I have been making dandelion wine for over ten years. Disclaimer: for cork sniffers like @BicyclePete its not a true wine as wine is fermented from fruit and dandelion doesn’t have fruit. It is more of a flavored meade and a mead is fermented honey.
Making dandelion wine is pretty much following a recipe with several steps involved. Fairly simple. Turns out pretty good as most people really like it. And I swear it is medicinal. If I take a few sips at the very first sign of a cold or flu it’s either gone in hours or very mild. But if I feel a sore throat or congestion in the middle of the night and wait until morning to sip the D wine it’s too late and I get a full blown cold or flu.
Now I am making wine from elderberries, a much more complex undertaking. Have to use a Brix meter to measure sugar content. Test acid level. Use pectin enzymes. Oxygenate during primary fermentation. Rack several times. Clarify. Lots of stuff.
The worst part is that both take a minimum of a year to age. Hard to wait that long not knowing if I screwed up any.
Curious if anyone else does so and if you have any advice.
Making dandelion wine is pretty much following a recipe with several steps involved. Fairly simple. Turns out pretty good as most people really like it. And I swear it is medicinal. If I take a few sips at the very first sign of a cold or flu it’s either gone in hours or very mild. But if I feel a sore throat or congestion in the middle of the night and wait until morning to sip the D wine it’s too late and I get a full blown cold or flu.
Now I am making wine from elderberries, a much more complex undertaking. Have to use a Brix meter to measure sugar content. Test acid level. Use pectin enzymes. Oxygenate during primary fermentation. Rack several times. Clarify. Lots of stuff.
The worst part is that both take a minimum of a year to age. Hard to wait that long not knowing if I screwed up any.
Curious if anyone else does so and if you have any advice.