Elderflower champagne

Ok so I know the French get iffy about calling this Champagne but, it’s been historically called this for a long time so well tough.

I’ve converted a number of the street to home brewing and 5 of us will be making this delightful little number, over the next few weeks. I’ve dished out some of the tasks, deheading, sugar and lemon shopping. So I can concentrate on the bits I enjoy, the gathering and the brewing. The burping and the refrigerating will be shared. We are limited only by the number of bottles I have, 39 x 2 litres, as the others are Complete novices but 78 litres between 5 is still a reasonable number. 

Hopefully it will be the first of many, I did hear that back in the 70’s there was a unused cesspit that was dug out and converted into a brewing chamber in our cul de sac so we are essentially reviving an old tradition.

By the way V, what was the name of the wine made with the grape trimmings? I’ve been racking my brain all day and it’s defeated me. Ignore me, I’ve just remembered, Folly.

I still have your spring clip bottle, Mikey, empty of course!!

What was that from? I’d forgotten all about it anyway.

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I have 6 bottles of Elderflower liquor, in the spare room it vintage 2015, and extremely potent. Two shot doubles and it’s roger and out. I had to carry a neighbour home in the middle of the afternoon before Christmas.

I think it was Elderflower cordial - can't be sure. Its a long time ago!!

Well I think you did well to remember V.

I’m having a go at elderflower champagne for the first this year. Our flowers aren’t ready yet. How long will it keep? The recipe I saw said a couple of months in the fridge.

I would liked to of cracked open a bottle of our homemade champagne to toast the completion of our homemade home    . But as that’s going to take 2 - 3 years ( still under debate   ). And not actually started yet ( bl@@dy virus   ).
Don’t think we’ll be using homemade champagne to celebrate.

It's ready in about 2-3 weeks SC but, is not particularly alcoholic at this point, the longer you leave it the more the natural yeasts turn the sugar into alcohol. So after 3 years, it's pretty much as strong as it's ever going to get, and based on the percentages of sugar used at the start that will be somewhere between 40-80% proof, or 20-40% alcohol by volume, this would make it comparable with homebrew hooch.

You can test it with a simple homebrew hydrometer for about £4-5, but you have to remember to test the relative gravity of the liquid prior to fermenting, otherwise, it's a lot harder to establish, without more complex kit further down the line. I've forgotten to do this a couple of times, and ended up testing it on the neighbours. 2 glasses and no legs is hooch. 

I had sufficient bottles but, I'm genuinely worried I now don't have sufficient bottles.

Everything went in the bin yesterday, fermenting bin! 

Based on conversions of sugar to liquid and eventually, to alcohol by volume, we have around 120 litres. I'm anticipating some evaporation though probably not too much as it's lidded and out of direct light, so moisture will be contained within. Absorption by the lemon rind and elderflowers will happen though also probably not a massive issue, maybe 30% by volume of solids, so I might lose 3-5 litres here. I'm still expecting to be left with around 100-110 litres, and I have 78 litres of bottles!!! 

One of our group has just bought 12 x 1 litre bottles and I've told everyone to save pop bottles from the recycling but, it's going to be touch and go.

Boy home brewing is stressful when you increase the volume!!! 

Any chance of some amounts you use Mikey. For a considerably smaller batch 

Sure

10 large flower heads
1-1.5lb granulated sugar (I prefer less, I don’t have a hugely sweet tooth)
2 lemons (rind and juice)
2 litres of boiling water to dissolve sugar
6 litres cold water

Pick flowers, shake to remove bugs but don’t wash. Remove stalks, picture attached. Add to container capable of holding all liquid. Rind and juice 2 lemons and add. Dissolve sugar into 2 litres of boiling water. Add cold water to hot and add to flowers and lemon. Stir and leave in a shady place and covered. Stir daily, after 2 days you should see bubbles starting to form on surface, this is the yeast working. You can sieve at this point but, I prefer to leave it a further two days to stoop. Strain through a Muslim to remove flowers and lemon. Leave last bits to drain overnight but don’t squeeze it will cloud up your final drink. Transfer to sterilised bottles with removable lids such as image attached, but pop bottles work too. Don’t use standard wine bottle though they aren’t strong enough, and might explode under pressure. Leave bottles on the counter for 1 week and burp daily. (Unscrew and resealable lids, to remove excess carbon dioxide), refrigerate for a further week burping alternative days. Start drink after two weeks.