Dandelion Wine: An Experiment

Witchy Wisdom
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Please be aware that this post explores herbal homebrewing and references alcohol.

Merry meet!

In a burst of Beltane energy, I spent a chunk of time yesterday out in the gardens collecting plants. The yard is yellow with dandelions right now - they’re really thriving this year.

There’s some old wisdom that says to not take the dandelions before Beltane as the bees rely on the dandelions for food in early spring. Once Beltane comes around, there’s usually enough in bloom to support the bees :tulip: :honeybee:

While many consider them to be a weed, dandelions are wonderful plants. They have a host of benefits both medicinal and magickal. They’re bountiful, hardy, and fun to work with.

Spells-with-Dandelion-Spiritual-Uses
Dandelion Magickal Properties

There are many ways to extract and enjoy the properties of a plant. I love a good tea/infusion, and I’ve experimented with herbal concoctions and tinctures before - recently I’ve been doing some research into homemade herbal wines.

The recipes I’ve found for dandelion wine tend to follow the same basic path. It’s essentially making dandelion tea and then adding wine yeast to start fermentation.

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I got started by collecting dandelion blossoms. That only took about 15 minutes - no problem there! The tricky part was taking just the yellow petals from the flower heads. It didn’t look like much in the bag. Little did I know, I was in for the long run.

After a whopping three hours of picking dandelion petals from the flower heads, I finally had the 4-5 cups of loosely packed petals I needed for a gallon of wine. Oof! :laughing:

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I poured a gallon (16 cups) of boiling water over the petals and covered them to steep. They’re going to infuse for the next two days to get a strong brew. Once they’ve infused, it’ll be time to add in a few more ingredients, including the yeast. That’ll kickstart fermentation.

I’ll be keeping track of the process here - both to leave a recipe for anyone who’d like to give it a try, and also to keep myself accountable (although the time I invested in picking petals is a pretty big push to finish this project haha. I’m invested now!)

I hope you had/are having a lovely sabbat! Blessed be :heart:

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Wow! I figured it would take long to just get the yellow petals but that’s really long! I bet your hands hurt too! You’ve really put a bit of yourself into your future wine! I hope it turns out well!

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My hands were completely yellow by the time I was done, but most of the ache is in my back. I was really focused! I guess I can write it off as a meditative experience, but still… oof :joy:

Thank you, I hope so too! :heart: :blush:

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Oof da! That’s awful! I hope your back gets to feeling better! And your hands return to normal!

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According to my mother, my father made dandelion wine at some point in their few years together. She never said how it tasted. I feel like I am there with both you and my father. Thank you for this connection!

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The Green Witch has a video making Lilac wine, if you have a lilac bush and want to do another one!

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@BryWisteria - This sounds like a fun project - I’ll be following along side your journey.

Those dandelion petals look beautiful - I don’t doubt that your hands were stained yellow, they look very lush.

My husband made wine a couple of times when we lived in the SE USA. He and a friend were canoeing and came across some wild muscadine grapes that are indigenous down there (they are purple, and the white ones are called scuppernongs), and it was tasty.

Excited to see your progress! Good luck with it, and have fun!

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looks so much fun please keep us all updated.

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Luckily, a few good scrubs had the yellow out, and one good night’s sleep was enough to reset my back. I’m ready for more! :flexed_biceps: :laughing:

Thank you, Amethyst! :blush:

That’s so nice! I’m happy the dandelion experiment brought back some nice memories for you :hugs: :two_hearts:

Our lilac flowers are just starting to come into bloom now, so I’m tempted! I only have one fermentation jug, though, so it’ll depend on if there’s any lilac lefts after the dandelion wine is bottled. I’ll keep my fingers crossed - this lilac wine looks amazing! :purple_heart:

I bet they were delicious! :grapes: :yum:

Will do! :blush:

UPDATE:

I strained the dandelion tea over the weekend. A few mandarin oranges and half a lemon also went in to the pot, along with a few cups of sugar and a bit of honey.

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I boiled the blend for 10 minutes. Alas, my cheesecloth has gone on vacation somewhere and I had to use a regular strainer. Hopefully a few lingering petals will be okay.

After it boiled (aka tea round 2 - or maybe it’s dandelion soup at this point?), I strained it again and set the liquid aside to cool.

