Dandelion Wine

Post date: May 04, 2013 1:35:58 AM

Had to make it...

Having missed out on the great dandelion harvests last year, I started earlier this year.  McLean was bursting with dandelions this week, so I thought, what the heck?

I used Garey's recipe from TJOHMW.

7 cups dandelion heads, loosely packed

3 lbs sugar

Water to make one gallon

1 tsp yeast nutrient (fermax)

3 tsp acid blend

1/4 tsp tannin

1 Campden tablet, finely crushed and dissolved in 1/4 cup water

1 pkt Lalvin EC-1118 yeast.

5/2/13 4PM

Picked the dandelions.  Took the heads only.  This took about 30 minutes.  This is how many that is:

5/2/13 6PM

Pinch the green bottoms off of the blossoms - this took about 30 minutes and was kind of tedious - my fingertips hurt and were stained afterwards.  I probably could have used a knife.  Poured a quart and a half of just boiled water over the petals in a saucepan, covered, and left for two hours.

5/2/13 8PM

Dissolved sugar, tannin, acid blend and yeast nutrient in about a half gallon of hot water, aerated well, put in a plastic 2g primary, and strained dandilion water into it.  Topped off to just over a gallon.  Added crushed Campden tablet.

5/3/13 10PM

Pitched yeast after rehydrating for 15 minutes in 2 oz of 109 degree F water.

5/24/13 8PM

Racked.  Still a bit sweet.

7/20/13 2PM

Racked.  Still kind of sweet.  Its lost the bitterness it had before.  Now it tastes very much like the Queen Anne's lace wine.

12/7/13 1PM

Fermentation is clearly stuck.  Racked, lots of sentiment, still seems to be percolating away.

6/7/15 11AM

Racked.  Very little sediment, very clear.  Still sweet, tastes nice.

10/18/15 11AM

Bottled into 5 750s.