Wild Fermented Elderberry Wine Part 1

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~~~~~~~~~~~Homemade, organic wine made without commercial yeast.
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[@taylorj9127]

Well, today I officially began the process of making my own elderberry wine using this recipe. I love that it is all natural and wild. Old fashioned is usually best in my experience. I would absolutely love similar recipes with other fruits using old fashioned recipes and large crocks! Thanks again! 😊

[@HomesteadingFamily]

Wonderful!

[@taylorj9127]

@@HomesteadingFamily woke up today to stir the mix and it has molded. I haven’t even gotten to the straining stage. I’m extremely sad. 12lbs wasted.

[@AnthonyLeighDunstan]

Such a wealth of knowledge and experience. Thanks! So we're opportunists too, and for this reason we're giving wine-making a go sourcing our grapes literally from a vine growing out the front of our temporary apartment block (these public vines are called Asma and are common right across the Balkans!) The berries were rotting off the vine so we rescued what we could, made grape juice, then, for fear of wastage, hunted down a pomace recipe and got started! Your vid has been super helpful also just in giving us the confidence to just give it a go. This is day three and its smelling amazing! Keep you posted! Thanks from expats in Romania! PS. I'm with ya on the plastic. ;-)

[@eddavanleemputten9232]

A little PSA here, coming from someone who has over 30 years of experience in making fruit wines, meads and ciders. Elderberries contain a cyanogenic glucoside that during digestion is metabolised into hydrogen cyanide. Depending on the temperature at which the yeast metabolises (‘digests’) the elderberries to produce carbon dioxide and alcohol, not all the cyanogenic glucosides will be metabolised and dissipate into the air. The reason for this is that hydrogen cyanide, although very volatile and lighter than both air and carbon dioxide, it’s evaporation point is at slightly above average room temperature. As a result, you’d be ingesting it. Other factors also enter into the equation: if there are any remnants of stems left on the elderberries, those contain much higher levels of cyanogenic glucosides. Unripe berries contain more of it, too. Seeds also contain more cyanogenic glucosides than the fruit’s skins and pulp. The best way to rid your must/berries of these cyanogenic glucosides is to heat them. You don’t need to boil them i to oblivion. Add enough water to just cover them (hard to judge as they float but still), bring them to the boil, cover your pan with a cheesecloth and allow them to cool to room temperature. Then add your raisins, they will have plenty of wild yeasts on them. Or simply add raw apple peels. An alternative is to either add baker’s yeast, sourdough starter or wine yeast. Yeast strains sold commercially aren’t infused with chemicals or genetically modified. They’re the product of intense natural selection. You could also simply keep the yeast cake from the bottom of a previous batch of wine or cider. Yeast goes dormant in the fridge, so when you rack your wine, you can simply pour the last dregs of liquid into a jar, pop on a lid with an airlock (or a lid that closes tightly) and pop this in the fridge. If you’re not using an airlock, remember to burp the container once or twice a week. When you want to use this yeast culture, bring it to room temperature and feed it with some juice, or sugar water, or honey diluted in water. Keep the container covered but make sure gas can escape. After 24 hours, add this yeast starter to your new ferment for best results. Also: when your yeast colony is building it needs oxygen (first 24 hours after pitching your yeast into the must, give or take). After that, if you don’t want to risk making vinegar, you need an oxygen free environment, so continue fermentation under airlock. There are more tips and tricks to ensure a healthy, high quality fermentation and end product, but those involve more specialised explanations and this comment is already long enough.

[@winstonsmithsoul]

Thanks for your post. I agree the risk outweighs the benefits of natural yeast in this situation.

[@eddavanleemputten9232]

@@winstonsmithsoul - you can actually very easily re-introduce natural yeast by adding something like raw apple peels after everything has cooled down. Some people make a natural yeast culture beforehand (a ‘bug’) so it’s ready when they want to start their wine. Another thing: whenever fermenting ‘on the pulp’ (sticks, fruit parts, flowers…), it is very important to push down the pulp at least once a day and to make sure all parts of it are thoroughly wet/soaked to ensure no mold wil grow. Mycotoxins aren’t good for you either. Some have an immediate effect. Others are carcinogenic over time. Not exactly a fun idea. When you take these into account however and take appropriate measures, elderflower wine is delicious! I highly recommend it!