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I had to wait for the liquid to cool down before I could add the yeast. This site recommended using a type of wine yeast called Lavin D47 for dandelion wine, so that’s the yeast I went with.

It’s in the fermentation jug with an airlock now - it’ll sit for 2 weeks to ferment before I take it out and bottle it. Once the jug is free again, who knows - perhaps I’ll give another type like lilac wine a try! :grin: :purple_heart:

Blessed be

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I hope the blossoms hold out, then! I can see how in six months it would be getting colder and a glass of Spring would be nice to have about then!

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Looks like you’re doing a great job! Thank you for these photos.

Hard work but so much fun! Can’t wait to hear how it turns out. The color should be gorgeous.

Glad your back feels better. :heart:

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You’re so right - it would be like capturing springtime in a bottle, to take out during the winter months. That’s some pretty impressive seasonal magick right there if you ask me! :blush:

Thanks again for the idea, Amethyst - I’ll be doing more research! :purple_heart:

Agreed wholeheartedly! Thanks so much, @Feathertip - I’ll keep you posted how it turns out :blush: :yellow_heart:

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Oh, thank you! I’m here in the corner cheering you on. :heart:

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UPDATE TIME

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After 2 weeks give or take, it was time to strain the dandelion wine. I used a siphon and got the good stuff off the layer of icky sediment that formed at the bottom of the jug.

To be honest, I didn’t plan well - it turned into a rather messy process! I should have had a second jug cleaned and ready to go, but alas, I siphoned into a pot, cleaned the only jug I have, and then put it back in. I couldn’t find the bottles I thought I had, so it’s going to have to stay in the jug for a while (until I find them or get new ones!). This unfortunately means I can’t use the jug for any other projects. Lilac wine will have to wait to next year.

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It’s stopped fermenting as far as I can tell. But I read some horror stories about people who bottled their home brew only for the bottles to explode, so out of an abundance of caution and internet-inspired fear, I put the air lock back on. Better safe than wineless!

I’ll check it again in two months when it’s time to bottle it :champagne:

Blessed be!

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Wow that’s amazing. So many talented witches :grin:. Well done bryWisteria. I look forward to seeing what the finished outcome looks like.

Blessed be :raising_hands: xx

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That’s so true! Sorry about the lilac wine, but hey, you’re learning. And it’s looking good! All sunshiny yellow! I’m sure it’ll taste good.

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This sounds so much like something I would do that I had to laugh. :wink: It’s so aggravating to suddenly realize I got ahead of myself - bah! But you pulled it off and completed the task, so bravo!

I’m sure you’ll come across those other bottles - you clearly put them in a special place that will make perfect sense once they reveal themselves.

It has developed a lovely color - beautiful pale gold. I would have loved to inhale it at this stage, I bet it’s yummy.

Thanks for this update, @BryWisteria! It’s fun watching your progress. :heart:

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@carrianne Thank you very much! :heart:

@Amethyst It is a cheerful color, isn’t it? :yellow_heart: Thanks, Amethyst, and you’re very right - it’s a learning in progress! Assuming it goes well, I think I may invest in a second jug. It should make things go smoother for future batches :grin:

@Feathertip Thank you! Hahaha you’re right, I’m sure they are somewhere very secure and safe - just a bit too safe so that even I can’t find them :joy: Hopefully they’ll turn up once I stop looking for them. And I’m glad you’re enjoying, I’m happy to share - here’s to hoping the final result will be worthy of the journey! :grin:

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When in England, I got into wine making in a big way. I was always advised to add a bit of grape juice to the wort to give it a hint of wine and make the taste more familiar. I suspect my advice is late but you can always add finished wine (just need a small amount of wine you like - nothing with distinct or big flavors). It does make the wine more enjoyable (IMHO).

I’m impressed with the Dandelion stew! Here are some yellow sympathy fingers: :+1: :slightly_smiling_face:

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I speak from experience - my husband has a habit of putting things in very special places, so we’ve (and when I say, “we” I mean, I) have gotten into the habit of saying, “It (whatever the item is) isn’t lost - it’s just in a very secure place right now!”

Things have a way of turning up eventually. :wink:

I’m sure your wine will turn out beautifully. You look like you know what you’re doing!

Blessed be! :feather:

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