Elderberry Wine Recipe

Have loads of elderberries tree in flower, would love to have a go at doing Elderberry Wine Ty

I'll post a recipe for you later tonight (if I remember!).Would love some of your elderberries, I planted 3 last year and between them they produced two berries!

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Well I remembered, but I don't seem to be able to find my "wine-makers bible" but I have several other books and one of them gives two different elderberry wine recipes.

The first is for Elderberry Table Wine:

900g elderberries, cleaned and crushed,
250g chopped raisins
250g bananas
800g sugar
15ml citric acid
5ml pectic enzyme
4 litres water
Bordeaux yeast and nutrient

Peel and mash the bananas, heat them with the cleaned and crushed elderberries and leave them to cool.Strain the liquid onto the chopped raisins, press and discard the pulp.Mix in the citric acid, pectic enzyme, active yeast and nutrient.After three days, stir in the sugar and continue fermentation.After another five days, strain out, press and discard the raisins, pour the must into a fermentation jar, fit an airlock and ferment out.Siphon the clearing wine into a sterilised storage jar, top up, bung tight, label and store until the wine is bright, then rack again.No Camden tablets are needed.Mature for at least twelve months.

I don't remember adding anything else in the way of fruit to my elderberry wine (but then it was over 40 years ago I last made it, so it's possible that I might have done)

The other recipe is for Elderberry Dessert Wine:

900g elderberries, cleaned and crushed
450g blackberries
450g raisins
4 bananas
450g cooking apples
1.25kg sugar
15ml citric acid
5 ml pectic enzyme
3.7 litres water
Port yeast and nutrient

In a large pan put the elderberries, blackberries and bananas.Add the water and bring to a temperature of 80 deg C for about 20 minutes until the elderberries "dimple". Pour the liquid into a bin containing the washed and chopped raisins.mix in the citric acid and the pectic enzyme.Crush the apples into pulp and add to the bin, cover and leave for 24 hours.

Add an activated yeast and nutrient and ferment on the pulp for five days, pressing down the fruit cap twice daily.Strain out and press the fruit dry, stir in half the sugar, pour the must into a fermentation jar, fit an airlock and ferment on.

After one week, remove some must, stir in half the remaining sugar and return it to the jar.After another week, add the rest of the sugar.When fermentation finishes, rack into a clean jar, top up, bung tight and store until the wine is bright.Rack again, sweeten to taste if necessary and keep for at least two years (yeah right!)

I will have another look tomorrow for my original recipe as I'm sure it is more straightforward than these two.

Good luck.