dandelion-wine-recipeRecommended Equipment

Makes 4.5 litre (one gallon) Makes 10 litres (2.2 gallons)
10 litre plastic bucket with lid 10 litre plastic bucket with lid
5 litre plastic (or 5 litre Glass Demi John) 10 litre plastic bucket and lid drilled
Bung and Airlock for container Bung and Airlock for container
Small Fine Nylon straining bag Small Fine Nylon Straining Bag
Siphon and U Tube Siphon and U Tube
Hydrometer with trail case Hydrometer with trial case
Thermometer Thermometer
Funnel Funnel
Steriliser Steriliser
One Litre plastic food grade jug One Litre Plastic food grade jug
5 x 1Litre Plastic PET Bottles 10 x 1 Litre Plastic PET Bottles

Ingredients for both sizes

Camden Tablets Country Wine Yeast 400gms of White Grape Concentrate 1 x Kilo of Sugar Yeast Nutrient Tannin Citric Acid Finings Potassium Sorbate For 10 litre just double up the volumes. 2 litres of Dandelions (use the jug to measure). These should be cleaned thoroughly. We only use the petals so remove all the green from the flower heads.

Making Instructions (Recipe)

Make sure all the equipment that comes into contact with the wine is Sterilised before starting. Put the dandelion in a 10 litre bucket pour 3.5 litres of boiling water over then and press them against the side to extract the essence with a large spoon. Cover and leave to cool. At this point feel free to add anything that you might think might enhance the wine and give it more flavour. The sort of things is Bananas Raisins Sultans Cranberries Blueberries. If they are hard adding at the time of boiling water if soft they can go in now. Allow to cool to 20-25C. Add 15gms of Citric Acid (3 teaspoons) and a crushed Campden Tablet. Keep pressing the dandelion petals three times a day for 3 days. Make sure the lid is on at all other times. Pour the liquid through the straining bag, squeezing out the petals so there is no juice left and add to the Demi John. Add the Grape Juice half the Sugar(500gms) tannin (half a teaspoon) Yeast Nutrient and Yeast and shake. Fit the airlock half filled with clean water and leave to ferment at 20-25C. After 5 days add the rest of the Sugar (500gms). Top up to just below the neck on the Demi John with water at 20-25C. Refit the airlock half filled with clean water. Leave until fermentation is complete (depending on the temperature). This will normally be when the airlock has stopped bubbling but always use your hydrometer to make sure. It’s should be around 1.005 (might go down to .995) or less on the scale and will show the same reading for a few days. Siphon the wine off the sediment back into the sterilised bucket leaving the sediment behind. Clean out the Demi John and then pour the wine back into it from the bucket. Add a Campden Tablet (one per 5 litres) and a teaspoon of Potassium Sorbate (per 5 litres). Stir or shake well. We need to get rid of the carbon dioxide in the wine before adding the Finings. Once done add the Finings. Leave in a cool place to clear. When clear you can then bottle your wine. See our guide on bottling. Dandelion can be quite dry so if you do want to add further sugar to the wine do this before bottling. It is best served as a medium style wine.

General Guidelines for Fruit Wines

Always try to make sure the fruit is clean and bug free Make sure all the equipment that comes into contact with the wine at any stage of the process is clean and sterilised. Use a hydrometer and thermometer at all times Check out the Guides on the web site. Make sure when shaking a Demi John made of glass that you always release the pressure between shaking. Glass Demi Johns can build up a lot of pressure and can crack or split if this is not done.