elderberry port

[old tree man]

Uncorked a bottle of 1 year old home brew port this weekend, well it turned out to be more than one bottle and my goodness it was manner from yorkshire well we knick named it giggle wobble gob juice
but the best thing is no head aches yipeeeeee

[ina]

Sounds just great... I found that the blackcurrant wine I'd tried to made and that didn't seem to have done anything has actually turned out drinkable, especially as mulled wine - and since the temperatures have dropped and the wind is howling out there, that's just the right drink! But I love elderberry wine, too. Cairn o'Mohr makes a nice one...

[frozenthunderbolt]

I'de love the recipie if you have it Russ

[old tree man]

sure no problem

elderberry port

2lb elderberrys
1lb Oranges
7 pints water
1/4 oz brewers yeast
3lb sugar

method
strip the berries and put in a clean bucket
peel the oranges and slice the fruit, discard the skin.
bring the water to the boil and pour over the berries and oranges
allow to cool, once lukewam strain the fruit through some good muslim into a demijohn.
add the sugar to 1/2 a pint of boilng water and stir till it has dissolved
then add this to the demijohn
sprinkle the yeast into the liquid give a good shake and add a air lock and watch it go mad shortly afterwards.
after a few days when the bubbling has slowed down top up the demijohn to the neck with water (boiled and cooled).
leave till fermentation complete then bottle.
for best results leave for a year then drink.

Personally mine never gets that far he he !!!

happy drinking
all the best
Russ

[Jandra]

Hi Russ,
I'm gonna save that recipe. Hope to be able to get enough elderberries this autumn.

How large a volume is your demijohn, by the way? Wouldn't want to dilute too much.

TIA, Jandra

[Ali B]

Great recipe! We always make lots of elderberry cordial but I have to say that your recipe sounds considerably more exciting.

[old tree man]

Our demijohns take 8 pints (1 gallon) so the amount you top up is quite minimal.
I have been enjoying this recipie for years, it also works if you use a bag of dried elderberries if you have no fresh at hand (same amounts)

hope you enjoy

Russ

[Jandra]

Thanks Russ!

[frozenthunderbolt]

THankee Russ

[The Orkney BeeGee]

Would recommend dried elderberries... we had no choice cos the berries don't get fully ripe this far N.

Made a 5 gallon batch (will post recipe later) and was yummy. The nearest I've made to a commercial grape wine... loads of body, tannin etc. Might even go as far as to say it was v like cabernet sauvignon. Those berry flavours....

After siphoning off the wine from the initial fermentation bucket into demijohns, the remaining mush was still strong enough to make another 5 gallon batch, with a load more sugar etc... it resulted in a very nice rose style wine... still plenty of body and flavour though.

[old tree man]

Great idea must try that next time

Russ

[suziq]

Hi Russ


how long before the port is 'done'? mine is still blubling lol

[MKG]

It's good stuff - I'll bet Old Tree Man can't remember when it's done!

It's "done" as soon as it's stopped bubbling. However, that doesn't mean when you can't see any more bubbles. Quite often, there'll be a very slow fermentation going on (say, one bubble a day) which can be quite enough to give you a fizzy wine if you bottle too early. So, when you "think" it's ready, rack it off the deposit into another demijohn, top up with water, and leave it under an airlock for at least a month. At that point, all fermentation should have finished. However, that doesn't mean the wine is drinkable (well, you can drink it and it'll get you drunk, but you may not enjoy it). Both elderberry and orange produce very strong tastes in new wine. Elderberry is very "tanniny" and orange with no sugar (because you've just fermented out even the natural sugars in the orange) is truly awful. Both of those flavours, though, mellow over time and, during that time, other very slow chemical reactions are occurring in the wine (esterification for bouquet, the breakdown of malic acid for less bitterness, the precipitation of excess tannin - it goes on). So, leave it in that demijohn for as long as you can (replace the airlock with a pellet of cotton wool stuffed tightly into the hole in the bung, or use a solid rubber bung). After three months, it will be OK. After six months it will be better than OK. After a year, it will be gorgeous. If you keep it for more than a year, you have much more patience then me.

Mike

[suziq]

gee mike thanx!

not sure patience is my thing :)

it's still bubbling away merrily, did whip some of the middle ferment out for a sniff, it's still yeasty and fizzy but possibly quite palatable in the long term, may be very VERY strong

[old tree man]

sorry i missed that suziq, to be honest when i put the wine into bottles wich was about 3-4 months depending on the temp i just had to try some and it was lovely but the longer you leave it the better it is (and more powerful) it is
all the best
russ