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Dandelion Fruit Wine
by DIG-IT
Part 2: Mixing the Brew
Dandelion Wine:
5 quarts dandelion petals
5 gallon bucket with lid
Sugar
Grapes
4 lemons, 4 limes, 2 oranges
1 package active dry yeast mixed in ½ cup warm water (1 packet/gallon)
Sulfite Tabs (Campden brand)
Tartaric acid (1 tablespoon/gallon)
Peptic enzyme (1/4 teaspoon/5 gallons)
DAP (diammonium phosphate)
Hydrometer
pH meter
Floating thermometer
Bubbler
Strawberry Meade:
4 gallons hulled strawberries
½ gallon tupelo honey
½ bag sugar (2½ pounds)
The group met with Georgene Mortimer, winemaker, at Westfall Winery on May 18. We brought our collected dandelion petals and flowers, and I brought strawberries, for by the time I got around to picking dandelions, they had magically disappeared, gone to seed.
Kathy La Duke, from Stockhom, NJ, brought petals and some closed up flowers, yet to be separated from their green sepals and calyx. Joan Wittrein and her son Nick from Augusta, NJ, did the same. To save time plucking enough flowers to make three gallons of just petals, Joan and Kathy combined their petals, some flowers with green sepals, and a handful still with their hefty calyxes intact. Kathy came to the class because, “Mom and pop got into the dandelion wine and that's how my husband came to be. Dandelion wine tickled my funny bone."
The ladies used five quarts of flowers to which they will add raisins for body and more flavor. Their wine will be light.
Kathy and Joan put the flowers in a five-gallon bucket and Georgene poured in boiling water so the flowers would steep. “It will pull the flower out of it," she said, leaving space near the top so that during fermentation gases have room to collect.
They stirred the flowers, submersing them in the water, then added sugar. The sugar content is measured with a hydrometer in the unit of “bricks". Alcohol content will be half of the number of bricks. To achieve a 24-brick reading, the ladies put in ten pounds of sugar. They will have a 12% wine.
Additives:
The pH of the dandelion wine should be between 3 and 3.5. “It needs acidity to keep new organisms out and gives a little tart taste. Anything with yeast permits the growth of micro-organisms,"¯ said Georgene. She put in tartaric acid. “It's to make sure that the yeast is only thing working in there." Next, she added peptic enzyme. “It helps clear the haze in the pectin. It helps break them down."
Georgene dissolved the yeast in warm water, no hotter than 80 degrees. It'll start the fermentation process. “One rule of thumb is you never add anything granular to the wine. First dissolve it in water.Add enough water so it's not goopy." She let the dissolving yeast sit for 20 minutes. Yeast needs a nitrogen source, in this case "DAP," which acts as an energizer, especially for non-grape wines. She stirred it into the wine well, then swirled the yeast mix on top of the brew. It will start to bubble within 24 hours.
She'll poke a hole in the middle of the bucket lid in order to fit a bubbler, or escape valve for CO2 (carbon dioxide). Water is put in the bubbler with Campden tablets (sulfites), made special for home wine-makers. Sulfites stop oxidation and bacterial infection.
To save a little time, Georgene will add the citrus to the dandelion mix. “The oils in the skin add flavor to dandelions."
More on strawberry meade next time. Check back in two weeks for the next step.
See Part 1: The Infernal Blossom
See Part 3: Tasting Strawberry Wine
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published May 24, 2004
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