How is dandelion wine made

Dandelion Wine Melnee. Dandelion Wine Edna Straney. Recipe Summary test prep:. Nutrition Info. Ingredients Decrease Serving The ingredient list now reflects the servings specified. Add all ingredients to shopping list View your list.

I Made It Print. Full Nutrition. Reviews 19 Read More Reviews. Most helpful positive review Hungryguy Rating: 4 stars. It was great Read More. Most helpful critical review knowan. Rating: 2 stars.

A few notes on what's wrong with this recipe: 1 Double the amount of dandelion flowers. The flowers are best picked at mid-morning to mid-day. When preparing them remove all the green, especially the green stalk which is very bitter.

Most of the green sepals should be removed as well, but if a few get through that's fine, they'll add some body. Keep the pot covered during this time. After it has cooled to roughly 30 C or 90 F add the wine yeast not baker's yeast, although that might do in a pinch and the fermentation lock.

When the bubbling has mostly subsided days remove the liquid from the lees and rack it for 2 months before bottling unless you like exploding bottles. Like all wines, it's best if it's aged in the bottle for at least a year, although there'll be a noticible improvement after just 6 months. Read More. You'll find tips for slashing heating bills, growing fresh, natural produce at home, and more. That's why we want you to save money and trees by subscribing through our earth-friendly automatic renewal savings plan.

This dandelion wine recipe makes one gallon of a wine full of health-giving properties. Here's the formula for one gallon: Dandelion Wine Recipe Early in the morning when the dew is on the flowers, pick one gallon of perfect, open dandelion blossoms.

Put the flowers in a two gallon or larger open crock and pour boiling water over them. Cover the crock with cheesecloth and let it sit at room temperature for three days. Then squeeze all the juice outta the flowers, throw them away and save the liquid.

Put the liquid into a big pot and add: 3 lbs. The nice lady used white ugh sugar. Cover with cheesecloth and let brew sit for two or three weeks 'til the bubbling stops and — whammy!

Mama Mia. More Comments. Thanks again! So lovely to find this kind of support online! Like perhaps they are starting the process of going to seed. Or is that the way they look all the time? Yes, you can stockpile petals. Make sure to remove them from the flower base right away, and keep them in the freezer. His Laurie My wife and I decided to make your recipe, we also read it wrong and put in 3 quarts of plucked petals.

The wine has a beautiful color to it, but who will it taste? Is this normal? Also for the final stage we used half gallon carboys, we have some sediment on the bottom, will this affect the flavor of the wine? Thank you for the recipe and your time.

Lees can be left in, but the bottom of the bottles will have a more yeasty flavor profile. My 2 week fermentation is about halfway done and though it is bubbling it has never risen or been an aggressive bubble, only a light fizzing noise like you just poured a soda. Do I not have enough yeast? I used a whole pack but maybe the water was a little too hot? Also, I plan to rack into a carboy once the fizzing is done.

Thanks in advance! Have you tasted it? What does it smell like? Okay thanks for the tips. Another question I forgot to ask. I also notified that many other recipes online say to use golden raisins. I used just standard red raisins, is that going to cause a big difference? I ask because there is a good chance that I start a second batch before actually tasting this one.

Either will work. I use organic raisins. Another question. Any chance I could use your first reading to get a ballpark for when I test it? I got the bubblier attachment for the gallon carboy and it stopped bubbling, I guess weeks ago. My fella says if the bubblier is dry it lets in bacteria. And the bubblier is DRY. Also Italy likely oxidatized. Take a small sip of the booze and see what it tastes like. Alcohol is a natural preservative, and country wines like this have a fairly high amount of alcohol, so it may still be okay to bottle.

Have you ever made your own raisins in the oven for your dandelion wine recipes? Finally, what is your experience with adding honey to sweeten the wine and brew more of a mead? Would you have time to remove the flower petals at the collection site?

I do normally buy organic raisins to reduce the contaminant level. There should be no problem with substituting homemade raisins if you have them available. I have not made dandelion mead, but I see no problem with doing so. This recipe has been reliably smooth, although it does pack a kick.

Is it Ok to mix the three together? My thinking is they are all edible, so I should be able to combine them right? As long as the flower petals are edible, making wine with them should be fine. Country wines made with mixed blossoms will have unique flavors, but as long as there are no bitter flowers, it should be fine.

What do you think or know about using a good quality dehydrator to dry the petals then storing them air-tight, once thoroughly dried, until I have enough to make a batch of wine?

