Experimental: Elderberry Wine

This was my first attempt at "wine". And why did I try to do this? My good friend, Dan (pictured below), has 2 elderberry trees in his backyard. And they produce a lot of berries (for some reason the birds have not found his house). I know we were not going to make something that would be considered exquisite by a wine expert, but we were aiming for a nice country wine. There are a lot of recipes on the web, but as I know by being a homebrewer that it is important to be critical of each ingredient. And I know about what is important for good fermentation from beer making.

Recipe: Elderberry Wine

O.G.-1.100  F.G.-.998  ABV-13.6%   Batch-1 Gal

Grain Bill Ingredients:

3.5 lb Elderberries (Frozen as picked)

2 lb  Sugar (12%)

1 - 12oz Red Grape Concentrate

1 juiced lemon (needed for acid*)

2 juiced oranges (needed for acid*)

*If you have an acid balance kit then you can use this after fermentation

  

Yeast:

1 gal container - 1/4 packet of Red Star Pasteur Red (rehydrated in warm water)

.5 gal container - 6 oz starter with Russian River Redemption dregs (which are mostly wine yeast - RockPile)

Water:

San Diego Alvardo Tap Water

1 tsp Wyeast yeast nutrient

1 tsp Fermaid K

Boil Details:

We added all the ingredients including the all the frozen elderberries and mashed all the berries. (We started with a potato masher and then Dan decided to just use his hands). Then we stirred as we brought it up to a boil to help dissolve the sugar. It boiled for only a few moments and then was cooled in the sink.

Ferment Details:

O.G.: 1.100

Ferment Temp: Pitched at 70 and kept in low to mid 70s

F.G.:  .998

We poured everything (juices and berries) into the 2 growlers. We then pitched the yeast once the must was at the proper pitching temp. The wine fermented actively for a week and then was allowed to age for a few more months. We plan to make this once a year and perfect our recipe.

We recently bottled the wine after a Charger game (we sampled a lot because this was during our 6 game losing streak). The wine turned out surprisingly well, with great color and very nice berry flavors. There is still some alcohol heat, but that is understandable since this is so young. I really liked how the Russian River version turned out, with much bigger fruit and berry notes. We bottled half straight up and then Dan bottled the other half with different fruit juice mixes to make some great Sangria.

(Dan please post you Sangria combinations in the comments or on your blog and give me the link)




And Dan still has 3.5 lbs of Elderberries, any ideas? (elderberry mead, dark elderberry sour...)

Experimental Beer: Native Plant Gruit Ale

Let me first start out like I used to for all my essays in Middle School.
"Gruit (sometimes grut) is an old-fashioned herb mixture used for bittering and flavoring beer, popular before the extensive use of hops. Gruit or grut ale may also refer to the beverage produced using gruit." - Wikipedia









I was first interested in these beers after reading one of my native plant books. I now have a hard time going for a ride or hike without stopping to see what plants could be used in beer. The first step was to test these native plants using a tea which I did last Fall. I have picked the best candidates from that tasting plus I used plants and herbs that have been used traditionally in gruits. The most important one to find for the base of the gruit was Douglas Mugwort. It is used as the main bittering component and a traditional herb that is native to San Diego. The plant is pretty distinct looking because of the leaves (There are 2 main varieties of Mugwort and in San Diego we have Artemisia douglasiana)  and is found near wet or dry creek beds.


From my tasting, my other favorite was Yarrow (also a traditional gruit ingredient), I did not find a lot this past year so it will be a minor ingredient. For the aromatics, I really liked Elderberry Flowers (also currently blooming and have a more subtle floral tea aroma/taste) and Pearly Everlasting (currently blooming in San Diego and have a very sweet floral scent, some even think they smell of maple syrup)







So now that I have figured out what herbs and plans to use, I need to know a rough estimate of quantities. The easiest way to do this is to reference other gruit recipes. The website, grutiale.com is by far the best reference for gruit I have found. The site has information on history, ingredients and a great list of recipes. I went through the long list of gruit recipes and came up with the values used in the recipe below.

For the malt bill, the timing of this brew was no accident I planned to use the second runnings from my Scottish Wee Heavy. This beer is going to be a 1 gal bonus batch using the partigyle process. I used the second runnings to collect 2 gallons and then this will be boiled down to the gravity that I want. The Scottish grain bill is appropriate because historically that is where this style was brewed.

Recipe: Native Plant Gruit Ale
O.G.-1.055  F.G.-1.012   IBU-????? 
SRM-??   ABV-5.5% 

Grain Bill (77% Efficiency):
Wee Heavy Malt Bill (used 2nd Runnings)
12.5 lb Maris Otter (83%)
8 oz Flaked Oats (3%)
8 oz Munich 10L (3%)
8 oz Crystal 55L (3%)
8 oz Honey Malt (3%) 
4 oz Crystal 115L (1.5%) 
4 oz Brown Malt (1.5%)

Hops Bittering Additions:
.2 oz Douglas Mugwort, 60 min
.05 oz Yarrow, 60 min
1 g Pearly Everlasting, Flame-out
2 g Elderberry Flower, Flame-out

Yeast:
50 mL pitch of White Labs WLP028

Brew Day:
Brewed: 03/19/11
Bottled: 04/11/11

Water:
San Diego (Alvarado) Tap Water
1 campden tablet for 5 gal.

Mash Details:
Wee Heavy (used 2nd Runnings)
H2O/Grain Ratio: .9 qt/lb
Mash Volume: 3.5 gal
Sacc Rest. Temp/Time: 154F @ 60min
Strike Temp: 168F
Sparge Volume: 5.5 gal
Sparge Temp/Time: 168F


Boil Details:
Boil Volume: 2 gal

Boil Time: 60min
Post Boil Volume: 1 gal

Ferment Details:
O.G.: 1.055
Ferment Temp: 66-68F
Length: 10 days
F.G.: 1.012

Notes:

• After tasting(coming soon) I will need to adjust bittering quantities
• Try to work in a more blended gruit by also adding Labrador Tea and some varieties of Sage.
• I think I will boost the gravity so the beer may age a bit better

Undercover San Diego: Louis Stelzer County Park

This has to be one of the best maintained, and conveniently located San Diego county parks. The park is out in Lakeside or Eastern San Diego County (map). The East County can get a bit warm in the summer and early fall but that is the great part about this park, it has shade.

This park and surrounding area has lots of Elderberry tress (Mexican). I was curious to try some of the berries to see if they would work in beer. Well from the looks of the pictures I was at least a couple weeks late (but not too late for rattlesnakes). They were already dried out. So now I know for next year.

The other cool part about Louis Stelzer County Park is that there are wild grapes growing throughout the creek bed. I wanted to go sample some of these and see what they taste like. I was too early for wild grapes, they were still extremely sour (Warhead sour). With a bit more research I found out that they may take till late October or November before being ripe.

The park has several trails and all are walk-able in just a couple hours. The main trail down the canyon is great and has nice signs that educate you about different plants and their Indian uses. From here you have the choice to retrace your steps or go up the hill and loop around with a stop at a great look-out point.

This is a great park to bring your lunch for after your hike. They have plenty of picnic tables, a play set, and also a short paved trail under the oak trees. There is a cheap parking fee that I have no problem paying, knowing it goes straight to the Park System. Stay tuned for a few more parks out in forgotten Lakeside.