Dandelion Wine Recipes

This recipe for dandelion wine is one of the more traditional and basic ones that you will run across. It includes raisins, as do many dandelion wine recipes, in order to supply tannins to you wine. Most flowers and other herbs that are often used in winemaking are often lacking in this area. Tannins play an important role in achieving a good flavor to your wine, and we will go into different ways to add them in later in this lens.

This wine is best enjoyed between six and eighteen months of age. It has a refreshing citrusy quality to it, in addition to the flavor of the dandelions.

This recipe yields about 1 gallon of finished wine

Ingredients
6 c. Dandelion Petals
2 lbs granulated sugar
1 lb golden raisins (avoid the dark raisins, as they will lend a darker color to the wine)
1 TBSP lemon juice (alternatively you can use an acid blend from the wine supply shop)
1 package wine yeast
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 1/2 c. orange juice, at room temperature
1 tsp pectic enzyme (optional, but it helps keep the wine from being cloudy)

Step One
In a large stock pot, bring about half a gallon of water to a vigorous boil. Remove from heat and add your sugar, and stir to dissolve completely. To this, add the dandelion petals, raisins, lemon juice and enough water to make a volume of one gallon. Heat back up to 150 F to 160 F, if necessary and maintain it at this temperature for about 15 to 20 minutes. This ensures that all of your wild yeasts and bacteria are eliminated.

Step Two
Carefully pour the resulting must into your primary fermenter, and allow to cool to between 90 F and 100 F. While it is cooling, you can prepare your yeast culture by combining the package of yeast, orange juice and the yeast nutrients in a jar. Seal it tightly, shake it vigorously and then let it rest for at least an hour, or until it becomes frothy. Once your must is cooled, pitch the yeast culture into it and stir it vigorously to oxygenate the must. Add your pectic enzyme and seal the lid on your primary fermenter. Attach an airlock.

Step Three
Move the primary fermenter to a safe location and let the fermentation continue for three to seven days. Once a layer of sediment has begun to form on the bottom of the container, you are ready to rack the wine into a secondary fermenter. Once it is racked into the secondary, let the fermentation continue on until completion. This should take about three months. Rack into a fresh container whenever the lees (dead yeast) on the bottom gets to be about a 1/4" to 1/2" thick.

Step Four
Once fermentation is complete, bottle the wine and cellar it for six months before sampling. Enjoy!!!

If you are serious about making wine from home, and would like more great wine recipes (including an excellent dandelion wine recipe!) check out The Winemakers Inner Circle. There, you'll learn much more about how to make the best wines than I could ever teach you with this short page.

This is a lovely floral wine of my own creation. I jokingly dubbed it "Rocky Mountain Sunshine" as a twist on Ray Bradbury's "Bottle Sunshine" reference. I originally chose to add the roses because we fell short on the number of dandelions harvested, and I just happened to have some in my collection. The roses gave the wine an intense blush color, and paired very well with the dandelions.

The end result was a blush-type wine that was incredibly refreshing and delicate.

The yield for this particular recipe is 5 gallons, so it can be a daunting task if you are used to smaller batches.

Ingredients
10 c dandelion petals (a group project, for sure!)
8 c loosely packed fresh rose petals (about half that amount if using dried flowers or rose hips)
10 lbs granulated sugar
2 lbs golden raisins
4 gal Water. Approximate. You need enough water to bring the entire batch to five gallons.
2 Tbsp acid blend (I don't recommend lemon juice this time, as the citrus has a big impact on flavor)
2 tsp yeast nutrient
2 tsp yeast energizer
2 packages Lalvin EC-118 yeast

Step One
In a large stock pot, bring two gallons of the water to a vigorous boil. Remove from the heat, and add the sugar. Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add the flowers, raisins, acid blend and enough water to bring the batch up to five gallons. Return to heat and bring the entire mix up to 160 degrees. Keep the temp between 150 and 160 for fifteen to twenty minutes to kill off all of the wild yeasts and bacteria.

Step Two
Carefully pour your must into your primary fermenter, and allow it to cool to a temperature between 90 and 100 degrees. Once it is cool enough, prepare your yeast by adding both packages to about 4 ounces of warm water, and let it sit for about fifteen minutes. Once the must is cool enough, and the yeast is prepared, pitch your yeast, add the nutrient and energizer, and stir the entire batch vigorously to dissolve some oxygen into the must.

Seal the lid on your fermenter and attach an airlock.

Step Three
Let the fermentation continue in the primary fermenter for up to two weeks. Once a thick layer of of sediment has formed on the bottom, it is time to rack the wine into your secondary fermenter, generally a glass carboy. Let the fermentation continue to completion, about three to four months. Rack as needed to clarify and remove sediment.

