WitchHazel Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 I've also been thinking about the problem of the exploding bottles. Do you think that if you used bottles which previously contained fizzy drinks this would be better? The plastic is less flimsy and so more likely to stand the pressure? Another alternative - although possibly prohibitively expensive (£3.91 for the 1litre white based bottle) - is the new plastic soda stream bottles. They come with an expiry date, as they are tested to withstand intense pressure (and after a certain period, they can't guarantee they will continue to function properly). Just a thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted June 16, 2009 Author Share Posted June 16, 2009 I've also been thinking about the problem of the exploding bottles. Do you think that if you used bottles which previously contained fizzy drinks this would be better? The plastic is less flimsy and so more likely to stand the pressure? Yes, that is definitely true. I've used fizzy drink bottles and plastic water bottles and the water ones are more fragile. I had 2 litres of champagne explode all over the larder one year after using bottles which had held water. However, I found an old 2 litre coke bottle of champagne which we'd forgotten about at the back of the larder one year which had just become deformed and ended up bell shaped! It didn't explode but we did open it verrrry carefully! The champagne was fab! I've learned to use smaller bottles now though as 2 litres of champagne takes some clearing up if it does happen to escape! 1 litre bottles are much better. Hi Kate This thread has just caught my eye. I quite fancy making some of this, do I snip just the flowers and use them? Is there a point when the flowers are past there best and not good to use? Sounds like a silly question .... sorry just wondered if you had to catch them before in full bloom so to speak .. Yes, just snip off the white flowers. It doesn't need to be terribly precise. I just snip away roughly until they have all been used rather than cutting off individual flowers. As long as you don't get too much stem in, it'll be fine. Pick the flowers which smell nice. If they smell sweet, they are good to use. If they smell of cat wee, discard them as they will spoil the drink. Pick ones with as many open flowers as you can on a sunny day when the pollen is nice and dry as it is that which gives the drink it's unique flavour. Good luck!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 Well i had a good find today. I needed some more citric acid and didn't want to go to Tescos again as i have been in asking for it a lot and they always give me a suspicious look when i ask for citric acid. So i went to a local shop that sells random bits and bobs and they had 500g of citric acid for £2.50(which should last me ages) The guy in the shop was really too which was a bonus. However he then asked me where i picked the eldeflower from and there was no way i was telling him! So i just said in a field near my house(which is also true but the eldeflowers are on a hill so they are really hard to pick) So i've now got 1 batch of elderflower champagne(bottled yesterday) and 2 batches of cordial on the go, i froze the flowers for 1 batch of cordial so it will be interesting to see the difference(if any). Mum wants me to make lots more so i need to go and buy more sugar tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RutlandRooster Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 I've learned to use smaller bottles now though as 2 litres of champagne takes some clearing up if it does happen to escape! 1 litre bottles are much better. Quite agree - the 2 litre bottles do seem to cause problems, have used 1 litre bottles and they appear to work fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 Well i was putting my newest batch of cordial in the pantry and thought i would check on the champagne which is in there too. I gently squeezed the bottles and they felt firmer than usual so then i opened the lid and they all fizzed!! Very exciting for me as my last batch went wrong so to get them fizzing when i only bottled them on Wed evening. However i'm guessing this means they will go quite fizzy by the time 3 weeks are up so i'll have to remember to open the caps regulary. As i said on an earlier post i have 2 batches of cordial on the go. The frozen flowers one smells different to the other batch with fresh flowers. The frozen one smells slightly off, i can't see any mould on the flowers or lemons. It needs bottling tonight or tomorrow so i will have to taste some and hope it tastes ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abbey Road Girl Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 I've posted this before, but when you are brewing you can cap each bottle with a balloon which will absorb the excess fizz and, when it goes limp , you will know that the fermentation process is finished. Should warn you that, although this did work for me once, I never tried it again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Speckled Hen Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 I've also been thinking about the problem of the exploding bottles. Do you think that if you used bottles which previously contained fizzy drinks this would be better? This is what I do. You can buy the flip tops separately Old lager bottles are good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeckyBoo Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 Just adding my two penneth - for champagne I used my Vileda mop bucket (sterilised after a fashion obviously!) and put in 2lb of sugar, juice and rind of two lemons (with pips if they fell in) four elderflower heads or thereabouts - didn't cut them off the stem, just threw them in, 4 tablespoons of white wine vinegar and 10 litres of water. Stirred it, covered it for a day, forgot to stir it, forgot to decant it so after 48 hours instead of 24 it was strained through muslin into empty diet coke and lemonade bottles. The first 10 litres are going down nicely, the second ten litres were decanted today! In the bucket mine just looked like a puddle, with brown flowers in, no fizz, no nothing. But after only a few days in the bottles it built up nicely. And chilled it is very VERY palatable - and it must be alcoholic as it made my knees go all warm! Question again, do you have to de-fizz it for ever or just for the first couple of weeks only if I keep de-fizzing surely I'll be left with bottles of flat champagne ? BeckyBoo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted June 27, 2009 Share Posted June 27, 2009 Mine are quite varied - the first batch we did is delicately fizzy. The second batch is so fizzy I have to screw it up before it fizzes out. Although one of the bottles is doing very little - odd considering it all came from the same pot??? The two litre bottles are the fizziest and one of those isn't completely full - but is the most explosive of all! I am now releasing the caps at least twice a day - and hope they last overnight without finding a sticky mess in the morning! We have nearly 2 weeks to go. All in all we made 20 litres. OH is delighted with the bounty and sneakily finished the remainder of the first bottle before DD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chook n Boo