Dandelion Winemaking - 2007
Day 3 - Adding In the Fruit

OK, on day 3 (or day 2, depending on your schedule), it's time to add in some more ingredients. First, pour the wine mixture back into a cooking pot and bring it to a boil. I had 3 gallons of water, so for that ratio I added in 5 pounds of sugar, the peels of 2 lemons and the peels of 3 oranges. I even tossed in a tablespoon of orange peel (the "spice" version). I boiled this for an hour.

Now, when you add in the actual fruit part for the lemons and oranges, you don't want it to be in a metal container, but you want to do it immediately after the boiling. My problem is that the only container I have big enough for the wine is a glass carboy which I didn't trust pouring boiling water into. So I poured out a portion of the wine into a ceramic container, and into that I put the orange and lemon insides, so that it could steep in the hot water. I added in a teaspoon of cinnamon for lovely aroma. This all sits until relatively cool.

Now the tricky part, to get it all back into the carboy :) I had to use my hands to scoop up all the peels and fruit insides and slide them into the carboy mouth. Don't ask me how I'm going to get them out again. Then I was able to pour the rest of the liquid with the now-soggy dandelion heads in normally. Last but not least, 3 packets of regular bread yeast were added on top. Some recipes say to put this on a piece of toast - I think the theory is that it helps to 'jump start' the yeast if it's on something soggy and nice like bread. I wasn't about to try to stuff a piece of toast into the carboy and then get yeast to land on top of it, so I just went with yeast right into the mixture.

You now cover the top with saran wrap again and let the entire mixture sit for three days, to give the yeast time to begin working.

Here are photos of my carboy at the end of day 3.

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