Step Four
When you have seen no signs of fermentation for at least a week, fermentation is complete. You may need to rack once or twice more to clarify the wine and ensure that all of the dead yeast settles out. Once this is done, you can bottle your wine. Once bottled, let it age for about 6 months before drinking.

Step Five
Invite some friends over, uncork, and ENJOY!!!

This is one of my favorite wines that I have made. It didn't get the chance to age very much, so I am not sure how it tastes beyond the initial six months. Yet, it was mighty delicious! If you want to learn more great wine recipes, and really master your winemaking techniques, just visit the The Winemakers Inner Circle. This page is just the tip of the iceberg, and you can learn much more than this simple page can show you!

When making wine with dandelions, or any flower for that matter, is that the wine may come out with little strength in its flavor profile. This may be due to a lack of tannins that are naturally present in many traditional grape wines. What are tannins? Well, tannins are a compound that gives grape wines their characteristic zip and tanginess. They are also prized for their antioxidant qualities. Tannins are found in large quantities in grapes, and if you've ever tasted a deep, dark red wine that makes your mouth pucker and leaves a dry aftertaste, then you know what too many tannins can do. Without any tannins at all, however, a wine can be dull and flat.

When making many of the nontraditional wines that are made with flowers, herbs, grains and even vegetables, you may find the need to add tannins in order to achieve the desired flavor profile. There are many ways to do this.

In both of the recipes on this lens, you'll see that golden raisins are one of the main ingredients. Raisins, since they are grapes, are naturally high in tannin levels.
When making wine with a delicate flavor, I definitely recommend the golden, or light-colored, raisins, because they will deliver the tannins while having only a small impact on the final flavor. Darker raisins will lend more tannins, but will also give much more of their own flavor to your wine.

Aside from raisins, there are several ways to get more tannins into your wine. One popular technique is to brew some strong tea and add this in small increments to your wine until you reach the desired tannin levels. Another technique is to add a handful of oak leaves during the primary fermentation process, though I have never tried this, so I am not sure how well it works.

Lastly, you can just make a trip down to the local winemaking supply store. There, you will find tannins that are produced commercially for use in winemaking. I find the raisins have served me well enough in my winemaking adventures.

There is so much more to learn! If you want to find many more tips and tricks of the trade, including some different techniques for dandelion wine, go to The Winemakers Inner Circle. This is a resource that will show all the best techniques for making home made wine!

Fermentation occurs ideally when a variety of conditions are met. Most home winemakers do not need to worry about most of these conditions, as there is simply little we can do about them. However, one of the things that is easily managed by the home winemaker is the acidity of the wine, which is measured in pH.

There are two ways you can monitor this particular aspect of your wine. The first option is to use pH paper test strips. These are available through a variety of sources, such as the wine supply store, online, and even at the local pharmacy... However, they are not the most accurate device you can use. For the most accurate readings, they make small, handheld battery operated pH meters. These are definitely worth the investment, as they allow you see exactly what the pH level of your wine is.

To test your wine or must, always draw a small sample out of the main container, rather than dipping the meter or paper into the main batch. Always discard the sample when you are done, as well.

There are two critical points in the fermentation process when you will want to check the pH levels. The first is just prior to pitching your yeast, and the second is when you first rack the wine into your secondary fermenter. The ideal range for the pH level for an ideal fermentation is 3.7 to 4.6. The lower the pH level is, the higher the acidity level. The closer you get to the 3.7 mark, the less likely you are to have problems with bacteria and other organisms. However, if the must is more acidic than that, it will inhibit the growth and development of your yeast.

Once you pitch your yeast, and it gets ready to do its thing, it will begin consuming all of the sugar and other nutrients in the must. As it does this, the acidity can raise sharply. For sweeter wines with lots of sugar, this can cause the must to be too acidic for your yeast to prosper. In this case you will need to raise the pH level (increase the alkaline content) . To do this, the best way is to pick up some calcium carbonate from the local wine supply store. Add this, 2 teaspoons at a time to a five gallon batch and retest, until you get a reading that is 3.7 or higher. Calcium carbonate is recommended, rather than a sodium carbonate, because it will settle out of the wine completely and not leave behind any unwanted flavors.

On the other end, you may find that before you pitch your yeast, that your must is not acidic enough. If this is the case, then your must is in danger of being taken over by unwanted bacteria and wild yeasts... To get it back into the proper range, you have a couple of options. The first is an acid blend that you can purchase from winemaking supply stores. These are generally comprised of citric acid as well as others, and are very effective. If you don't mind a little citrus flavor in your wine, you can also add a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice to your must. This is quite effective, and you'll find that many recipes have lemon juice included (such as the two on this lens!).

Hopefully this information is helpful to you, and helps you to make some great wine!! If you want to learn some more great tips and tricks about homemade wine, please visit The Winemakers Inner Circle. It contains so much more information than I could ever give you with one of these pages, and it will take your winemaking game to the next level!