Mum Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 I've just been in to my dining room - which isn't used for dining it has to be said - and discovered that the muslin I had placed over the top of my elderflower champagne was folded back....strange I thought, I'll just check the bottles & release the pressure....and the bottom of the first bottle was wet..........stranger me thinks, there's a puddle in the bottom of the bucket........oh my gosh, (I'm quick on the uptake have you noticed ) I think I'm missing a small bottle...it was lying on its side under the chair about 2ft from where it started with a split bottom...as I looked around I found splatters of sticky goo all over Granny's antique chairs & the sideboard ......guess who's going round with a damp cloth soon and a carpet cleaner.............and what a good job my house had a light smattering of dust to reduce any damage by exploding elderflower champagne Sha x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Speckled Hen Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 Oh no. Hope you get it cleared up. You may have to do some quality control sampling while there. I bottled mine in some of those flip top glass bottles and when I ran out I put the remainder in a couple of old lemonade bottles, (I've had those and very nice thanks !!! ) I opened one yesterday and lost a good third in the ensuing volcano I am now wondering whether to open the remaining 10 to decant them into plastic bottles , there's still yeast at the bottom so plenty of activity. Who was it here that said, " USE PLASTIC BOTTLES" ? VERY wise. I have some frozen flowers and the next batch will go into plastic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 Well we're having mixed results here. The bottles are now extremely fizzy. The earliest batch was lovely. The second and huge batch when we opened the first bottle was delish. The second one tasted very soapy/perfumey and we couldn't drink it (2 litre bottle). The third bottle was fine - another 1litre bottle. Yet they were all done at the same time. But they all certainly need undoing at least once a day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chook n Boo Mum Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 I've just been in to my dining room - which isn't used for dining it has to be said - and discovered that the muslin I had placed over the top of my elderflower champagne was folded back....strange I thought, I'll just check the bottles & release the pressure....and the bottom of the first bottle was wet..........stranger me thinks, there's a puddle in the bottom of the bucket........oh my gosh, (I'm quick on the uptake have you noticed ) I think I'm missing a small bottle...it was lying on its side under the chair about 2ft from where it started with a split bottom...as I looked around I found splatters of sticky goo all over Granny's antique chairs & the sideboard ......guess who's going round with a damp cloth soon and a carpet cleaner.............and what a good job my house had a light smattering of dust to reduce any damage by exploding elderflower champagne Sha x ............am working my way round the room & wiping as I go, no problem............then I look up..........I think there was quite a fountain effect when that bottle exploded.............I may have to own up to DH as the ceiling may need a coat of paint . Silver lining to this tale...the dining room is getting de-cluttered and the carpet cleaned!!! BTW, the offending bottle was a small coke bottle so was in theory made to withstand "pressurised" contents Sha x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 Well we had another small bottle which I found just fine - it tastes a bit like sherbert fizz. DD and OH thought it tasted funny. Good all the more for meeeeeee! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted June 12, 2010 Share Posted June 12, 2010 Just came to print out the recipe so thought I'd 'Bump' this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stehaggan Posted June 12, 2010 Share Posted June 12, 2010 Just been and picked abag full of elderflowers to try and make champagne and cordial tonight. I have never done this before and have no idea what it should be like so wish me luck:-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stehaggan Posted June 13, 2010 Share Posted June 13, 2010 has anyone ever made strawberry wine??? Any recipes?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chucky Mama Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 I have some champagne in the garage from last year. Do you think it would be safe to drink. There is some obvious sediment at the bottom of the bottles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Speckled Hen Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 Only one way to find out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BiBiBi Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 Hi I just made a batch of elderberry champagne....a different recipe from yours ....a lot more flower heads used (about 40 flowers to 6 litres of water), 4 lemons, less sugar and yeast too. I left it in a bucket for a week and bottled it yesterday in screw top glass bottles (oops). They are stored safely in big wooden old ammunition boxes so if they do explode they cant do much damage. But....I was wondering how soon/often I should unscrew them to let some gas out? They don't seem to be fizzing that much and sediment is still settling on the bottom of the bottles. Is this normal...the sediment I mean? The recipe said add yeast if it doesnt froth after a few days so I did. Any comments/advice much appreciated. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BiBiBi Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 I meant elderflower, not elderberry champagne....oops Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lavenders_Blue Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 I started a batch of this 24 hours ago and it already smells DIVINE I'll bottle it up tomorrow but will need something to take my mind off it for 3 weeks - I don't think I will be able to wait that long! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stehaggan Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 Is it 3 weeks later you can drink it? I made some on Sunday and just bottled it up. I didn't think it smelt that nice wen I was making it but it smells really nice now. Is it supposed to have bubbles yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C&T Posted June 16, 2010 Share Posted June 16, 2010 I went for my run yesterday, changing my route to go along a tow path in the hope of finding some elderflowers - and I did!! Hooray! I'm guessing I looked a little odd running with a bunch of flowers in one hand... But tonight I intend to start the Champagne! OH thinks I am slightly mad - especially when I said might keep it in the bath with (fabric) shower curtain drawn to minimise any impact of exploding bottles... EDIT: And I have just bought a brand new Yellow Bucket to make it in! I am very excited by this... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stehaggan Posted June 21, 2010 Share Posted June 21, 2010 Just wanted to ask, i bottled some elderflower champagne just over a week ago now, it doesn't seem to be bubbling in the bottle yet.. should it be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