You might lose some volatile compounds during dehydrating, so freezing would probably give a better flavor. Thank you for this very detailed recipe. I am also grateful for the years of comments available to read through to help me along. My son and I gathered blooms yesterday and I made the mistake of washing them. It took me about three hours to process the flowers and I nearly gave up a million times.

I will add the other ingredients as soon as I get them. We will look for a more sanitary field for our next attempt. Looking forward to Resurrection Dandelion wine next Easter! I would like to try your dandelion wine. Still confused whether you are required to collect 3 quarts of blooms then pick the petals from them or if you are required to collect 3 quarts total of straight petals?? Recipe looks super fun and my 2 quarts of petals are steeping currently.

I decided to roughly meet half way and go with two quart jars of packaged petals! You can bet that generations past were not terribly specific with their brewing measurements. I looked a number of recipes, but thoroughly enjoyed your presentation. Great work Laurie. I always try to treat others like I would want to be treated. Thanks for this recipe. So about 2 months since starting. The airlock stopped bubbling weeks ago. I just left it in the carboy to settle out.

Siphoned now, it tastes like wine, a little sharp, but I think in the right direction. How long does it take to clear up? Should I can I top up to leave less headspace under the airlock?

Does it matter? It will take time for all the wine to work through the filter hours , so plan accordingly. If you are close to this, you can add a little pure water. Otherwise, you can add a little sugar water or white grape juice.

Alternatively, you could bottle temporarily in swing top bottles, and release the pressure once a week or so, if you can more evenly distribute your wine into those bottles without a large air space.

If you are inclined to do so, the simplest option with be adding a little sugar syrup or the white grape juice and placing the wine is swing top bottles. Make sure to store in a location where the mess will be contained if it explodes the top blows off — the swing top bottles are unlikely to shatter except under extreme conditions. The recipe calls for 3 quarts of petals. Most other recipes call for about 1 quart per gallon, which would be about 3 quarts of flower heads before cleaning. Thank you for clarifying.

Between the alcohol content and the lack of sugars as the brew ages, the yeast does die off over time. If you wanted to use them to speed the process up, you could.

Giving the dandelion wine a shot! The petals are on day 1 of the three day steeping. I wonder how this will effect the turnout though?? I just found this online. It was potent and very delicious. I guess it turned out more like whiskey or vodka….. Thanks for the recipe and tips!

And the difference between an airlock and a carboy. A water lock is a mechanism that raises and lowers water levels in a river or other waterway so that ships can move through said waterway. An airlock uses water to block and trap gasses. In the case of wine making, it traps carbon dioxide at the top of the carboy, and prevents the surrounding air from entering the carboy.

An airlock is the little dohicky you still in the top of the container to keep the air out and the carbon dioxide in. A carboy is the container that you use to hold the liquid, so yes, you need and airlock and a carboy.

You want to trap the carbon dioxide emitted by the fermentation on top of the wine to prevent spoilage, and keep the room air out. Currently in the process of making my first batch, thanks for the awesome recipe! I have two questions. First; roughly how long should it take for the balloons to drop?

The let the wine ferment for 2 full weeks before removing the fruit and putting it into bottles. Second; while I was straining my wine through cheesecloth and a funnel, a raisin fell into the bottle without my knowing it. Do you think it will be alright, or should I try to remove the raisin from the wine bottle? If you want to be extra safe, you can move the wine to a carboy with an airlock for months before bottling. If you add about 2. If you monitor the drop in specific gravity AKA density it should fall to close to or even below 1.

That will mean that there is virtually no more sugar left in solution for the yeast to ferment and if the density remains rock solid stable for three readings over abut a week or two then you can say that the yeast has stopped fermentation. Hydrometers can be bought online and local home brew stores sell this tool.

Given the dryness of you climate, it would probably be better to try future ferments in a wide mouth carboy with airlock. I started making my wine back on April 8th. What did I do wrong? Should I remove the balloons, strain the wines and re bottle with another balloon? Take off the balloons and let the trapped CO2 out and put them back on. See if they reinflate again.

If they do reinflate, you may need to rack you wine into new bottles because there is too much active yeast in the lees. So I essentially made hooch! This was my first time trying to make wine. Now I have learned from my mistake. Thanks for the advice. I will definitely try again. Cork and let it age and it will mellow out over time. The recipe packs a kick even under normal conditions. I read on the back of the yeast package that for best results to dissolve in warm water and let rest for 20 minutes before using.

