Heavy Elderberry Wine Recipe. 1 4 quarts of loosely packed elderberries. 2 4 quarts of water. 3 8 cups of cane sugar. 4 2 cups of raisins, finely chopped. 5 3 shredded wheat biscuits or 1 cup Wheat Chex – OR – 1 teaspoon yeast nutrient (to aid fermentation) 6 1 package of dry granulated yeast, or one package wine yeast Directions.
Brix is a unit of measure used in wine-making to determine how much alcohol a juice such as wine grapes or in this case, elderberry juice, are likely to produce. Your alcohol by volume (ABV) will be roughly half of your starting Brix. Elderberry has about 11 Brix naturally. At best, elderberry wine would have about 5.5% alcohol by volume.
Here are the cleaned berries for two 1 gallon batches of elderberry wine. Both of these wines are rich, sweet and fruity. Heating the elderberries really brings out the berry scent, and once the yeast kicks into action it fills the kitchen with earthy, yeasty goodness.
They say you can let elderberry wine age for years, and that it’s really incredible. I’m not sure I will wait that long– some guides say it’s ready to drink after six months. Making Elderberry Wine is really pretty easy, and definitely a fun project!