# Dandelion wine



## Zilli (Apr 1, 2012)

I came across a recipe for dandelion wine in an old (from March/April '78) Mother Earth News that I'm trying but it's a little vague in specifics.

It calls for four oranges and four lemons cut up and added to the liquid that the dandelion flowers have steeped in for three days, along with three pounds of brown sugar, and then boiling all together for a half hour.

Did that.

But then, it says:


> .....cool it to lukewarm, pour the fluid into the crock, and add one and a half or two packages or tablespoons of yeast. Cover the brew with cheesecloth and let it "work" for two or three weeks until the bubbling stops. Filter through fresh cheesecloth and then bottle.


So, my question is, do I leave the lemon and orange chunks in there until after those two or three weeks are up or should I strain them out before I add the yeast?

I know it says to strain through cheesecloth after two or three weeks but I'm not sure if that is specifically to strain out the lemons and oranges or to strain out just the extra "debris?"

I'm a little concerned that if I leave the lemons and oranges in there that it will mold.

Advice?


----------



## copperhead46 (Jan 25, 2008)

Well, it says pour the "fluid" into the crock, so I would think probably you would not put the chunks in with it, you might look for a reciepe online and see if it's a little clearer in the instructions


----------



## Zilli (Apr 1, 2012)

copperhead46 said:


> you might look for a reciepe online and see if it's a little clearer in the instructions


Well.....I did but the first couple that I found didn't have the cut up lemons and oranges as part of the ingredients:

Dandelion Wine Recipe

How to Make Dandelion Wine: 10 steps - wikiHow

I guess the second recipe calls for straining before adding the yeast, but it also calls for leaving the flowers in during the boiling process, so straining would get rid of the flowers, which I've already done.

Oh, well, I guess it's not rocket science and it looks like there are enough variations that it's probably not going to make a huge difference one way or another.

At least I hope not - it was a lot of work picking that gallon of dandelion flowers!


----------



## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

I agree that the recipe is lacking on good directions.

I give you these instructions, assuming you know nothing of wine making, so they are very basic.

Leave the chunks in the "soup". This will begin to ferment once you add the yeast. If at all possible, use wine yeast rather than bread yeast. The "soup" (or rather, "must", as it's called) will begin to ferment within a day. The cheesecloth is to keep any fruit flies from getting into the wine. They carry a bacteria that will cause your wine to turn to vinegar.

When the fermenting dies down in about 5 days, _strain_ the mix into a large bottle and put a piece of syran wrap over the opening - stretched tight and secured with a rubber band - and prick a tiny hole in the syran wrap to let the gas escape. If you were going to make wine on a regular basis you would want an air lock device, which is a thingy to let the gas out but no air in.

After 30 days you will want to "decant" the young wine into another bottle and leave the sediment in the bottom of the original bottle. You can do this with a piece of clear plastic tubing that you can get from a hardware store. Get one about 3/8" in diamenter and 4' long. Plug the end that goes into the wine (cotton ball works good)and make some holes about an inch up from the plug. (Heat a nail with a flame and stick it thru the tubing.) This is so that when you siphon out the wine, the gunk in the bottom of the bottle doesn't get sucked up because the plug keeps the tube off the bottom and out of the gunk.

Let the wine set for another 30 days and repeat the above instructions. 

Do not bottle the wine in 30 days as the instructions say. Chances are very high that there is some minute fermentation still going on and if you put a cork in the bottle and put it away, you may have the makings for a "wine bomb".

Hope this helps.

ps. When preparing the flowers, make sure you discard the green part just below the yellow petals. It will make the wine bitter.


----------



## Zilli (Apr 1, 2012)

suitcase_sally said:


> I agree that the recipe is lacking on good directions.
> 
> I give you these intructions, assuming you know nothing of wine making, so they are very basic.
> 
> ...


Yes! Thanks! I think it's going to be a huge help!

When I picked the flowers, I popped them off the stem as close to the base of the flower as I could. I remember one time when I was a kid taking a bite of a dandelion stem and it was BAAAAAD. Turned me off of dandelions for, like fifty years - I just fixed dandelion greens for the first time ever a week and a half ago and they were awesome!

I did go ahead and leave the chunks in, thinking if I did that for at least a few days, it might help the flavoring (it sure smells good!). I also wondered if it might not help the yeast work, too.

I went to a brewer supply place and got wine yeast. The guy looked up what was recommended for dandelion wine and that was what I bought - I think it is actually "champagne yeast." I told him my next project is rhubarb and he recommended a different yeast for that, so I got four packages of that.

The wine is bubbling this morning! And I do have it covered with cheesecloth.

Should I stir it once in awhile? I'm tempted to do that this morning but I don't want to hurt the process.

I will follow the rest of your timeline and instructions as they come up. I really appreciate you posting them.

Thanks again.


----------



## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

Zilli said:


> I did go ahead and leave the chunks in, thinking if I did that for at least a few days, it might help the flavoring (*it sure smells good*!). I also wondered if it might not help the yeast work, too.
> 
> Should I stir it once in awhile?


Don't be surprised if that lovely smell turns into.....fart! It's just part of the process - the wine isn't spoiling.

Yes, you can stir it. It actually helps.

If your wine shop is close by, get an air lock. They only costs $2-3 and make things easier. You will be able to see the fermentation slowing down by the gas bubbles escaping.


