First Post and Dandelion Wine recipe

[witz87]

Been doing a lot of reading around here and am learning a ton. I've started my first batch of wine - dandelion wine - and being as I see very little information about this particular wine, I figured I'd post up the recipe in exchange for all of the knowledge I am currently gathering from this forum!

I was going to post this in the recipe section, but realized I couldn't fill out many of the fields. I got this recipe from my father-in-law, who got it from his father. I think this current variety has been being made for at least 50 years on that side of the family! the alcohol content has never been tested, and it uses fleischmann's bakers yeast. when I explained the difference in yeasts, he informed me that he simply followed the original recipe and made minor tweaks over time. anywho...here's the original recipe


1 quart of dandelions to a gallon of water (just the heads, greens have never been separated from the petals) - bring to a boil for 5 minutes, strain out dandelions
1lb raisins
6 cups sugar
1 lemon
1 orange
1 package yeast (Fleischman's baker's yeast is what he's been using for decades...go figure) in 1/2 cup warm water with 1 tsp sugar, let stand 10 minutes before pouring in

cover with a tea towel to keep flies out

stir every day for 2 weeks. Strain it and let stand one day. Bottle, and do not turn lids tight.

at this point, he will again leave it for ~ 2 weeks and pour off the top into new bottles, leaving sediment behind.

we usually start drinking it after about 4 weeks, but he tries to age it at least 3 months. I've been tasting it, and at 4 weeks it's still a bit on the sweeter side, but still quite enjoyable!

since I can't get dandelion's for a while, it's on to apfelwein so that I can actually age some of this as long as I'm supposed to!

 

[Yooper]

I try to make dandelion wine each spring, but I pick the green parts off as I find the green parts make the wine have a bitter aftertaste that I dislike. I picked a bunch this spring, and stuck them in the freezer. My recipe is posted in the database, if you want to compare. I age mine, and find that at 1 year it's great, at 2 year's it's amazing, but at 3 years it is past its peak a bit. By four years, it's insipid. It's fun to see the changes that happen. I have to make a sign on mine that say "Drink by _____" with a date two years from bottling.

That's the one wine I make that doesn't age well past two years old.

 

[T_Baggins]

I try to make dandelion wine each spring, but I pick the green parts off as I find the green parts make the wine have a bitter aftertaste that I dislike. I picked a bunch this spring, and stuck them in the freezer. My recipe is posted in the database, if you want to compare. I age mine, and find that at 1 year it's great, at 2 year's it's amazing, but at 3 years it is past its peak a bit. By four years, it's insipid. It's fun to see the changes that happen. I have to make a sign on mine that say "Drink by _____" with a date two years from bottling.

That's the one wine I make that doesn't age well past two years old.

I never heard of OVER aging. Interesting... are there any dangers of overaging others? Say apple or cherry?

 

[Yooper]

I never heard of OVER aging. Interesting... are there any dangers of overaging others? Say apple or cherry?

I imagine so! My apple seems to age well, as does the cherry. White wines are noted, at least commercially, to be past their peak way before big bold reds.

But in my case, most of my apple wines do fine up to three years or so with no loss of quality. It could be because I add a dash of tannin to them, but the dandelion wine just seems to lose flavor earlier.

 

[T_Baggins]

I imagine so! My apple seems to age well, as does the cherry. White wines are noted, at least commercially, to be past their peak way before big bold reds.

But in my case, most of my apple wines do fine up to three years or so with no loss of quality. It could be because I add a dash of tannin to them, but the dandelion wine just seems to lose flavor earlier.

I also add that dash of tannin to the apple, the other is apple/cherry, sorry, but I add a lil to that too. What happened to the old saying about wine getting better with age? does that only apply to grapes? (blech)

 

[witz87]

I also add that dash of tannin to the apple, the other is apple/cherry, sorry, but I add a lil to that too. What happened to the old saying about wine getting better with age? does that only apply to grapes? (blech)

Interesting question. For this specific dandelion wine, I think I preferred it a bit younger, as the initial bitterness seems a little more apparent at this point, but that could change with even more age. Maybe next year I'll try a completely different dandelion recipe than my father-in-laws...hopefully it doesn't get me dis-owned for messing with a long-time family recipe!

 

[T_Baggins]

Maybe it's time for a new family recipe?