Elderflower Pyment (or Elderflower Mead)
Ingredients.
3lbs (3 x 454g) Blossom Honey
1.5 pints Tesco Apple and Elderflower Drink (from carton)
2 pints Elderflowers - freshly picked
Half a pint of Elderflower cordial (undiluted)
1 can white grape concentrate
6 pints water
All purpose wine yeast
Yeast nutrient
1 large Lemon
Method.
Bring half the water, cordial and
drink to a quiet simmer and add the honey, stirring in well.
Add rest of water and flowers and allow to gently simmer for about an hour,
stirring occasionally and skimming off any scum that forms.
Strain off into a clean fermenting bin, removing all flowers.
Add the juice of the Lemon and chop the rind into two chunks and leave floating in the must.
Activate the yeast and add to the must with the yeast nutrient when it has all cooled to lukewarm.
Add the grape concentrate.
Leave in a warm place, stirring twice a day until the vigorous fermenting stage
has slightly subsided. Remove the lemon chunks after a day or two.
Transfer into a clean demijohn and fit a fermenting lock.
Take the specific gravity reading
at this point if you have a hydrometer.
After a week or so (when things have slowed a bit and a good sediment has formed)
rack into a clean demijohn.
Continue to ferment until wine clears and bubbles stop (beware secondary fermentation - give it an extra week or so and keep an eye on it after bottling).. Take specific gravity again to see if finished. Bottle and store.
Comment: this made a very tasty aperitif type wine at 15%. It cleared beautifully.