Elderflowers smell of cats?
Pickle
bagful of flower heads. Have just poured boiling water on them, and I can
only describe the smell as "tomcat".
Is this normal, I haven't added any sugar or anything else as yet, if anyone
knows if they are the wrong kind of elderflowers or something, can you reply
asap please? I won't add the sugar yet, then if people think it's going to
be no good I can throw it out.
Thank you
ziggy
tomcat's favorite place to "spray"
I did taste some peach mead a few years ago that had a noticeable slight cat
spray in the aroma and the longer it aged the stronger it became and yes the
person that made the mead had a couple of cats, eventually it was
undrinkable.
Rick
"Pickle" <garlic...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:bbd06p$p0m$1...@news7.svr.pol.co.uk...
RPM1
My dad used to make wine but it was always from
elderBERRIES, not flowers.
Ruth CM
Pickle
> bagful of flower heads. Have just poured boiling water on them, and I can
> only describe the smell as "tomcat".
BTW I thought I had better add - it isn't actually cats that's making
it smell. All the flowers were 6ft or so off the ground on a large
elder tree.
Bill Frazier
Pickle wrote in message ...
>BTW I thought I had better add - it isn't actually cats that's making
>it smell. All the flowers were 6ft or so off the ground on a large
>elder tree.
Pickle - Have you experienced elderflower wine? We recently had some
at our wine club and it's very different from grape wines in aroma and
flavor. It has a perfume-like quality and I understand this aroma is
extracted from the flowers by alcoholic maceration. I haven't had the
pleasure of raw elderflowers but the wine we tasted smelled nothing
like a cat or it's spray.
Bill Frazier
Olathe, Kansas USA
Dr Dan
the best thing to do when making a wine out of elderflowers is to smell
each bunch as you pick them to avoid picking any with this odour.
In article <bfyCa.107092$cO3.7...@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net>
, Bill Frazier <billf...@worldnet.att.net> writes
--
Dr Dan
Colin Davidson
All depends on your own nose. A lot of people describe elderflowers that
way; most often it's the broken stems that cause the really bad smell,
though, and it's nothing like as bad if you pluck about a pint of flowers
from the flowerheads per gallen of wine rather than using the whole stems.
Colin Davidson
"Dr Dan" <elinds...@xyzhiphop.org.uk> wrote in message
news:kGGi4LA3...@western-pr.demon.co.uk...
> Some elderflowers do have this "tom cat" smell. I do not know why, but
> the best thing to do when making a wine out of elderflowers is to smell
> each bunch as you pick them to avoid picking any with this odour.
I personally taste the flowers on each tree before picking any.
Ben Rotter
I have experienced it. It does seem to be certain varieties or plants
(location-wise) that have this aroma - or at least, some are better
than others. I have tended to smell the flowers before picking them to
check and also to pick from a number of different bushes to try and
minimise the effect. This year I don't even intend to make an
elderflower wine though - I'm just sick of that stinky/herbaceousness
I've so often got using them.
Ben
Colin Davidson
"Ben Rotter" <benr...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:be57c79f.03060...@posting.google.com...
> I have experienced it. It does seem to be certain varieties or plants
> (location-wise) that have this aroma - or at least, some are better
> than others. I have tended to smell the flowers before picking them to
> check and also to pick from a number of different bushes to try and
> minimise the effect. This year I don't even intend to make an
> elderflower wine though - I'm just sick of that stinky/herbaceousness
> I've so often got using them.
I've never experienced an off taste with elderflower, and I'm perplexed to
hear so many negative thoughts on the topic. May I ask, did you use the
whole heads or do you strip the flowers off first? Do you add grape juice or
raisins to the primary ferment? I ask merely because I'm trying to find out
why some people are having a problem that I'm not.
Pickle
"Colin Davidson" <ca...@biotech.cam.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:bbfd3r$r3c$1...@pegasus.csx.cam.ac.uk...
>
> I've never experienced an off taste with elderflower, and I'm perplexed to
> hear so many negative thoughts on the topic. May I ask, did you use the
> whole heads or do you strip the flowers off first? Do you add grape juice
or
> raisins to the primary ferment? I ask merely because I'm trying to find
out
> why some people are having a problem that I'm not.
>
florets together. I haven't added any grape juice or raisins. I added the
sugar last night and the yeast, today the smell is not so bad, still not
very nice though. This morning I have removed about 1/3 of the heads from
the must in case I have used too many. I used a champagne yeast and added
acid blend, tannin and a lot of nutrient.
Chris Gunn
wrote:
>I decided to make some elderflower wine, today I have been out and picked a
>bagful of flower heads. Have just poured boiling water on them, and I can
>only describe the smell as "tomcat".
>Is this normal, I haven't added any sugar or anything else as yet, if anyone
Well, if they get rained on they start to smell like cats piss.
Better to pick them young.
I remember an old codger telling me that the flower bunches that
point... up? can smell like cp. Perhaps because they hold water.
Gunn
Colin Davidson
> >
> I cut off most of the stalk, just left the little thin ones joining the
> florets together. I haven't added any grape juice or raisins. I added the
> sugar last night and the yeast, today the smell is not so bad, still not
> very nice though. This morning I have removed about 1/3 of the heads from
> the must in case I have used too many. I used a champagne yeast and added
> acid blend, tannin and a lot of nutrient.
You should be more or less OK, then. I would reccomend rubbing the flowers
off the heads entirely next time, leaving as few of the little stalks as you
can, and using only about a pint of flowers per gallon. Doesn't seem like
much, but it does prevent the smell from being offputting. This one really
benefits from using raisins, I use about a pound per gallon, and about two
pounds of sugar. And oddly it seems to need lots of acid, I use two lemons
worth. I'd also add that I personally only put the elder flower heads in
once the boiled raisins etc have cooled down, as otherwise it's very easy to
lose some of the aroma of the flowers.
I personally use an all-purpose wine yeast with elderflower, in the
knowledge that maybe one day I'll get round to adding more sugar and
champagne yeast to make a genuine sparkling wine out of the final prouct.
Dont' think it'll ever happen, though :)
Ben Rotter
> hear so many negative thoughts on the topic. May I ask, did you use the
> whole heads or do you strip the flowers off first? Do you add grape juice or
> raisins to the primary ferment? I ask merely because I'm trying to find out
> why some people are having a problem that I'm not.
I've done all ways: stripped flowers and unstripped; and with both
grape juice and raisins, with just grape juice, with just raisins, and
with neither.
It might just be my bad luck with tree variety.
Ben
Pickle
to
> > hear so many negative thoughts on the topic. May I ask, did you use the
> > whole heads or do you strip the flowers off first? Do you add grape
juice or
> > raisins to the primary ferment? I ask merely because I'm trying to find
out
> > why some people are having a problem that I'm not.
update - after 3 days in the primary the smell is much nicer.
kulturkal...@gmail.com
If you pick the flowers in the morning - preferably while there still is a bit of dew on them - they will smell as you hope. If you pick them too late in the afternoon/evening they will - unfortunately - smell a wee bit (haha) like (you were ringt) cats wee!
I don