How to Make Dandelion Wine
By Joshua Traversie

How to Make Wine... It's a question that has so many answers that it is hard to know where to begin. That is why I am writing this article on 'How to Make Dandelion Wine'. I've written a number of articles on how to make wine in general, but I have not yet included an actual recipe. So, for those you who want to know, here is my personal recipe for 'Rocky Mountain Sunshine.'

What I like best about this recipe is that I spent less than $20 on it, and I will have two and half gallons of wine to enjoy later this year. Ingredients that you will need for this recipe are:

The funniest thing about this particular wine was hiking through my favorite areas in the Colorado Rockies picking dandelions. I usually enlist the aid of a few of my young relatives who have a knack for finding big patches of dandelions in the forest. I pick dandelions from the woods, as I don't like using flowers from the neighborhood and along the roads, as the chance of them containing pesticides and harmful chemicals is pretty high. The hardest part, once you have gathered the flowers, is removing the greens. At the very least, you should at least remove the bottom cap of the flower, as it lends a very bitter flavor. Preparing the flowers can take hours...

The first step is to prepare the yeast culture. Do this by putting the orange juice, the packet of yeast and 1 tsp of yeast nutrient into a jar. Secure the lid on the jar and shake it vigorously, ensuring that the yeast becomes dissolved. Then, let it rest for one to three hours, until it becomes bubbly.

Once you have the flowers prepared, and the yeast culture started, and all of your equipment ready and sanitized, you can begin to prepare the must. I do this by first bringing on gallon of distilled water to a vigorous boil in my stock pot. Once this is boiling, I add the sugar, and stir to dissolve. Then I place the dandelions, rose petals, raisins, lemon juice, 1 tsp of yeast nutrient, and 2 tsp of yeast energizer into my primary fermenter and pour the sugar water over them very carefully. Once it is all mixed together, I take a temperature reading. If it is at least at 160 degrees, I let it rest for about twenty minutes. If it is between 140 and 160 degrees, it sits for about thirty minutes.

Now it is time to cool the must. Do this by adding your chilled water to the fermenter. This should bring the temperature of the must down to between 80 and 90 degrees. Now it is time to pitch the yeast.

Pitching the yeast is as easy as pouring it into the must! Once pitched, vigorously stir the must, getting as much air into the mix as you can. This ensures that oxygen is getting dissolved into the mix, as your yeast needs lots of oxygen initially to thrive.

Then just place the lid on the fermenter with an airlock, and let the yeast do its thing. After ten to fourteen days in the primary fermenter, you'll want to remove the flower petals and raisins and rack the wine into a secondary fermenter. Once rack, it should finish out the fermentation in about a month. Rack it again if a thick layer of yeast forms at the bottom in order to help it clarify.

Once you haven't seen any signs of fermentation for about two weeks, you are ready to bottle. Let the Rocky Mountain Sunshine age for about 6 months to let it reach peak drinkability, and then enjoy!

For more detailed instructions on how to make wine, please visit my site http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-make-wine-step-by-step. It's a very informative page that goes into much more detail on each of the steps listed above. If you try my recipe, please drop me a line and let me know how you like. Enjoy!

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