jema
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what is the oldest vintage home brew wine you have?I know I cannot compete here. I think I got to about the 4 year old level once.
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nettie
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Last year's. In my house it never lasts any longer than that 
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*Fluffykitten*
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When Mam and Dad moved into their house in 1985 they found four bottles of home made elderberry wine dated 1979. My friend Alison and I drank the best part of a whole bottle one day whilst hanging out in back yard being bored and getting up to mischief  and I have to say it was lovely - made me feel really wobbly at a grand old age of 12!! Mam threw it out straight away being the responsible parent that she is  Felt really awful the next day - my first hangover  (of many)!
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Gertie
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I've got two bottles of elderberry which are four and a half years old. They are kept for sentimental reasons.
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jema
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| Gertie wrote: | | I've got two bottles of elderberry which are four and a half years old. They are kept for sentimental reasons. |
Tricky issue, sentiment and sediment, ultimately wine is there for you to enjoy drinking it....
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cab
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I've got damson '01 as my oldest at the moment. I know my better halfs dad has some down in the cellar that's 20 years old.
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Mat S
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A little of last years elderberry. Loads of the strawb; no prizes for guessing which one's horrid and which I'm trying hard to keep & see if it improves further...
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jema
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| Mat S wrote: | | A little of last years elderberry. Loads of the strawb; no prizes for guessing which one's horrid and which I'm trying hard to keep & see if it improves further... |
It is one of the reasons I am doing a lot of elderberry. If its bad its bad, it won't improve so why drink it at all?
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Mat S
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I'm thinking of building a still to take care of the strawb...
Is it just me or is elderberry inherently "good"; a fruit made for winemaking?
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jema
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| Mat S wrote: | I'm thinking of building a still to take care of the strawb...
Is it just me or is elderberry inherently "good"; a fruit made for winemaking? |
It is known as the British grape. It does seem hard to make a really bad batch of Elderberry  I am making it, my "stock" wine.
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cab
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| Mat S wrote: | | I'm thinking of building a still to take care of the strawb... |
I didn't hear that, none of us did
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Is it just me or is elderberry inherently "good"; a fruit made for winemaking? |
It's low sugar, bit it's otherwise a great berry for a very 'winey' red wine. I like to blend it 3lb with 1lb of blackberries for a fruity, medium wine and 2lb each of blackberry and elderberry for a really fruity sweet wine.
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Mat S
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I tried a elder-black mix but the blackberry came out rather yeasty if I recall correctly. Doing more elder this year though.
I need to get some 5 gal demijohns - never seen them at any of the usual recycling haunts and I don't want to pay much for them..
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jema
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| Mat S wrote: | I tried a elder-black mix but the blackberry came out rather yeasty if I recall correctly. Doing more elder this year though.
I need to get some 5 gal demijohns - never seen them at any of the usual recycling haunts and I don't want to pay much for them.. |
I use the straight forward plasic fermenters
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Sarah D
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Never seen a 5 gallon demi-john.
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jema
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| Sarah D wrote: | | Never seen a 5 gallon demi-john. |
I have read about them in old wine making books, but equally have never seen a glass 5 gallon fermenter.
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moogie
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I can out do most people on this - or rather my parents can - they have got some wine left that my father claims to be elderflower or elderberry or something (his words!  ) that was made in 1979. Unfortunately most of it exploded within several days of the making as I recall. Two bottles remain undrunk and look rather radioactive. They appear to have gone bright orange. Don't think we'll be drinking them now....I once made a summer fruits squash wine that turned out to be halucinogenic which has kind of put me off homemade wine.
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jema
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| moogie wrote: | | .I once made a summer fruits squash wine that turned out to be halucinogenic which has kind of put me off homemade wine. |
Any idea on the ingredients?
I think home made wine has the potential you choose to give it, We had a little social gathering Saturday with someone who is a big red wine drinker, who has been shall we say a little picky in the past with wine, insisting she only drinks South African wine.
She has got better, and between us all Saturday we drank two varieties of Elderberry and some Beaverdale grape kit wine. She was pretty impressed.
But Elderberry and Grape are pretty much the best choices for a classic type wine, and I think the more wildly you stray then the more iffy the results are likely to be, unless you really show the patience and care needed.
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Marigold123
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| Mat S wrote: | I'm thinking of building a still to take care of the strawb...
Is it just me or is elderberry inherently "good"; a fruit made for winemaking? |
I've not really found many other uses for it. It's OK for jellies with enough apple, but a lot of people don't like the flavour, and you can throw a handful into a mixed fruit crumble, or add to little apple cakes, (my favourite, makes them look like blueberry muffins - very posh!)
Wine is obviously what it is 'intended' to be used for! You can even do 'champagne' and a red from the same tree. How well-organised is that?! 
I haven't done wine for 20 years, so it really is time I broke out the gear and see what else I need. 2005 is wine-making year for me - I hope it's a good vintage! 
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jema
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| Marigold123 wrote: |
I haven't done wine for 20 years, so it really is time I broke out the gear and see what else I need. 2005 is wine-making year for me - I hope it's a good vintage! |
That sounds like me 6 months ago. I had somehow gotten out of the habit. Proably because I found the effort of 1 gallon batches disproportionate.
Last year though a combination of a massive elderberry crop and the discovery of the 5 gallon fermenter proved irristiable, and I now have well over 150 bottles stashed
It is very rewarding.
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Guest
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The trick with elder trees is to ha ve more than one tree, or access to more than one. We have about 6 in our garden. I make six gallons of elderflower a year, but spread the picking between the trees. Same with the berries - then there are always some left for the chickens and wild birds.
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moogie
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| jema wrote: | | moogie wrote: | | .I once made a summer fruits squash wine that turned out to be halucinogenic which has kind of put me off homemade wine. |
Any idea on the ingredients?
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Well actually it wasn't suprising it was halucinogenic thinking over the ingredients. I'd made some other wine, and was looking through the cupboards looking for other things to turn into wine, when I came across a bottle of Tesco's summer fruits squash which everyone hated and no one had drunk. So I thought it might have potential for a wine. It was a hideous bright pink colour, probably full of e numbers, flacourings and sugar. I used about half the bottle, added lots of water and sugar and whatever it takes to make wine (I forget, its been 10 years!) and left it to do its stuff in the wood shed. It tasted amazing but made us hallucinate within about half an hour which was fairly scary 
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Marigold123
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Good lord, that's really scary. I don't suppose anyone's studied what happens when you subject all those E-numbers to the fermentation process.
Um, were they GOOD hallucinations?
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tahir
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| Marigold123 wrote: | | Um, were they GOOD hallucinations? |
No they were about opening tins carelessly
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Marigold123
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| Anonymous wrote: | | The trick with elder trees is to ha ve more than one tree, or access to more than one. We have about 6 in our garden. I make six gallons of elderflower a year, but spread the picking between the trees. Same with the berries - then there are always some left for the chickens and wild birds. |
With the berries at least I always reckon the the birds can reach a lot higher than I can, so I don't mind picking all the ones within arm's reach.
I don't have a tree of my own but there are quite a number nearby, and I made a point of bringing some home for the chickens last year. They went completely nuts over them.
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