Do you do that or is it just not necessary for this wine? If your yeast suggests a soak in warm water for beset results, go ahead and roll with that. Gentle heat gets the yeast going more quickly. My kitchen is normally warm enough that it starts fermenting readily. Question: I just finished steeping my flower petals for three days as instructed. It smells…odd. There was definitely some gas under the petals I covered the pot with a lid.

It smells kind of like an aged cheese. Is this bad? What is it supposed to smell like? It does normally smell somewhat odd, with some mild fermentation going on, so aged cheese is probably okay. Okay to use in the following season, or should there be a year or two wait? Just started the first fermentation! Super excited — a little late to the pandemic home brew craze but last year I could only find Cats Ear.

Also for everyone complaining about the flower petal picking part — use kitchen shears to snip off the top part — this gets rid of the white part trying to seed and you only get a wee bit of the green parts!! Was also joking with the roommates about using condoms instead of balloons as they are more sterile. Thanks for the recipe! I am currently finishing up the fermentation in the crock and getting ready to bottle the wine. If I continue to ferment it with the carboy for the months, do I still have to use the balloon and ferment for another 6 months in the bottles or will it be ready after the initial months?

Also I only have a 5 gallon carboy for the 1 gallon of wine I am working with. Is it necessary for the wine to fill the carboy? Thank you so much! If you go from crock to carboy, go ahead and let it stay in the carboy until fermentation has settled, then skip the balloons on the bottles. The time you need for fermentation to wrap up will vary with conditions, but months in the carboy should eliminate exploding bottle risks. With a one gallon batch of wine in a one gallon carboy, the neck of the carboy fills up with CO2 from fermentation.

Between that and the airlock, your wine is largely protected from wild microbes that might product spoilage.

With one gallon of wine in a five gallon carboy, not so much. We made this recipe 2 summers ago and it was fantastic! Granted, the mixture sat for longer than 3 days due to my mom brain forgetting about it. Any advice is appreciated. My Grandmother used to make Dandelion wine when we lived on the family farm. She would go out into the fields and pick her flowers in galvanized pails. She would bring them home and start plucking all the petals off the greens. She said that was very important to do.

The only yeast we had at that time was the cake yeast. One important ingredient was the raisins, never forget to use that. Grandma play the organ for church services on Sundays and the Pastor would always come over to the house on Saturdays to go over the service with her for the following day. Grandma would always bring out a small pitcher of her homemade wine and they would sip on a few small glasses during this time.

The wine smelled so good and was so clear. I still have the small wine glasses but was not sure of the recipe she used. Thank you for sharing this recipe from years gone bye. Cake yeast was more common in days past. If you can find it and want to substitute, all you need is a small amount per batch, just to get the fermentation started. I live in Hot Springs, Arkansas, known to the Natives as Manataka, and considered by many over the centuries to be a magical place.

There are two reasons Hot Springs, Arkansas is world famous: pretty rocks and hot water. We have some of the largest, highest quality quartz crystals in the world, and the hot springs for which the city and park are named are reputed to possess healing properties. The Natives referred to it as medicine water. I call it magic water. This is the water I am going to use with your recipe to brew up a batch of dandelion wine.

I will be back next year to tell you how it turns out! My daughter and I made it — We got four bottles out of the recipe. Thank you so much, Laurie for your wonderful and specific instructions. It turned out perfectly and is absolutely delicious!!! We will definitely make it again next year. Your email address will not be published. Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. You can also subscribe without commenting.

Skip to content. Sharing is caring! Is Dandelion Wine Alcoholic? Dandelion Wine. Print Recipe. A smooth and hearty flower wine with citrus notes that will warm you from head to toe. Author: Laurie Neverman Yield: 4 — 5 bottles 1 x. Scale 1x 2x 3x. Collect the blossoms when they are fully open on a sunny day. Remove any green parts. Bring the water to a boil and pour it over the flowers in a large pot or crock.

Still daily to keep the petals submerged. Prepare the oranges and the lemon. Zest finely grate about half of the rind and peel the rest off in very thin strips. Finish peeling the citrus, and slice them into thin rounds. Add the lemon and the orange zest to the flower-water mixture and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, strain out solids, then add the sugar, stirring until it is dissolved.

Add the yeast, orange and lemon slices, and raisins to the liquid. I cover my crock with a clean cotton towel held down by a rubber band. Bottling the Wine You have two options for bottling your homemade dandelion wine. Cork the bottles and store in a cool, dark place for at least six months before drinking. Previous Previous. Next Continue. Similar Posts.