----------



## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

Sometime the orange pieces and the other solids are left in during fermentation so that they can feed the yeast. Then they are strained off after fementation stops.


----------



## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

OMG only "one" gallon of flowers? Doesn't seem like that would make much wine at all!


----------



## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

Don't stir the wine as it ferments. You want to just let it sit and let the dead yeast and the fiber in the mix sink down to the bottom of the container. After it i finished brewing you siphon out the wine until you almost hit the yeast and fiber sediment at the bottom of the container. Then you can let the wine sit some more so that more dead yeast and fiber can settle, then you siphon again. This is called racking the wine. I am not sure if you have to rack dandeline wine more then once but other wines you do. I let my wine sit with an air lock on it. I am not sure how long you can leave it exposed tot he open air.


----------



## Zilli (Apr 1, 2012)

Whoops. I hadn't checked this thread since suitcase_sally had last posted. I didn't realize that anyone else had commented.

Sorry! I didn't mean to ignore you! 



City Bound said:


> Sometime the orange pieces and the other solids are left in during fermentation so that they can feed the yeast. Then they are strained off after fementation stops.


Yup. I left the oranges and lemons in the wine. 

This is day #5 and I had been planning on going onto the next step but the brew is still bubbling. Should I wait until the bubbling stops?



City Bound said:


> Don't stir the wine as it ferments. You want to just let it sit and let the dead yeast and the fiber in the mix sink down to the bottom of the container. After it i finished brewing you siphon out the wine until you almost hit the yeast and fiber sediment at the bottom of the container. Then you can let the wine sit some more so that more dead yeast and fiber can settle, then you siphon again. This is called racking the wine. I am not sure if you have to rack dandeline wine more then once but other wines you do. I let my wine sit with an air lock on it. I am not sure how long you can leave it exposed tot he open air.





> Don't stir the wine as it ferments.


Whoops. I have stirred it. Not a lot - just once or twice a day. I hope I didn't ruin it.



motdaugrnds said:


> OMG only "one" gallon of flowers? Doesn't seem like that would make much wine at all!


That's a lot of picking for a fat old lady like me! My back hurt by the time I was done; besides, I had pretty much picked every dandelion flower in my bottom goat pastures.

However, when I got up the next morning and looked out there, the pastures were filled with nice new dandelion flowers. LOL

I am planning on starting another batch. I would have already liked to have done it but I've been busy planting things - doesn't seem to be enough time and energy in a day.

In fact, I've been wanting to get out there and pick a bunch of dandelion greens. They can apparently be blanched and frozen for later use (much like spinach) - seems like a good idea!


----------



## Zilli (Apr 1, 2012)

suitcase_sally said:


> When the fermenting dies down in about 5 days, _strain_ the mix into a large bottle and put a piece of syran wrap over the opening - stretched tight and secured with a rubber band - and prick a tiny hole in the syran wrap to let the gas escape.


I did this step today.

Yesterday was actually day five, but I had a little unexpected excitement here on the homestead and I didn't get to it until today.

It smells "wine-y;" I took a sip while I was straining it into the bottles and I wasn't particularly impressed with the flavor.

It's also quite brown in color - I'm used to cheap "chablis" - you know, the kind you can see through.

I was thinking about doing another batch; does anyone have a different recipe they have tried that they like? In case this batch doesn't taste so great?


----------



## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

Zilli, your wine will NEVER taste good at this stage of the process. Don't base your successes or failures on this.. It would be like tasting your cake half-way through the baking process and declaring it a success or failure.

Several years ago, I made a 3 gallon batch of rhubarb wine. I thought it was absolutely horrible. I bottled it anyway and gave it another taste about a year later. It was some of the best wine I've ever made.

Blueberry wine was also a great success, but it had to "bottle age" for 2 years before it reached that point.

A point to make about the clarity. Only time will make it clear like the commercial wines.

When you are fermenting the wine in a bucket, it is called the "primary fermentation". After you transfer it to a jug, it's called "secondary fermentation" and that process could last for a couple fo weeks. Then you "rack" (siphon off the wine from the gunk in the bottom of the jug) into yet another jug, top off the jug with water and let it sit for 30 days. You will want to do this several more times, each time extending the time it sits in the jug. Eventually, it will clear.

I have some wines that have been bottled for 5-6 years and they are still throwing sediment. Commercial wineries filter their wines to remove sediment, but some say that the process also filters out the flavor too.

Here is a great website for learning to make wine. It is a lot of reading, but take your time and over a few months of reading you will have a very good understanding of what you need to do to make great wine. I have a lot of respect for Jack Keller.

The Winemaking Home Page


----------



## Zilli (Apr 1, 2012)

Thanks.

I have to admit I love looking at it in the bottles (actually,two bottles and a quart canning jar) and seeing the little bubbles rising to the top.

I was curious yesterday when I bottled it and I didn't poke holes in the plastic wrap over the jar right away (I did over the bottles) and I went back a little later and it was forming a dome. LOL At that point, I figured it would be a good idea to poke a couple of holes to release the pressure.

I see where my local paper (yesterday's) has an article about dandelion wine in it; I haven't had a chance to look at it yet, though.

So, I'm debating whether to start another batch of the dandelion or to start some rhubarb wine.


----------

