Dandelion homemade wine in a glass and bottle
Print Recipe
0 from 0 votes

Dandelion Wine Recipe

Try your hand at this amazing spring tonic, because it's wine o'clock!
Prep Time2 hrs
Cook Time15 mins
Fermentation time731 d
Total Time2 hrs 15 mins
Keyword: wine, homemade wine, dandelion wine
Appliance: Bottles, Pot, crock, colander, jug
Servings: 3 quarts
Author: Jinal Gangar

Ingredients

  • 2 quarts dandelion flowers
  • 1 gallon water filtered
  • 3 lemons juiced and zested
  • 3 oranges juiced and zested
  • 1 1/2 lbs sugar
  • 3/4 lbs golden raisins chopped
  • 1 tsp yeast nutrient
  • 5 grams wine yeast
  • simple syrup optional

Instructions

  • To start with, separate the green leaves from the base and stems of the flowers. Ensure that you remove most of them because too many of these green parts may make the wine bitter if they are left out. Add the flower petals to a crock.
  • Now, bring water to a boil and pour it over these flowers in the crock. Let the flowers steep in for 4 hours.
  • Line a colander with a cheesecloth and strain the flowers now. You can press the flowers to extract as much water as possible.
  • Heat this infusion and bring it to a boil. Then, stir in the citrus fruit juices and sugar. Mix well.
  • Once you do that, add orange and lemon zest, and raisins to this mixture and turn off the heat. Again, stir it thoroughly and let it cool till it comes down to room temperature.
  • Now, add yeast nutrient and wine yeast to the infusion and mix it well. Cover it well and let it stay at room temperature for 12 days. During this period, stir the mixture 3 times every day.
  • After 12 days, strain this infusion into a clean, one-gallon jug. Seal it using a fermentation lock or a balloon with a single pinprick. The single prick in the balloon keeps the bacteria out while allowing the release of gases from the wine-to-be.
  • Keep this mixture at room temperature for 21 days.
  • After this, carefully pour the mixture into another jug. This ensures that the sediments from the yeast and other ingredients stay at the bottom and you get a clearer wine in the new jug.
  • If there is more than a 2-inch difference between the level of wine and the rim of the jug, fill that gap using simple syrup.
  • Now, cover it with the fermentation lock or balloons and keep it at room temperature for one more month.
  • Transfer the wine to a new jug, leaving the residue in the existing jug. Repeat this process every 30-60 days until your wine is clear and not cloudy.
  • Once the wine becomes clear, funnel it into clean bottles and cork the bottles. Age it for about a year and you will have an amazing batch of wine to celebrate with!
    A close up picture of a glass of dandelion wine kept atop a table

Notes

You can start having the wine in about two months. But the taste gets better as it ages, so we suggest you wait for about a year or two to open the cork.
Keep the wine bottles in a cool and dark place like a basement or a closet.