Hey,
Had a request for this. Dead simple and quick to make.
We use the recipe from this page
http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/chefs/hugh-fearnley-whittingstall/elderflower-champagne-recipe with a couple of ammendments
We use dried elderflower so there's no wild yeast. Was hard to get an idea of how much elderflower to use, but through various forum posts I went with 16g which has a produced a beautiful drink 2 out of 3 times.
The batch that we made that didn't taste good I did with lemons that were far past their best.
We add the yeast in as soon as the elderflower mix is cool enough and we use the Allenson's yeast in the yellow tub from the supermarket.
Once it is bottle we stored in bathroom out of direct sun and was fine for a good few weeks. Storing overnight in the fridge or freezing for about 20 mins before use means that you don't get a volcanic eruption when you open it.
We did a couple in proper champagne bottles and they were great. If sediment bothers you for the last glass or so then you can remove some while you're making it. Cork your bottles using the plastic hollow corks and store upside down in the fridge for a few days. Then fill a jug with ice cubes and little bit of salt and stand the bottle still upside down in that for 10 mins. Turn it right way up, remove the cork (Which should now contain frozen sediment) and recork with either cork corks or clean plastic ones. We used the cages as well to avoid explosions.
Must say this is a new firm favourite in our house. We did two trial batches before a friend's wedding (one of which was with the bad lemons) and then a bigger batch for the wedding. Had people we didn't know seeking us out and complimenting us.
Dans
Edited to add that we left in the pot for 7 days rather than 4.
