Elderberry wine... unripe berries got in

[damdaman]

So I have some first year elderberry bushes in my yard that produced some fruit, but not nearly enough to make even a full gallon batch. I decided to ferment them anyway as a test using Jack Keller's uncooked recipe scaled down to about a quart.

I was just shy of the amount needed though, and this recipe already used a small amount of berries (3lbs per gallon), so I went out and picked a couple clusters that weren't quite 100% ripe.

Now I read that unripe berries can be toxic, and I'm worried I screwed up the batch and if I should toss it.

As far as I can remember, I probably picked about 2-4 clusters of slightly unripe berries, compared with about 15-20 clusters fully ripe berries, getting about 12oz. of destemmed berries for 1 quart of wine.

What do you guys think?

 

[WVMJ]

Have you checked out our elderberry page yet? It shows a great way to sort out the unripe berries, the ripe ones are denser than water due to their specific gravity about 1.040 so they sink, the unripe berries mostly float away. You are going to have to figure this out yourself, I think that every sip you taste you will think you are going to get the squirts and will make yourself so nervous you will get the squirts anyway Different people are more or less sensitive to elders than others, just like anything else, when a sensitive person gets a little bit and have a reaction they claim its poisonous for everyone! Hopefully next year you will get a bigger batch of berries, enough to go past the 3lb/pd barrier and make a better wine with more. WVMJ

 

[Mikeymu]

Hi Damdaman.

I have a similar issue and am wondering whether to throw the batch or keep. I thought I would keep for a couple of years and then taste.

Although the first time this happened, I used 100% nearly-but-not-quite-ripe berries and after two years it didn't taste too good, this time about half were fully ripe and the rest a little reddish.

I wondered how your batch went?

 

[WVMJ]

You can sort the berries with a cold water in a bucket, the ripe berries have a higher SG than water so they sink, the unripe fruit floats out of the bucket, be choosey and get rid of those just red berries and stick to the dark purples ones for a much better wine. WVMJ