2022 Elderberry in Detail
Last updated 07/18/2023
I decided to document this wine in detail as it’s a non-typical, home-developed recipe. This recipe has 2 differences:
- It’s a fruit concentrate that has been extended with grape concentrate.
- The batch is designed around the ingredients AND the secondary container, which is a 25 liter demijohn, e.g., 6.6 US gallons.
The Elderberry concentrate is Vintners Best, which is not a pure concentrate — it’s easy to tell as the first ingredient on the label is apple juice. However, I made wine from this concentrate before and it was well liked, and was drinkable fairly quickly. Elderberry made from fresh fruit can take years to age, which is ok, bit it’s nice to have a quicker aging wine for my intended audience.
The 1 US gallon jug of concentrate reconstitutes to 5 US gallons, which after loss to sediment is not enough to fill a 5 US gallon / 19 liter carboy. This is an issue, and the last time I made this I extended it to 6 gallons with red grape concentrate. Since I have a free 25 liter demijohn, I decided to add 2 liters of grape concentrate to extend the recipe to 7 gallons initial volume. I figure that after volume loss to sediment, I’ll have enough to fill the demijohn, which meets my needs.
Note: In general this demijohn is not as useful, as a typical 23 liter kit is too small, and the grape wines I make are too large. I’ll probably look at formulating recipes such as this one to keep the demijohn full.
Menu (Dates of Activity)
| 03/14/2022 | 03/27/2022 | 07/18/2023 |
| 03/15/2022 | 03/31/2022 | |
| 03/17/2022 | 05/02/2022 | |
| 03/18/2022 | 10/06/2022 | |
| 03/21/2022 | 04/23/2023 |
03/14/2022
The original plan was to purchase 2 liters of red grape concentrate. This didn’t work out as American Brewmaster only had one in stock. So I punted, and purchased a liter of white grape concentrate instead. It will fulfill the same purpose.
I decided to follow kit practice and add bentonite, so I added a few cups of hot tap water to a primary, then stirred in 3 tsp bentonite until it was as mixed as it could get.
Next I added 6 tsp Fermax nutrient. I’ll add another couple of tsp when the ferment is about 1/3 done. Following that I poured the Elderberry concentrate into the fermenter, using 3 quarts of hot tap water in 3 batches to rinse the jug — emptying all water into the fermenter. The first rinse, as is typical, was fairly dark, indicating a lot of good residue I won’t waste.
Next I topped to 5 US gallons, and mixed the must with a drill-mounted stirring rod for a couple of minutes. It was too much to pour, so I racked it into a 32 gallon Rubbermaid Brute.
Note: The Brute will be the primary fermenter, as my largest purpose-made fermenter is 7.9 gallons. That’s too close to full for my risk tolerance. Next I emptied the grape concentrates into the original primary, and used hot water to rinse those bags. As the first photo shows, there’s a lot left in the bag after “emptying” it.
The second photo is the first rinse water of the red grape concentrate, which confirms just how much concentrate was left in the bag. The residue from the white grape concentrate was not as dark, but was equivalent.
Since each liter of concentrate reconstitutes to 4 liters, I topped the fermenter up to 2 gallons (which is close enough to 8 liters for my purposes). MANY years ago I filled my fermenters with water, marking the level of each gallon. This makes life much easier when measuring.
I mixed the grape with the drill-mounted stirring rod, then poured into the Brute. The SG read 1.080. A bit low, but I could live with it. I’m out of sugar, but will get some tomorrow and will bump the SG up, targeting 1.090.
Finally, I created a yeast starter with 2 tsp Avante yeast, 1/2 tsp Fermax, and 1 tsp sugar in 1 cup water. This went into a wine bottle and was swirled to mix. Tomorrow I’ll add it to the must.
03/15/2022
I went through my list and realized I had not done a few things yesterday. Nothing bad, as it all goes in prior to the starter.
In late afternoon I added 6 cups sugar, stirring after each addition. I checked the SG after every 2 cups, and realized that 6 cups would push the SG above 1.090, but I’m ok with that. The final reading was 1.095.
In the evening I stirred the must again and checked the SG — 1.100. OOPS!!!
Ok, I over-did it. Based upon the way the SG changed overnight with the FWK that I started last fall, I should have realized the must wasn’t as mixed as I thought it was. But again, no biggie, I can live with it.
Next I added 3 tsp pectic enzyme and 2 cups shredded medium toast American oak. This is not for flavoring, but should help maintain natural tannin and stabilize the color.
Finally I added the yeast starter.
03/17/2022
I have a problem — there is no activity, so it appears the starter failed. These things happen.
In this case, I suspect I blundered in that I had been keeping the yeast in the freezer. It’s been recommended to keep it in the refrigerator, and I didn’t move it prior to making the first starter. [I moved it to the fridge that day.] I assume the problem was moving the yeast from freezer temperature to room temperature, and then to a must in the mid-60’s F. While it appeared the starter was working, it must not have been enough to make the transition.
All is not lost, as I have plenty of yeast, including over half a pound of Avante. This time I did what I should have done the first time. First, I heated water to a bit over 100 F, then added a splash of cold water and stirred. The result was 93 F, which is a good temperature for yeast, even if it’s too hot for wine.
To a sanitized wine bottle I added 4 tsp Avante (yes, I went heavy!), 1/2 tsp Fermax, and 1/2 tsp sugar, then 1 cup water. I swirled to mix. The intention is to ensure I have a large colony of yeast going.
