Elderflower Champagne Recipes

Steps:

• Read our guides on how to clean brewing equipment and home brewing safety tips before you get started. Fully dissolve the sugar in 4l just-boiled water in a fermenting bucket. Add 6l cold water.
• Shake any bugs loose from the elderflower, then strip the florets from the heads with a fork. Let the sugar water cool to 20C and stir in the lemon zest, juice, flowers and yeast. Cover, and leave to ferment out of direct sunlight for six days. If your bucket doesn't have an airlock lid, gently rest the lid on top of the bucket.
• Strain through boiled or sanitised muslin into the second sanitised bucket, leaving the sediment behind. Leave it to sit for a couple of hours for any last pollen or sediment to settle.
• Siphon into sanitised wine or fizzy drink bottles and seal. Leave for five days in a cool dark place. Check the carbonation by lightly opening the lids to vent excess CO2. Keep in fridge if notably vigorous. If you drop the sugar to 1.6kg, it shouldn't finish above 8% abv, at 2kg, 10%. Champagne yeast is tolerant up to at least 15%.

Steps:

• Put the hot water and sugar into a large container (a spotlessly clean bucket is good) and stir until the sugar dissolves, then top up with cold water so you have 6 litres of liquid in total.
• Add the lemon juice and zest, the vinegar and the flower heads and stir gently.
• Cover with clean muslin and leave to ferment in a cool, airy place for a couple of days. Take a look at the brew at this point, and if it’s not becoming a little foamy and obviously beginning to ferment, add a pinch of yeast.
• Leave the mixture to ferment, again covered with muslin, for a further four days. Strain the liquid through a sieve lined with muslin and decant into sterilised strong glass bottles with champagne stoppers (available from home-brewing suppliers) or Grolsch-style stoppers, or sterilized screw-top plastic bottles (a good deal of pressure can build up inside as the fermenting brew produces carbon dioxide, so strong bottles and seals are essential)
• Seal and leave to ferment in the bottles for at least a week before serving, chilled. The champagne should keep in the bottles for several months. Store in a cool, dry place.