We love making elderberry wine! It has a deep color and a taste that’s both rich and complex. This wine is special because you can make it by letting wild fermentation naturally turn juice into wine without the need for commercially prepared yeast. Elderberry wine can be hard to find and expensive to buy. Use this guide to make it yourself for a fraction of the price.
Why I Love Elderberry Wine
When it came to foraging for medicinal herbs, elderberries were something I enjoyed collecting from the mountains of Southern California. They are a wonderful resource to use in homemade preparations that boost our immune systems naturally.
Now, here in North Idaho, we are fortunate to have elderberry bushes growing right on our property. We harvest them to make homemade elderberry syrup, juice, tea, jelly, tinctures, elderberry gummies and of course, elderberry wine.
Elderberry wine stands out because it’s not just any fruit wine. The wild fermentation process of this recipe produces a truly special wine. It captures the essence of the land where the elderberries grow. The dark, rich color and the fruity taste make elderberry wine a unique experience for all wine lovers.
What Is a Wild Ferment
The wild fermentation process starts with the natural yeast in the elderberries. This means there’s no need to add extra yeast, eliminating dependence on commercially prepared ingredients.
As homesteaders, this helps us transition from being consumers to producers, making steps closer to self-reliance. Over time, these small steps really add up.
Additionally, we prefer the flavor the wild ferment lends to the elderberry wine, creating a one-of-a-kind batch that varies from year to year.
Foraging for Elderberries
Elderberry wine-making begins by foraging for the best berries. Here are some helpful tips for finding quality berries for your wine:
- Identifying Edible Elderberries – Not all elderberries are edible! The red elderberry or Sambucus racemona var. racemona is not safe for consumption. Look for the black or blue varieties such as the American elderberry (Sambucus nigra canadensis), European elderberry (Sambucus nigra), or the blue elderberry (Sambucus mexicana or Sambucus nigra var. caerulea.)
- Identifying Ripe Elderberries – Elderberries are generally ready in late summer (July through August). Ripe elderberries are deep purple and juicy. Look for ones that come easily off their stems. If they’re still hard and not juicy, they’re not ready yet.
- Harvesting Techniques – There are a couple of methods for picking elderberries. You can either cut off whole branches or shake them loose with a fork. The latter is recommended because it allows you to pick only the best ones.
- Cleaning the Elderberries – After picking, it’s time to clean the elderberries. Remove stems and debris and pick out any bad or unripe berries. If necessary, give them a gentle rinse in a colander. Otherwise, leave them as they are to ensure the wild yeast isn’t disturbed.
Supplies Needed
- 5 Gallon Fermentation Crock w/Lid – If you don’t have a fermentation crock, stainless steel or food-grade plastic fermentation bottles work, too.
- Stock Pot – You will need to boil and cool five gallons of water in total. If you don’t have a stockpot, you can do this in batches using a smaller pot or tea kettle.
- Potato Masher – In winemaking, the tool used is a cap masher, but if you don’t have one on hand, a potato masher works great.
- Large Kitchen Cloth – Select a thin, lint-free cloth large enough to cover the opening of your fermentation vessel.
- Kitchen String – If you don’t have kitchen string on hand, twine, yarn, or even paracord works.
- Large Fine Mesh Colander – This is the most efficient tool to strain the berries, but you can also manually scoop them out with a sieve.
- 5 Gallon Carboy – Your ferment will finish in a carboy. We like this glass 5-gallon carboy from Amazon.
- Siphon Tubing – ⅜” diameter food-grade siphon tubing works great.
- Airlock – Fermentation airlocks come in many shapes and sizes. Make sure your airlock fits your 5-gallon carboy.
- 24-750 ml. Clean Wine Bottles – If you don’t have wine bottles, you can use beer bottles or grolsch bottles. Just make sure they have a good seal.
Ingredients Needed
- 11 Pounds Elderberries – Your elderberries will need to be de-stemmed and cleaned to remove any leaves and debris. Give the berries a light rinse, but be careful not to get carried away because you will wash away the wild yeast that is critical for your ferment. Homesteading Hack: We are very busy during elderberry season, so we harvest, clean, and freeze our elderberries and use frozen berries to make our wine during the winter.
- 3 Pounds Raisins – The sugar in raisins feeds the wild yeast and acts as a “jump start” for the fermentation process.
- 5 Gallons Water – The water will need to be boiled to remove impurities and then cooled so that it does not kill the wild yeast.
- 18 Cups Sugar – Use granulated sugar or evaporated cane juice. Do not use a liquid sweetener such as honey or maple syrup.
- 1 Cup Lemon Juice – Fresh or bottled lemon juice works great.
How to Make Elderberry Wine
- To your fermenting vessel, add elderberries, raisins, and one gallon of boiled and cooled water.
- Using a potato masher, mash the mixture to break the skins of the elderberries and raisins. This process will take about 10-15 minutes.
- Cover the crock with a thin kitchen cloth and secure it with kitchen string. Place a loose-fitting lid over the top.
- Allow the crock to sit for 3-4 days in a cool, dark place, stirring once daily.
- Set up the colander over the stock pot.
- Remove the lid, string and kitchen cloth, and pour the mash through the colander to remove all the berries and raisins.
- Using the potato masher, smash the berries and raisins in the colander to extract as much of the moisture out of them as possible.