Note: I made 2 starters, as the Chocolate / Raspberry Port also failed to start. This time it worked, as I had heavy foam within 15 minutes, and the water was churning with activity. I left the bottles on the kitchen counter for 6 hours, then moved to the cellar for another 2 hours before adding to the wines. This gives the yeast time to acclimatize to the new temperature.
03/18/2022
We have full ignition! The wine is not visibly fermenting vigorously, but the SG dropped 10 points in less than 24 hours, so we are rockin’!
03/21/2022
The SG is down to 1.018, so we’re approaching the end. Added 1/2 tsp Fermax to help it over the hump, something I should have done a few days ago.
03/27/2022
The SG dropped to 1.001, so it’s close. I racked the wine into the 25 liter demijohn, but at the end mixed up the remaining wine and sludge. I poured the remainder into a 4 liter jug and a beer bottle, to clear. I’ll check them in a few days, and will continue with clearing at that time.
03/31/2022
Racked the “sludge” wine after 4 days in the fridge. It’s amazing how fast the gross lees drops.
I have read that gross lees drops within 24 to 48 hours of the end of fermentation, or as much as 72 hours. The speed with which the wine cleared is a good indicator that this is true.
The 750 ml bottle I carefully poured off the lees, pouring until the sludge reached the mouth of the bottle. For the 4 liter jug, I used a small auto-siphon, holding the racking cane above the sludge, and tilted the jug as it reached the bottom. By racking carefully, I left about 1/4″ wine above the sludge, which amounts to an ounce or 2. I may have sucked up a bit of sludge, but as the saying goes, “if it dropped once, it will drop again.”
I added this wine to the demijohn, and it was far from full. I started with 7 gallons, and a 25 liter demijohn is 6.6 US gallons, so I expected excess. I suspect the demijohn is NOT 25 liters; it looks closer to 30. I’ll verify when this wine is bottled.
I checked the SG — 1.012. It dropped a bit since the last check, which indicates the mixing wasn’t as good as I thought. It’s still in an acceptable range, and it tastes good.
Added 1/4 tsp K-meta and stirred for 1 minute.
Added 12.5 ml kieselsol and stirred for 1 minute.
Added 75 ml chitosan and stirred for 1 minute.
Add 1 bottle of the 2020 second run blend to top up. It’s not full, but I won’t top until I rack in 2 weeks.
The wine didn’t foam during stirring, but afterward it did, so there is some CO2. Since the wine is degassing, I’ll not top it further — yet.
After the next racking I’ll top up fully and bulk age for 6 months.
05/02/2022
The wine set longer than I planned — it had a bit of foam around the edges, indicating there was some activity. I got focused on the FWK Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc, and pretty much forgot about this one. But with everything else racked and stable, it’s back in focus.
I’m still trying to figure out the volume issue. I took it on faith when the former owner of the demijohn said it was 25 liters. And it might be sold as such, but as with the 5 US gallon carboys which hold 5.25 gallons when topped up, it must hold more.
Once the elderberry is bottled (in 3 to 6 months) I’ll use a distilled water jug and measure how much it actually holds. For now I have a solution (topping up) so it’s not a pressing problem.
There was very little sediment when I racked, which surprised me. This indicates that most dropped immediately and was eliminated in the first racking, and that the elderberry concentrate had relatively few solids. It’s very likely most of the solids came with the grape concentrates.
Per usual, I added 1 oz medium toast Hungarian cubes, a slightly heaping 1/4 tsp K-meta, and topped with a bottle of the 2020 second run wine, plus a couple of ounces from a second bottle. I should be able to ignore this one for 3 months, since it’s fully topped.
The flavor is good — it’s clearly elderberry but it’s not overly heavy. I will backsweeten this one very lightly. I expect my target audience will enjoy it. I also note the color is good.
When I make this again in a few years, I’ll plan ahead and get 2 liters of red grape concentrate, to make it a bit heavier. Although the addition of 1 liter white grape concentrate isn’t a real problem. Probably more a matter of things in my head, not in the glass.
10/06/2022
We racked the wine today, and saved 4 liters into a jug. This will be bulk aged another 4 to 6 months, backsweetened, and bottled with out sorbate. After 9 months the yeast should be dead, so sorbate becomes unnecessary. I will find out.
We bottled the remaining 5.5 gallons. Given that I have numerous Finishing packs (sorbate + K-meta) from kits that were bottled dry, I used one. We backsweetened with the remaining 10 oz from the finishing pack from Eric’s Riesling and 6 oz glycerin. We stirred for 2 minutes, changing direction every 15 seconds to ensure the finishing pack and glycerin were well distributed.
I liked it, but Eric thought it needed a bit more sugar. This was a reverse from when we bottled the 2018 Metheglin.
I tasted again and agreed with him. So we added an additional 1/2 cup sugar. At this point we were satisfied that the wine would satisfy the target audience.
04/23/2023
Eric & I bottled the remaining 4 liters of wine, backsweetening by taste to match the main part of the batch. As planned, no sorbate was used as this wine is over 13 months old.
07/18/2023
Shannon and I taste tested the sorbate and non-sorbate wines, and got a surprise — the non-sorbate wine fermented in the bottle!
It didn’t produce enough pressure to blow the corks, but made a CO2 POP when the cork was pulled, and there was sparkling in the glass. The wine tasted bone dry.
So the age 9+ months and bottle without sorbate experiment produced negative results.
Unsweetened, the Elderberry is sharp and unpleasant. However, stirring a few drops of honey into each glass made it quite good.