Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Eating and Drinking => Homebrew => Topic started by: Alastair-I on April 26, 2012, 17:42
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Just want to put out a suggestion and see if anyone thinks I'm not mad.. :blush:
I have under the stairs about 1.5l of homemade elderberry syrup/cordial (2x 75cl). After a recent stock-take of preserves, etc. I'm afraid that sterile conditions appear to have been compromised (unsure how, it was still nearly boiling as it went into a sterilised bottle!) with a slight mould on the top (both bottles). The cunning plan is as follows..
Strain the syrup from the bottles and bring to the boil/simmer for 5 minutes to resterilise the syrup. Cool and taste a spoonful to check for taint.
Add the syrup to a sterilised demi-john with 2l red grape juice (to make c.3.5l liquid) and a sachet of champagne yeast.
Air-lock and leave for initial fermentation to subside, then make-up the gap to the neck of the d-j with water (about 1.5l - or I could get some more grape juice). Replace the airlock and forget about it until fermentation stops. Rack as required. Bottle and leave to mature for as long as I can resist it.
There's a lot of sugar in the elderberry syrup so I'm reluctant to add more unless anyone thinks it's absolutely necessary.
Am I mad? is this likely to produce something drinkable?
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Id be worried about the sugar content.
A quick look at this chart (http://distillers.tastylime.net/library/Fermentation-chart/fermentation-chart.htm) suggest you'll need around 240g/l for 12% RGJ has around 156g /l so with 3lts you've got 468g out of the 1080g needed for 1 gallon. I very much doubt there would be 600g in 1.5l of syrup. ?
Id put the syrup in 1/2l of water and see if you can get a reading on the hydro to give you at least an idea of the sugar. Might be worth swapping out 1 RGJ for an AJ and then top up with RGJ when needed. But I like to play with my food :D
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I use the Darina Allen recipe for the syrup which calls for 1lb sugar for every pint of elder juice. Ball-park figure would be around 1.1kg sugar from 1.5l syrup. That would suggest from your fugures that I could divide the syrup between two demi-johns and I need to buy more RGJ!
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Ball-park figure would be around 1.1kg sugar from 1.5l syrup.
:ohmy: :ohmy: :ohmy: Bet your dentist loves you !
If that's the case Id split the syrup between 2 DJs perhaps do a sweet red desert wine to mature and a dry table white for drinking asap?
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Ball-park figure would be around 1.1kg sugar from 1.5l syrup.
:ohmy: :ohmy: :ohmy: Bet your dentist loves you !
If that's the case Id split the syrup between 2 DJs perhaps do a sweet red desert wine to mature and a dry table white for drinking asap?
Thanks Lardman.. The red is an idea, I'm not sure what would be needed to bleach elderberry syrup to a white!
I'll give it a go with 75cl bottle of syrup and make-up to a full d-j with RGJ.
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Thanks Lardman.. The red is an idea, I'm not sure what would be needed to bleach elderberry syrup to a white!
I would imagine 4l of 'white' juice would go a long way to making a blush or rose. Let us know how it turns out. I'm always interested in how to fix things that have gone horribly wrong... can't think why :lol:
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Well I've started it.. 75cl of the syrup sieved and boiled for 5 minutes, 2l of RGJ (all that I have to hand), allowed to cool and 5g Youngs champagne yeast pitched. Air-lock on and I'll see what happens. I'll pick up some more RGJ and some WGJ over the weekend so I can make-up this first batch to a full d-j once the initial burst of activity settles, and make-up the second with WGJ.
Bottled some TC whilst it was boiling/cooling. One no added sugar batch, and one batch with a bottle of Polish syrup pitched in at the top-up stage. I need to do some maths to work out the potential for the raspberry version.
440ml of Łowicz raspberry syrup with 64.9g/100ml sugar, for 285g sugar
4.5l of Vitafit apple juice with 9.5g/100ml sugar, for 430g sugar
Total sugar in 5l, 715g, or 143g/l. From the chart that gives a potential alcohol volume of about 7%. That's about the top of the level I'd put as "quaffable". A quick taste while bottling and that sounds about right.
Reassuringly that puts the no added sugar batch with a potential of around 4.5% which is bang-on quaffable in my book :D
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Reassuringly that puts the no added sugar batch with a potential of around 4.5% which is bang-on quaffable in my book :D
And mine. I've heard good things about that Lowicz stuff, but every time I ordered it my local Trashco has run out >:(
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I've split the two bottles of elderberry cordial into two DJ. I've done one with WGJ and one with RGJ. Good job I've labelled them, as I can't tell the difference!
I've boosted the WGJ with 125g sugar, according to my Excel sheet that should give a potential 12%. I'll dose the RGJ batch with the same when I top-up after the initial activity dies down.
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Thanks Lardman.. The red is an idea, I'm not sure what would be needed to bleach elderberry syrup to a white!
I would imagine 4l of 'white' juice would go a long way to making a blush or rose. Let us know how it turns out. I'm always interested in how to fix things that have gone horribly wrong... can't think why :lol:
Well.. I made two batches, one with RGJ and one with WGJ. I've just finished bottling, corking and labelling the RGJ batch and OH and I are sat sipping the glass that wouldn't fit into the bottles. Very quaffable, an easy drinking red for roast meat or just sitting of an evening ;)