Elderberries

[muscadine]

This fruit?? will be ripening soon in my area and I was wondering if anyone had experience freezing the heads and shaking them in a closed container to remove the berries. I've read that if removed the traditional way (using a fork) you end up with a gooey mess.

[Mamgiowl]

I've used the fork method and had no trouble - all berries off the stalks whole and very little mess. Never tried the freezing method but if it took a long time to shake them off wouldn't they start to defrost and turn to mush anyway?

[Hippie]

You should not get the dreaded goo if you make sure you have no green matter (stems, leaves, unripe berries, etc.) in the must.

[muscadine]

I recently read in the "winepress.us" forum that freezing the berries in a bag for 2 days and then beating them on the ground will separate (most) berries from the stems. Then cut a small hole in the bag and let the berries roll free. Since these things are so prolific I intend to try this method...who cares if a few remain in the bag.

[lockwood1956]

We are still a few weeks away from elderberry picking time, but i have 18lbs frozen from last year, going to make a big batch this year, and reserve quite a bit for port. made elderberry port last year and its really really nice now....but only a couple of bottles left.
I removed all the green matter before i froze them (real pain in the @$$)

regards
bob

[jlsherman55]

Muscudine It Looks exactly like what Was said from Ec Kraus winemaking online shop.

[heeby]

how thorough should i be at removing stems ive got a couple of carrier bags full of clusters that im halfway through removing the berries from with a fork but a lot of the berries seem to have a stalk ,do have to remove every one of these
mark

[Hippie]

I agree. Virtually any green stems at all mixed in will cause an awful goo that will stick to everything involved.

[heeby]

well ive just spent the best part of two hours hovering over a bowl of water containing all my elderberries picking the floating berries out and all the stalks i could find(got most of them)my backs killing and so are my eyes but ive got 6.5 lbs of cleaned elderberries in the freezer along with 12lb of blackberries
mark

[heeby]

amazing how quick they ripen the other day i went on a walk looking some trees over and they were all still very green with red stems then this morning they were mostly black or so i thought until there was quite a few floaters wich were deep red ,i think i will try your method of removing the berries next batch david still a tedious job though
mark

[Hippie]

Now that sounds like a killer batch of wine!

[heeby]

killer as in good hopefully Hippie ,But it wont all be for one batch it will be for several 1g batches with different combinations of fruit and different yeasts still finding my feet in this wine making game wouldnt want to chance it all in one go
mark

[Hippie]

Blackberries and elderberries are a good combo, more BB's than elder. Too much elder can have too much tannin.

[heeby]

i will indeed keep my eyes peeleed david ive alread got ahand full of thorns and red fingers from blackberrying im willing to suffer for my art
mark

[kmoorman]

I've got about 20lbs of elderberries (I've not been able to destem them all yet) and about 9lbs of blackberries. Along with a large tin of Red Grape concentrate.

I made a nice elderberry wine last year as below:

17.5 lbs of elderberries
4lbs blackberries
6 litres of red grape juice (not concentrate)
3 litres of red grapefruit juice

which made 6 gallons, which is still bulk ageing in demi-jons.

however, I'd like to make something a bit different (perhaps more full bodied). So, what do you suggest, bearing in mind the ingredients I have to hand...

Also, I'd like to re-use the pulp for a lighter wine afterwards, so advice on that would be helpful.

Thanks

Kieron.