A gem of a Dandelion Wine recipe!

It started on Pinterest, browsing for brewing goodies, when I was directed to this gorgeous recipe on a forum called “X Marks the Scot.”  The image that led me there belonged to a gentleman who started a thread in the forum titled “My Irish Grandmother’s Recipe for Dandelion Wine.”

Well, that got MY attention.

I love old-fashioned brewing methods, and Gran’s recipe sounds like it would result in some very sweet and pretty hardcore flower hooch.

Click to see the forum where this image came from, and the story about this lovely recipe.

A transcription of Granny’s recipe:

Pour one gallon of boiling water over three quarts of dandelion flowers. Let stand twenty four hours. 

Strain and add five pounds of light brown sugar. Juice & rind of two lemons, juice & rind of two oranges.

Let boil ten minutes & strain.

When cold, add half a cake of Fleischmann’s Yeast. Put in crock & let stand until it commences to work. Then when it commences, put into bottles and twist corks in loose to let it work. 

After it stops working put one raisin in each & cork tightly.

I would like to test Granny’s recipe, does anyone have a spare field of dandelion?  I’ve made Dandelion Mead and I have had good experiences with using bread yeast in my brews. The only thing that concerns me is that there’s a strong potential for “bottle bombs” using Gran’s method of carbonating the wine. I’d be a bit nervous if I bottled up actively fermenting booze, even with loose corks to allow the escaping gas.

For more thoughts on the brewing method and suggestion for modifications, check out the original forum post.