1986 Elderberry
October 2018 – I’m guessing that after making wine from dried elderberries, I got the idea that fresh had to be better. My brother and I picked the elderberries and it was a serious pain to get them off the branches. We did this again the following year, then never again.
Ingredients
| Fruit | 11# elderberries |
| Water | 4 gallons |
| Sugar | 10# |
| Acid | 2 tsp citric acid |
| Nutrient | 3 tsp nutrient + 2-1/2 tsp energizer |
| Sulfite | 5 Campden tablets |
| Pectic Enzyme | 2-1/2 tsp |
| Yeast | Red Star Epernay II |
Method
| Started | 05/17/1986 SG 1.090 |
| Yeast + 2 tsp energizer added | 05/18/1986 SG 1.090 |
| Strained | 05/22/1986 SG 0.996 |
| 2 cups sugar added | 05/22/1986 SG 1.004 |
| Racked | 05/29/1986 SG 0.990 |
| Racked | 08/15/1986 SG 0.990 |
| Bottled | 08/27/1986 SG 0.990 |
Notes
| Yield | 26 bottles |
| Alcohol | 13.6% |
| Afterthoughts | All I really remember about making elderberry wine was how much of a pain in the butt it was getting the berries off the branches. |