"This is for making 6 gallons of wine.
1 package of dried elderberrys,or 2 to 3 Lbs of fresh or frozen ones
10 lbs of sugar
2 tbsps of yeast neutrent
1 tsp of malic acid,or citric acid,or the juice of 1 lemon
2 packs of 1116 or 1118 or 1122Lalvin yeast,or red star champagne yeast
straining bag
Make a 1/2 gallon yeast starter with a cup of disolved sugar in hot water.
Pinch in 2 packs of yeast at 100f.{no hotter}and add a tsp of neutrent.
Make the starter 1-2 days early so it can get going good.Add a few berrys to it.
Dissolve 10Lbs of sugar,and the acid,and neutrent in some boiling water,and stir it till it clears.Put the berrys in the straining bag and tie it,and drop it in your fermenter,and add the hot sugar to it.Add more cool water to bring it up to 5 1/2 gallons.Check the temp and when it gets under 100f,Shake up your yeast starter and pour it in the fermenter.Put on your airlock,and ferment it for a week for fresh berrys,or 2 weeks for dried berrys.At the end of the week or 2,squeese out the bag and remove it.Take a sg reading.If its under 1030sg,add 5 more pounds of sugar and stir it in real good.The next day,rack it into a clean fermenter,or carboy,and put on the airlock.Let it ferment out to dryness,and rack it off the sediment,and into a clean fermenter.Keep doing this until theres no sediment,and add 3 tsps of potassium sorbate.{stablizer}
After you have the stablizer in it,You can sweeten it up.4ozs of sugar per gallon will raise the sg 10 points. Take a sg reading and make sure you know how dry it is.{1000sg or under} Start with 18ozs of sugar,and put it in a quart mason jar.Rack enough wine in it to fill it up.Put the lid on it,and shake it up.Take the lid off and put it in the microwave for 5 minutes.Take it out with a hot pad,and put the lid back on it,and shake well.When it clears,add it to your wine.If the sg of the wine was 1000,or lower,this amount of sugar will raise the sg 8 or 9 points,and the wine will still be a little dry,and not too sweet.Semi dry.Its real easy to over sweeten it so go slow and easy.Just remember,2 ounces of sugar per gallon will raise the sg 5 points.After sweetening,leave it on a airlock for a few weeks to make sure it doesnt start fermenting,then bottle it.Age for a few months and it will get better.
Unlike most wines,too many elderberrys will make it way too strong tasting,so more is not better with elderberrys.
I have 30 pounds of them in the freezer.
wineo"