Chickweed wine
A surprisingly delicious light, nuanced floral white wine with notes of grass and citrus - made from chickweed (Stellaria media) and citrus.
Ingredients
- 2 gallons water
- 3 quarts chickweed, lightly packed
- 5 lbs organic cane sugar
- juice and thinly sliced skins from citrus we used 1 Meyer lemon, 1 pink lemon, 1 navel orange, 5 calamondins (small citrus about the size of kumquats) - you can use whatever citrus blend you want, or just use all lemons.
- 1/2 tsp tannic acid
- 1 tsp pectic enzyme
- 1 tsp acid blend
- 1 tsp yeast nutrient
- campden use ΒΌ tsp per 6 gallons liquid
- 1 packet Lalvin EC-1118 wine yeast
Instructions
- Juice citrus and thin slice the rind and peels. Boil 2 gallons water. Place chickweed + citrus skins (not juice) into fermentation vessel and pour boiling water over the top. Add campden to kill off any contaminants. Let steep for 24 hours.
- After 24 hours, strain out chickweed and citrus skins and pour liquid back into pot on stove. Heat water enough to dissolve sugar (which you add now), using whisk. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
- Add citrus juice, wine yeast, yeast nutrient, acid blend, pectic enzyme, tannic acid, & other remaining ingredients. Because the tannic acid, pectic enzyme, and acid blend tend to clump a bit, we held out 1 cup of solution and mixed it into that, then added it to the final mixture. We took hydrometer reading of 1.110 here, so we added 4 cups of water to bring down specific gravity reading to 1.098 at 2.5 gallons total liquid. Your readings may vary, so you may not need to or want to add any additional water here.
- Pour liquid into primary fermenter (we use a conical fermenter, cover with clean cloth, and let ferment 7 days. Stir every 12 hours (twice daily).
- After 7 days in primary, rack liquid off into secondary fermenter (carboy) and fit with airlock. Rack monthly into sanitized secondary until no sediments are at the bottom for 30 days, then do final rack into bottles. (We reused old sanitized screw top wine bottles.)
- For best flavor, chickweed wine should mature in bottles at least one year. Serve chilled or at room temperature.