[@alasdairbaker9914]

Just opened the first bottle and blown away by the sparkling medium sweet ,dark rose wine, thanks.

[@HomesteadingFamily]

+Alasdair Baker So glad you enjoyed!

[@wendyplear82]

JOSH!!! Good to see you in the kitchen lol. Can't wait to try this! Thanks!

[@midwesternmama6322]

awesome! thanks so much for sharing this! We love elderberries.

[@ChrisInTheMine]

Can't tell you how glad I am to have found this, Last year I bought a book on wild fermenting mead I have been hooked ever since. I made a couple of gallons and decided to pick some elder berries to give them a go. Just looking to see how many I might need and stumbled across this so glad to find a like minded individual I was told exactly the same thing when I bought my home brewing supply's guy tried to talk me out of it but i'm so glad i did it. Love from England.

[@HomesteadingFamily]

+ChrisInTheMine We have been amazed by the people who think that wild ferments wont work or will be awful... they certainly aren't gonna make any high ratings, but they turn out good enough for us!

[@ChrisInTheMine]

Honestly unless the person drinking the beverage happens to be a expert I think you would struggle to tell the difference between wild ferment or not.

[@irisgadermaier5313]

I used your video to inspire me and made wine from the first time. I did vinegar bevore and last FallI tried elderberrywine. OMG! It turned out so good! We don´t drink it but we cook with it a lot. Thank you so much.

[@DiazGrowsFood]

I'm waiting on 3 gallons of natural prickly pear wine. I've already racked it once and I like the result so far. Thank you for an awesome video 🤙🤙

[@elizabethcleland6267]

am from highlands SCOTLAND i have a elderberry tree that will and have used for pies tarts syrup ect nice to see am not alone

[@jamesmiller4195]

What a fucking life you live.....yesss

[@Sara-cf2ei]

Have you ever had this wine mold? Mine turned out so yummy but I used flip top bottles and they molded several months in. I'll switch to a cap or cork next batch.

[@kimwoodward7720]

Hello Josh. Just doing a scaled down version of this recipe. I was wondering if you have a recipe for blackberry wine? Thank you.

[@ApostleRon]

Its great to add boiled water but wait to add raisons till the water cools then add raisons. Make a starter from raisons to add to anything you want to ferment. Been doing this a couple years now. There is a poison in elderberries that is killed when cooked. Though I have never cooked my elderberries and never had a problem.

[@joannaspalding3085]

Can you use dry elderberry?

[@TheOnlySariah]

So, I don't have any raisins but I do have prunes that are still yeasty on the skins...do you think that would work in place of raisins?

[@101jody]

Can dried elderberries from the herb store be used instead? If so, how does the recipe ratio change? I'd sure love to try this. Thank you!

[@eatmorebeef824]

How many elderberry trees do you harvest from?

[@lynnesmith7332]

Are the raisins freshly dehydrated or store bought?

[@cookiewilcox5082]

Where do you get your raisins?

[@RoughneckSC]

can you use Blackberries instead?

[@SunnyDeeTee]

After the first three days when the berries are still in there is it normal for it to smell bad?

[@EM8844]

why do you wait for the fermentation to start before adding the sugars

[@patriciasheppard6109]

I am highly allergic to sugar and honey and can only eat a very small amount of fruit. Can I make it without adding extra sweet. The raisins are fine.

[@rcmoot]

Show people what an elderberry tree looks like when flowering and fruiting.

[@danielturner9832]

Made some once. Mine was terrible

[@meaganbishop8203]

Thanks for sharing your recipe. All my elderberries are in the freezer and I will be making this as soon as I can. I have one question, do I wash the elderberries at all?! I want make sure to do it right!

[@GodGunsGutsandNRA]

Meagan Bishop I have always just rinsed mine with plain cool water, just to get any little critters or dirt off. I would not use anything else. Water that is too hot will kill the natural yeast.

