Elderberry Wine & Netham Common

Posted by Andy Hamilton - 19/09/08 at 10:09:54 pm

Just been down to the common to pick a load of elder berries to make into elderberry wine, using my Mums tried and tested method that is in our book.

Every time I walk on Netham Common, which is almost every day at the moment, it really fills me with a sense of hope. Even in living memory the common was a toxic dump. I spoke to one of my neighbours and he remembers when it used to be a chemical works. The Barton Hill History Group state that from 1859 to 1949 a huge chimney used to belch out smoke, casting a shadow across Barton Hill.  The massive 40 acre site must have looked like something out of Threads.

In fact vast areas over this side of (South East) Bristol along the river Avon between here and Bath were once heavy industrial sites. Here is an extract from the South Gloustershire council website – “The thick walls of the old smelter works near Conham River Park are still standing, along with the boundary wall of Conham Hall. The hall itself was demolished in 1971 and made way for a sewage works and later a refuse tip. The site has now been landscaped and its small thickets provide a good habitat for small birds and mammals”. Indeed I have seen a Heron around this area and even a massive wild Muscovy duck, although I fear that someone might have ate him this year as I have not seen him for a while!

So next time you see a chemical plant or Didcot Power staion think of Netham Common and the surrounding area and think that it might one day be a little pocket of paradise.

So the Elderberry wine, yesterday I picked some elderberries but when I got back and weighed them they were not neally enough, so we had to go out and get some more. Emma (my girlfriend) was concerned that we leave enough elderberries for the birds, she is right I know and so we left all the berries on high branches.

THE ELDERBERRY WINE RECIPE – taken from The Selfsufficientihs Bible published by Shodder and Stoughton

Our parents, who are fortunate enough to habve an elder tree at the bottom of their garden, have tried various different elderberry wine recipes over the years and they have now settled on this one as their favorite. This recipe makes six bottles. It is quite a dry wine, but we’ve found the taste varies from year to year, depending on the amount of sun and rain during the summer,

1.5Kg (3lbs) Elderberries, 4.5 litres (1 gallon) water, 1tsp of brewers yeast, 1.5kg (3lb) granulated sugar, 7 tbsp warm water, 2 yeast nutrient tablets crushed or 1tsp of yeast nutrient.

1. Take the berries off the stalks with a fork. This is important, because the stalks are poisinous. You could put the berries in the freezer before making this wine – this is not essential, but they seem to be juicer as a result. When ready to make the wine defrost the berries first.
2. Crush the berries into a fermentation bin.
3. In a large pan, bring the water to boiling point and pour it over the berries in the bin. Leave to rest until the water is lukewarm.
4. Mix the yeast, 1tsp of the sugar and the warm water in a cup; leave for 15 minutes to activate
5. Put the yeast mixture together with the yeast nutrient into the fermentation bin. Stir well. Cover tightly and lave at room temperature for 3-5 days, stirring daily. Do not allow the temperature to go below 15C (59F) or over 25C (77f).
6. Put the rest of the sugar into a second fermentation bin and sieve the gunge (known as must) from the first bucket into the second. Cominde the must thoroughly with the sugar until dissolved.
7. Using a funnel, fill a demijohn up to the shoulder with the mixture.
8. Fit the bung with the airlock attached and half fill the airlock with water.
9. Leave the mixture to fement at room temperature – this can be quite a voilent process. When all activity has ceased (that is when no bubbles are coming out of the demijohn), the wine can be siphoned into sterilized bottles.
10. Leave the bottles stored on their side for a good 6 months before drinking.

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