Whoops! Pink Champagne Everywhere!!

We've been playing with fire and we knew it... today we had our first casualty of the lively pink stuff, one bottle finally slipped its leash!! Yup, popped its cork of its own accord, all over the kitchen. Another of its buddies was straining at the wire so we decided to let it go too, Guy uncorking and me with jug at the ready. An operation that we've had down pat the last few times and barely spilled a drop. I'm not quite sure what happened this time but a second later and Guy and I, and the walls, ceiling, floor etc, were dripping in sticky sweet elderflower. Whoops!!

The ferocity of the bang was quite amazing and as a result we decided not to take any chances - the remaining 3 bottles were marched out to the garden for their uncorking ceremony! 

Off to finish mopping the walls down now!! Next time less sugar for the same effect... and we'll be sticking to the scew top lemonade bottles which are much easier to manage. Champagne corks might look cool but they're scary man!

Inspiration for the next brew? Lilac wine recipe

As Guy was brewing away tonight I was driving home, singing along to some tunes in the car and maybe feeling a little melancholy after not such a good day at work... It was a fav acoustic compilation I haven't listened to in ages but I had to do a double take at track 7. I've played this song maybe a few hundred times and never really listened to the lyrics, but suddenly it was right there, the most perfect song to help a home brewer forget a bad day... 

Yup, you guessed it, Jeff Buckley and Lilac Wine with some fabby lyrics... Check this out.

I lost myself on a cool damp night
Gave myself in that misty light
Was hypnotized by a strange delight
Under a lilac tree
I made wine from the lilac tree
Put my heart in its recipe
It makes me see what I want to see
and be what I want to be
When I think more than I want to think
Do things I never should do
I drink much more that I ought to drink
Because I brings me back you...

Fantastic song and a good bit of inspiration... you guessed it, cheered up no end I came straight home and looked this up courtesy of www.grapestomper.com

Lilac Wine recipe

• 3-1/2 quarts lilac flowers
• 2-1/2 lb granulated sugar
• 2 lemons or 12 grams 80% lactic acid
• 7-1/2 pts water
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient
• Champagne yeast 

Put water on to boil while culling through and rinsing flowers. Put flowers in primary and when water boils pour over flowers. Cover primary tightly and set aside for 48 hours. Strain flowers through nylon straining bag and squeeze to extract all flavor, then discard pulp. Stir sugar, yeast nutrient, juice of lemon or lactic acid into primary and stir until completely dissolved. Sprinkle dry yeast on top without stirring or add activated yeast culture to primary. Recover primary and ferment 7 days. Transfer liquid to secondary and fit airlock. Ferment 30 days and rack, top up and refit airlock. Rack again every 30 days until wine is clear and no longer dropping sediment. Rack into bottles and allow to age 3-6 months.

All while having a quick boogie with Jeff of course ;o)

Guy's Argentinian Shiraz-Malbec bottled

We haven't blogged much about this but Guy's had a Kenridge Showcase Shiraz-Malbec kit wine brewing quietly away in the background for the last little while. Concieved 10/5/09 with a starting gravity of 1.088 and finally bottled today at around 0.995. It's already very drinkable but young and needs to be matured until at least Christmas. 28 bottles to be ferretted away and not touched until then!! Looks pretty smart hey?

Guy also bought a VINBRITE 'Harris filter' to help along the homebrew wine today. Its supposedly a bit more sophisticated than muslin but we're not sure how it works yet - it boasts on the box that filtering ensures the wine is more stable and far less likely to re-ferment when bottled BUT is that a good thing when you need secondary fermentation for the fizzy stuff? 

Well thats our elderlfower summer bottled...

Guy bottled our final elderflower recipe today - the elderflower & goosebery conncoction. We're not sure of the starting gravity as it was first fermented in the demi-johns and not easy to test but it finished at 1.002. The bottles were primed with 7.5ml of brewing sugar (1/2 tlb spoon) per bottle and it just about made 6 bottles worth.

Ben and Liam popped round at the right time and were present for a cheeky taste - they'll have to chip in here- but Guy reports another lubbly brew, with a definite overtone of gooseberry to complement the elderflower. Wahey!

The drinking of the pink stuff

Light, summery and giggly the pinks champers is quite a different beast to elder no.1!! It's a lively thing, don't get us wrong, and needs careful opening (must pay some good attention to that little problem) but once in captivity it's delightfully tame and awfully drinkable!

We've had it out and about for some social drinking in the last week - carefully transported in its special insulated carry case complete with Guy's old dressing gown and plenty of gaffa tape. Its not that we don't trust it you understand, but really you can never be too careful! A few bottles are straining at the seams so probably best drunk and enjoyed young.

Its going down really well though. Probably about 3 or 4% alcohol. Nice to see it being appreciated :o)

The first Elderflower... phew! Thats some strong stuff!!

Well here it is - the first bottle of elderflower no.1 un-corked and dangerous!! Wow it kicks a punch and after one glass I feel a bit squiffy!! Just the right amount of fizz the bottles weren't half as lively as the pink stuff and opened with a good pop, a bit of smoke screen and some rising bubbles but no fountains this time I'm glad to say!

Tasting notes:

Gorgeous!! It tastes very wine like and this ones definitely alcoholic!! If I was being picky I'd say maybe the elderflower is a tad over powering but still pretty yummy and very drinkable. Good thing we like elderflower - we may go for less flowers next time for a more subtle flavour! Its quite sweet still - perhaps a demi sec - but actually about right for the flavour we've got. Guy has described it as loopy juice... whatever is in it certainly goes straight to the drunk buttons!!

Testing the SG was a tad difficult as the bubbles stick to the hydrometer and make it more boyant, however we still came out with a reading of just below 1.000 - thats an alcohol volume of at least 13%.... hic!!

It is a bit cloudy, but only a tad and the best news is that the sediment has stayed but on the bottom too! Thats champagne yeast for you apparently, cheers!!

Bottling the eldercham!

I tested the gravity last night it was at 1.004 I thought it may be  a little low to achieve the carbonation we are after, as it is still fermenting slowly I decided to add a little sugar (1tsp per litre) to make sure the fizz arrives!

After sterilizing and swilling all the equipment and bottles (my least favourite part) bottling began.

I bought a 'Little Bottler' which I fitted to the end of the syphon (I'll fit the whole thing to the FV at some point) this made things much easier, quicker and more controllable (is that a word?!)..

The wine hasn't cleared but after a cheeky slurp or two I don't think its to its detriment, a lovely elderfowery taste and not to sweet, when the secondary fermentation has occurred it should be great.