- Rinse out your crock, and transfer the strained juice from the stock pot back into the crock.
- Place the colander over the crock, and pour the remaining 4 gallons of boiled and cooled water through the mash in the colander to extract any remaining juice and flavor before discarding it.
- Add the lemon juice and sugar to the crock.
- Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. This will take several minutes.
- Cover the crock again with a clean kitchen cloth, string, and lid.
- Allow to sit for 3-4 days.
- Remove the lid, cloth, and string to check your ferment. By now, you should see some activity in the form of movement and bubbles coming to the surface. Additionally, the sediment should have settled to the bottom.
- Set up your fermentation crock on a counter above the carboy on the floor.
- Fill your siphon with clean water to begin the siphon.
- Place the tubing in the fermentation crock and pinch the other end until you feed it into the carboy. Release the tubing and allow the siphon to begin.
- Siphon all of the liquid from the fermentation crock to the carboy. When the crock is almost empty, tip it to the side to siphon every last drop.
- Fill the airlock with a little bit of water and seal the carboy.
- After a few minutes, you will see the gasses from the ferment escaping making the water in the airlock bubble.
- Check your ferment once a week until you notice that the bubbling begins to slow down.
- When the bubbling starts to slow, check once per day until the bubbling slows to less than once every 15 minutes.
- Remove the airlock and siphon the wine from the carboy to wine bottles and cap them off.
- The flavor of the wine develops as it ages, so allow the wine to sit for 5-6 months before consuming it.
Did you make this recipe? If so, please leave a star rating in the recipe card below. Then snap a photo and tag us on social media @homesteadingfamily so we can see your elderberry wine!
FAQ’s
If your elderberry wine has an obvious off flavor or mold growing, it is not ideal to consume and should be discarded.
Elderberry wine stands out because it lets nature do the work. It uses wild fermentation, which means the yeast on the berries starts the process. This gives the wine its unique taste, reflecting the area where the elderberries grew.
Fully ripe elderberries are dark purple, and their stems are pink. To gather them, cut whole clusters or carefully pull the berries off with a fork.
To get the right tang, we add lemon juice. Then, focus on the sugar level. You want it sweet, but not too sweet or too dry.
When the fermentation is done, put your wine in bottles and seal them well. Let it age for 5-6 months or more to develop a smooth taste.
Other Posts You May Enjoy
- Elderberry Benefits to Shorten the Cold or Flu
- How to Boost Your Immune System Naturally – 7 Steps
- Homemade Immune-Boosting Elderberry Syrup Recipe
- DIY Elderberry Gummies (Immunity Support)
- Foraging Herbs in Your Backyard (Medicinal Herbs)
Homemade Elderberry Wine
Equipment
- 5 gallon Fermentation Crock w/ Lid
- Stock Pot
- Potato Masher or cap masher
- Large Kitchen Cloth
- Kitchen String
- Large Fine Mesh Colander
- 5 gallon Carboy
- Siphon Tubing 3/8" diameter
- Airlock to fit your carboy
- 24 750 ml. Bottles
Ingredients
- 11 pounds elderberries
- 3 pounds raisins organic
- 5 gallons water
- 18 cups sugar
- 1 cup lemon juice
Instructions
- To your fermenting vessel, add elderberries, raisins, and one gallon of boiled and cooled water.
- Using a potato masher, mash the mixture to break the skins of the elderberries and raisins. This process will take about 10-15 minutes.
- Cover the crock with a thin kitchen cloth and secure it with kitchen string. Place a loose-fitting lid over the top.
- Allow the crock to sit for 3-4 days in a cool, dark place, stirring once daily.
- Set up the colander over the stock pot.
- Remove the lid, string and kitchen cloth, and pour the mash through the colander to remove all the berries and raisins.
- Using the potato masher, smash the berries and raisins in the colander to extract as much of the moisture out of them as possible.
- Rinse out your crock, and transfer the strained juice from the stock pot back into the crock.
- Place the colander over the crock, and pour the remaining 4 gallons of boiled and cooled water through the mash in the colander to extract any remaining juice and flavor before discarding it.
- Add the lemon juice and sugar to the crock.
- Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. This will take several minutes.
- Cover the crock again with a clean kitchen cloth, string, and lid.
- Allow to sit for 3-4 days.
- Remove the lid, cloth, and string to check your ferment. By now, you should see some activity in the form of movement and bubbles coming to the surface. Additionally, the sediment should have settled to the bottom.
- Set up your fermentation crock on a counter above the carboy on the floor.
- Fill your siphon with clean water to begin the siphon.
- Place the tubing in the fermentation crock and pinch the other end until you feed it into the carboy. Release the tubing and allow the siphon to begin.
- Siphon all of the liquid from the fermentation crock to the carboy. When the crock is almost empty, tip it to the side to siphon every last drop.
- Fill the airlock with a little bit of water and seal the carboy.
- After a few minutes, you will see the gasses from the ferment escaping making the water in the airlock bubble.
- Check your ferment once a week until you notice that the bubbling begins to slow down.
- When the bubbling starts to slow, check once per day until the bubbling slows to less than once every 15 minutes.
- Remove the airlock and siphon the wine from the carboy to wine bottles and cap them off.
- The flavor of the wine develops as it ages, so allow the wine to sit for 5-6 months before consuming it.