I look forward to finding out how the wine tastes. Keep us posted. I'm so very glad I can leave a comment now! I can't wait to hear how the wine taste!

Love your crock! Or should I have put all the contents back into the carboy for the remainder of the first ferment? That should be totally fine.

The vast majority of the flavor comes out in the first day or two. Good luck with your wine! I was SO happy to have found your site so I could try my hand at Dandelion winemaking. Imagine my delight at finding your wonderful information!

Is it not necessary for dandelion wine? I just discovered your blog and it is so chock full of great things! Tannin is optional in any winemaking recipe, and it affects the final flavor and mouthfeel, but not how it ferments.

Do they stay in the fermenter for 3 weeks? We followed your recipe but have still not seen any bubbling in the airlock. Can we add more yeast at this point? You may still be able to save it if you pitch yeast now, but 10 days in, something else may have colonized in there and if may have already spoiled.

Give it a smell, and if it still smells fine, maybe try to re-pitch the yeast and save it. Use your best judgment though. Hi there! In the comments to another question you mentioned making pineapple wine.

Do you have a recipe for pineapple wine? Hopefully soon. It comes from the book Artisanal Small Batch Brewing. She uses bottled pineapple juice, but I substituted fresh pineapple juice that I extracted myself. How do I know when it is time to rack the wine? Do I just wait for 3 weeks to go by? Do I watch to see if there are no bubbles in the air lock for a certain amount of time? My carboy is in a cool basement. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe and experience! Usually a few weeks is good, maybe weeks at most in colder spots.

You want to get the petals out of there sooner rather than later because they can mold. A good rule of thumb is to wait minutes between airlock bubbles, but you may just never get there. Thank you for responding to all these comments! Should I bail on one of these? Or let them both sit in second fermentation for weeks?

They were in my kitchen for 3 weeks but I think fermentation may have finished after just a couple days…. I often forget things in primary for way too long, no worries, it happens.

Did you use the same recipe for both? I have kept it in a cool basement of about 65 degrees. Should I go ahead and rack it to get the petals out of it? Do you ever clean the airlock? Thanks in advance for any advice. Kandace Lee. In the height of the lock down I figured I would give it a go. SInce I have a 5 gallon kit, of course I wanted to make 5 gallons and used your recipe. It took a long time to gather all those petals! Recipes online seem to vary from qts of petals per gallon of water.

I only found one example where it was done by mass which was 75 g of petals per liter of water essentially a qt. Using the yeast nutrient and champagne yeast, after just over two weeks in primary ferment I transferred into a carboy with air lock.

It still bubbles a couple times a minute so maybe I did it a bit early but maybe not. Right now it is a cloudy When I siphoned into the second vessel. I took the opportunity with the wine thief to give it a taste.

Fairly strong alcohol taste but quite a sweet taste, almost like a liqueur. Not at all unpleasant. I have never had dandelion wine for comparison but I am hoping after secondary fermentation and bottle aging I will get the dandelion flavor. If not, it will still be good.

Hi, Ashley. My wine is also a bit dark in color. Do you recommend a particular sanitizer or a way to sanitize it? Dark colored lees at the bottom is totally fine and normal. I just made this recipe this year and its delish! My friend and I are trying to brainstorm new flavors and we were thinking of trying rose.

Could you just substitute rose petals for the dandelion? Maybe not use as much citrus? Any suggestions? Less citrus sounds about right, or at least skip the orange and go with all lemon. For a more neutral taste, you can also use acid blend, which is formulated for brewing and will get the pH right without adding citrus. This recipe uses blueberries or blackberries for color, though I think a splash of pomegranate juice or raspberry juice might really compliment roses.

Best of luck and let me know how it goes! Much more accessible. Hi I just came across this post. I have a question, is it necessary to use yeast. What if I have on hand my own homemade fermentation starters made from fruit can I use that in replacement of the yeast?

You must have yeast to make wine. The difference is where that yeast comes from. You can innoculate your wine with cultured yeast like described in this post or you can use wild yeast that is in the air and allow it to spontaneously ferment. It really depends on your personal preference. You just need to do your own research and determine which method is best for you. Here is an article that I found that explores the pros and cons of each method.

Hi, thanks so much for this great recipe! Should I worry? Do I need to add anything? How long did you leave it before racking into the secondary container. Had the fermentation stopped before you transferred it? I made wine with marmalade pectin or you can use molasses. The recipe actually calls for 3 pounds of sugar rather than 5. Anywhere from 1 to 3 pounds of sugar per gallon is very standard.