How To Make Lilac Wine
Everything you need to know to make a gallon of delicate and floral lilac wine.
Servings: 25 glasses
Calories: 123kcal
Ingredients
- 8 cups lilac flowers
- 1 lb chopped plums
- 1 medium orange (juiced and pulped)
- 1 medium lime (juiced and pulped)
- 2 lbs granulated sugar (4 cups)
- 1 gallon water
- 1 8 ounce plum jam
- ½ teaspoon acid blend
- ½ teaspoon tannin
- ½ teaspoon pectic enzyme
- 2 campden tablets
- ½ packet wine yeast (premiere blanc)
Optional
- ½ cup lilac syrup
- ½ teaspoon stabilizer (Potassium sorbate)
Instructions
Day 1
- Before beginning any fermentation process, you need to sanitize all of your equipment, work area, and hands.
- Pick fresh lilacs and pluck the lilac flowers off of the stems. Continue until you have 8 cups of blossoms. Quickly rinse to remove dust, debris, and tiny insects.
- Add the lilac blossoms to the fermentor bucket along with the chopped plums. Slice orange and lime in half. Squeeze juice into the bucket and toss in the rest.
- Add sugar to a large stockpot and cover with 1 gallon of water. Heat and stir until the water is hot and the sugar dissolves. Carefully pour the syrup into the fermentor bucket. When the syrup cools off, mash the contents of the bucket using a potato masher to extract their flavor.
- Next, add plum jam, acid blend, tannin, pectic enzyme, and 1 crushed Campden tablet to the primary fermenter. Stir thoroughly then take the initial SG reading with a hydrometer and record it into your wine log. Cover the primary fermentation container with breathable fabric and use a rubber band to fasten it into place. Set the bucket aside for 24 hours.
Day 2
- Follow the instructions on the yeast packet to activate the yeast (this ensures the yeast is still good). Once active, add yeast to the "must" (unfermented fruit juice before it's converted to wine). Cover again and set aside.
Day 3+
- Stir daily and take the SG reading and record it. It should begin fermenting in 1-3 days which will be evident by the bubbles. When it reaches a specific gravity of 1.030 (it could take anywhere from 3-7 days) it's time to "rack the wine" (transfer it to a carboy).
- Strain and squeeze the juice out of the lilacs and fruit. Save the solids for your compost bin. Transfer a sterilized one-gallon carboy. I use a funnel with a strainer to do this. Don't over-fill the carboy. Leave plenty of room for fermentation and bubbling.
- Fit sanitized bung into the opening of the bottle. Fill the airlock halfway with sanitizer solution or water and fit it into place. Store the carboy somewhere away from heat and direct sunlight. It will begin to bubble when fermentation starts, usually within a few hours. If you end up with extra wine, you can clear it in a smaller bottle, as long as the bung can fit into the opening.
- Within a few days, you'll notice that the sediment will settle to the bottom of the carboy as the wine begins to clear. Allow the wine to clear in a cool location, away from direct sunlight, for one month.
- Use a siphon to transfer the wine into a clean plastic jug or fermentor bucket. Leave the sediment and cloudy wine at the bottom of the carboy. Transfer the rest of the wine into a clean carboy. Allow the wine to clear anywhere from 1 to 3 months longer.
- Once the wine is completely clear, take a final SG reading and note in your log. Use an ABV calculator to determine the alcohol percentage and jot down.
- Taste the wine, to see if it needs sweetening. If it's too dry, add anywhere from a ¼ cup to a ½ cup of lilac syrup. Give it a taste and add more if needed. Add a crushed campden tablet (to keep the wine from oxidizing). If you sweeten it, add ½ teaspoon of stabilizer (to prevent re-fermentation). Stir thoroughly!
- Use a siphon with a bottling wand (if you have one) to transfer the wine into sterilized bottles. Label the wine bottles with the type of wine, bottling date, and alcohol percentage.
- Allow the wine to age a minimum of 3 months before enjoying! Promise me you'll listen to Lilac Wine when you enjoy your first glass. I can't help but listen (or sing) that song every time I have a glass.
Notes
- Since 1 packet of yeast is enough for 5 gallons, I only use ½ of the packet and save the rest for the next batch.
- If the fermentation never starts, you can add ½ teaspoon of yeast energizer, which helps to get stuck fermentation going.
- To keep the bung from popping out from the pressure caused by active fermentation, it's helpful if the rim of the carboy and the bung are both dry. Use a clean washcloth or paper towel to do this.
- When re-racking the wine, add the sediment at the bottom of the carboy to your compost bin, or dilute it with water and use it to water your plants.
- Don't fill the wine bottles all the way up the neck. Leave room for the corks. Alternatively, you can use flip-top bottles.
- The advantage of using a bottling wand is that it keeps the wine from spilling out of the tube. The wand is activated when pressure is applied to the bottom.
- When bottling your lilac wine, you may end up with a bottle that's not all the way full. Save the extra wine in the fridge to enjoy. It won't be as good as aged wine, but it should still be good enough to drink.
- Lilac wine goes great with cheese, desserts, and chocolate!
- This is the formula for figuring out the alcohol by volume or ABV: Original gravity reading - final gravity reading x 131.25 = ABV.
Nutrition
Serving: 1glass | Calories: 123kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 0g | Fat: 0g | Saturated Fat: 0g | Cholesterol: 0mg | Fiber: 0g | Sugar: 1g