[@cameron4592]

Jesus loves you my brother 🙏

[@HomicideHenry]

My great grandfather used a crock like that to make his wine. I'm not sure though if he used the fruits natural yeast or added yeast to make his wine.

[@GodGunsGutsandNRA]

HomicideHenry Your great grandfather more than likely used the yeast on the fruit to make the wine. My grandmother never used commercial yeast to make wine.

[@HomicideHenry]

@@GodGunsGutsandNRA More than likely. Yeast once upon a time came from either the bakery or the brewery (barm) but I imagine that many people just did wild fermentation. The only need for added yeast is to increase the alcohol, but you can do that via distilling either by using a still or believe it or not freezing the wine or cider (applejack). Jesus Christ Almighty God bless you and Jesus Christ Almighty God bless your family 😊

[@GodGunsGutsandNRA]

HomicideHenry My grandmother always had a “Sour Dough” jar sitting on the kitchen counter. I have also seen her mix flour & water in a jar, add some grapes or other fruit, and leave it to sit for 24 hrs. Then she removed the fruit, and used the dough to make bread. The bread would rise quite well, and the only thing I could tell that was different is that some breads were slightly sweeter. Old ways!!

[@HomicideHenry]

@@GodGunsGutsandNRA I'm going to try that one day Jesus Christ Almighty God willing. I've seen a couple of videos on KZbin where people do that.

[@SunnyDeeTee]

Could you please tell me how to sanitize some old wine bottles that I could reuse for this? Thank you.

[@SunnyDeeTee]

@Cameron Johnson awesome. Thanks so much.

[@GodGunsGutsandNRA]

Sunny Dee Tee I fill my laundry sink with hot water and Oxiclean. Then I submerge all the wine bottles, and I let them sit there for 15 minutes. Then I let out the water, and rinse each bottle VERY well. We have a whole house water filter system, so I don’t worry about any chlorine residual in the bottles. For rinsing the bottles, the residual chlorine will not be high enough to effect the wine. However, if you are on city water; decide to make wine, boil your water for about 10 minutes to dissipate the chlorine, then let it cool completely. The chlorine in city water can kill off any natural yeast, and then you don’t get fermentation, you get stinky rotten fruit.

[@marcjamesjamos]

You can clean them and then leave them in sunlight. Or heat them, or boiling water!

[@brigettekentopp1532]

Aren’t elderberries poisonous unless cooked?

[@ApostleRon]

I make all my wines using the wild yeast method. Wont make it any other way.

[@brandonstahl3562]

Boiling water will kill anything

[@charlesedwards2348]

I think your misunderstanding the term of GMO or Genetically Modified Organism. It's not as bad as your thinking in most cases. Commercially produced yeasts are simple isolate strains that exhibit characteristics found desirable for certain outcomes. That "Wild" yeast is actually co.prised of the same strains just not isolated so you may have 50 different strains in one brew. Sometimes it will dry out sometimes it will be sweeter. But to avoid commercial yeast is at best just skipping a single step and at worst potentially ruining tons of materials which would be wasteful. If you where to isolate a strain yourself it would be genetically no different then the store bought.

[@donnajackman4384]

You don't want to use commercial yeast, trying to get away from commercial products, but you use commercially processed sugar?

[@truthhurtz2793]

I don't understand why you didn't leave a link to 'Part two' ??

[@pdfbrander]

Most wild yeasts are not very alcohol tolerant and will make a sweet wine at around 7% abv that does not keep well. For the sake of a $2 yeast packet you are taking a risk with a lot of valuable fruit, potentially wasting sugar (corn sugar can be very bad for the environment) and encouraging others to do the same. Just seems silly and rather irresponsible to me. Just buy a packet of yeast and/or cultivate a good strain.

[@HomesteadingFamily]

+Dan Blackburn - Hi Dan... you've brought up some interesting points. We love it when people are thinking through things! But most yeast is from GMO sources... the wine keeps really well for several years and we only use evaporated cane juice crystals (fair trade and non gmo). The wine is much better at the 2 year mark than it was when new, so I think it is aging just fine. Many of us would rather use wild yeasts than the store bought... but we appreciate your comments.