition preservative. I'd guess that you'd then need to buy those acids you mentioned, all I needed to buy was 10 lemons and then pick the elderflowers. Unless you're suggesting you can add apple or grape juice instead?

I expect whats happened is that the bottle has expanded and filled with a little gas. You might want to burp them soon if the bottles start to misshape.

@@WildFoodUK1 Thanks Marlow, that's exactly what it is. The bottles have become quite rounded along the sides, and they don't return to the correct shape no matter how much gas I release. But they seem to be holding, just little more than half full.

The flowers do contain a natural yeast. :)

Elderflower champagne is always a bit sweet. I'm not too keen on sweet either so this recipe is about as dry as it gets.

sorry for the late reply, yes as long as the proportions are the same.

It didn't turn out. :-( The blooms were tasteless. No berries developed on the blooms left on bush.

Elder is everywhere just keep an eye open

Miltons is fine

just dont touch a bush that does not belong to you

it's definitely preferable but not essential.

Its best to pick them on a dry morning. I think the rain knocks off the pollen.

Wild Food UK Thanks for reply - I did it last week & even tho it was later on & mixed weather its bubbling away! Not sure when to bottle it tho - as its been going a week so should I let it carry on till bubbling slows or stops or rely on the SG?