Dandelion Wine

[Madavascus]

Everyone's favourite flower has risen from the dead of winter! When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, right?    So I've been scouring the Web for a good recipe for Dandelion wine. I wonder if there's anyone in the association who has a good one they'd like to share? Sweet or dry, it doesn't matter to me. I've never had Dandelion wine before, so I don't know if it's any good (and I wouldn't know a good recipe from a bad one). I have a new 3 gallon carboy I'd like to use for such things.

[jamie_savoie]

funny, I'm just about to go pick some for a wine and a dandelion saison I want to make in the near future.  My wine recipe will be based on Don Osborn's recipe found here (scroll down a little)

[Jake]

Feel free to take them off my lawn ... please?

[Kyle]

Jack Keller's website is a good go-to place for making wine from just about anything:
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/dandelio.asp

[Madavascus]

Jack Keller's website is a good go-to place for making wine from just about anything:
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/dandelio.asp

Hey Kyle, thanks for the website. I actually made the second recipe on the website.

Here's what I went with:

Midday Dandelion Wine

Ingredients:

2 qts dandelion flowers
3 lbs granulated sugar
4 oranges
1 gallon water
Yeast and nutrient

This is the traditional "Midday Dandelion Wine" of old, named because the flowers must be picked at midday when they are fully open.
Pick the flowers and bring into the kitchen.

Set one gallon of water to boil.

While it heats up to a boil, remove as much of the green material from the flower heads as possible (the original recipe calls for two quarts of petals only, but this will work as long as you end up with two quarts of prepared flowers).

Pour the boiling water over the flowers, cover with cloth, and leave to steep for two days. Do not exceed two days.

Pour the mixture back into a pot and bring to a boil.

Add the peelings from the four oranges (no white pith) and boil for ten minutes.

Strain through a muslin cloth or bag onto a crock or plastic pail containing the sugar, stirring to dissolve.

When cool, add the juice of the oranges, the yeast and yeast nutrient.

Pour into secondary fermentation vessel, fit fermentation trap, and allow to ferment completely.

Rack and bottle when wine clears and again when no more lees form for 60 days. Allow it to age six months in the bottle before tasting, but a year will improve it vastly. This wine has less body than the first recipe produces, but every bit as much flavor (some say more!).

[Madavascus]

It took over two hours plucking 2 quarts worth of dandelion flower petals... Definitely not something I'm going to do again alone!