Elderberry “Port” and Elderberry Wine

Another bumper harvest of Elderberries last Friday morning (Aug 28).

It took about 90 minutes to strip them all from the stems, yielding about 9 Lbs of berries.

We steam juiced these on Saturday. There was enough berry to make two batches of elderberry “Port” wine.

The steam juicer is a very handy way to extract juice, and leave behind all the seeds and skins. Later on, maybe I will want to experiment with a whole berry must, since the seeds and skins contain lots of tannins that can contribute to the complexity of the final wine.

The second batch of juice I added orange slices, following a recipe from English Country Life.

This is not a true port wine. As I understand, not being an expert, a port wine is made like a regular wine, but at a certain point when some of the sugar is still un-fermented, it is fortified with a neutral flavor liquor, to raise the alcohol content to a desire 18-22% ABV. This stops the fermentaion, because most wine yeasts cannot survive >15% alcohol, leaving the sugar still dissolved, giving the port a richer, more luscious flavor and feel.

With elderberry “port” we are not adding any spirits, we are simply starting with a sugar content high enough to yield about 18% ABV when finished, and then fermenting until fermentation slows, and stopping it before it is quite dry. This will let some of the sugar remain in the solution so it will not be dry like a wine, but rather thicker and more syrupy.

The scale maxes out at 5kg.

Remembered to get a starting SG this time around.

After adjusting for temperature.

The second batch was made following a recipe in the wine maker’s handbook. It used a lot more sugar, and will likely top out at 18%, if the EC1118 yeast doesn’t die sooner.

Then down into the winery.

Of note the yeast has been off to a slow start. It smells like wine, but doesn’t have the frothy, vigorous primary fermentation activity I am used to from the blackberry wines. I have added some yeast nutrient today to see if that helps.