topping up elderberry

[jojo]

any suggestions?

i'm about to rack and stabilize.

if i can't come up with something i guess i'll go with marbles.

a red of some kind perhaps

[Hippie]

Syrah, shiraz, cabernet sauvignon...yep, any dry red would be my choice.

[StockeyDAW]

I agree any red dry but if you have a fruit wine - raspberry, boysenberry, mulberry or blue berry they blend to a terrific wine with elderberry. DAW

[suefreck]

Agree any red - pref one you've made to be a purist!
How much did you make?
Next time do your calculations of sugar/requred alcohol on a slghtly larger amount (5lit if making 4.5) It won't all fit in the demi but you can top up with water and your calculations will still be right.

[chadspad]

Silly question but the extra liquid that can be used later for topping up would that be just the juice without the yeast added or after the primary ferment as been done and strained into demi-john? If the second is right, wouldnt it continue to ferment in the bottle?

[muscadine]

Silly question but the extra liquid that can be used later for topping up would that be just the juice without the yeast added or after the primary ferment as been done and strained into demi-john? If the second is right, wouldnt it continue to ferment in the bottle?

If you top up with juice be sure to add sorbate a couple days before to prevent refermentation.

[chadspad]

I really meant in relation to what Suefreck said about making a larger amount
- would that be with yeast or without? Thanks

[WVMountaineerJack]

Spad, it can be either just the juice before you turned it into must, or some must you saved before you added the yeast or some extra must that wont go into your secondary fermentor so you put it into another glass bottle and put a bung and airlock on it also and ferment them at the same time. Each different way though means you have to treat your wine differently from the start and finish. Also a little bit of ginger wine can give it a little bite that goes good with ginger. Another alternative on your next batch is to make a seconds wine from the berries and use this to top of with, just add the same ratio of everything you did for the first batch but make it a smaller batch and you dont even need to put in anymore yeast.

Crackedcork