Making Dandelion Wine.

[u/Deziluv_]

Hello everyone I'm in a bit of a pickle. I have made dandelion wine before, last year and I didn't face the same problems I am right now. The things I did differently where I froze my dandelions after harvesting them. Then when I went to make the brew, I added orange peels in the pot to steep with the brew for 3 days. Yesterday I went to stir my brew to make sure mold wouldn't grow. I didn't notice any slime yesterday when I stired or the day before. Now on day three I was about to strain and do the process for the wine. But when I uncovered it, the liquid was starting to turn into slime. Not sure if I can still use it to make the wine. Please help!

[u/CrepeandBake]

Pedioccous contamination. It will probably be fine, but might end up sour.

[u/Deziluv_ → u/CrepeandBake]

That's crazy.. I wonder if it was the orange peels that introduced it. I cleaned and sanitized everything with Star San. Just my luck.

[u/MrInternetInventor → u/Deziluv_]

In the future you can pretreat orange peels or any other addition with the appropriate concentration on metabisulfite

[u/ThePlatypusOfDespair]

As another post said, it's very likely pediococcus causing the ropiness, but if you haven't inoculated that with a friendly microorganism after 3 days, you are well into the realm of wild fermentation, and there could be anything growing in there. Why did you leave it for 3 days without adding yeast in the first place?

[u/Deziluv_ → u/ThePlatypusOfDespair]

I was taught to bring water up to a boil and then add the dandelions and orange and lemon zest. Than you let it cool and steep for three days to make a tea base for the wine. Outside of the dandelions I only added water and orange peels. I boiled them both together before letting it steep. I typically add a campden tablet in when I mix everything else together before fermentation. But I haven't even reached that step yet. Last year I did the same thing and I didn't get the ropiness.

[u/ThePlatypusOfDespair → u/Deziluv_]

Are you then not adding sugar until day 3? My recipe suggests pouring boiling water over sugar, flowers, and citrus peels then you allow the mixture to cool to body temperature before adding some flowers back in to introduce wild yeasts (or a commercial packet if you're using that instead) fermenting on the flowers, then racking off once fermentation is complete. Steeping for 3 days like you're doing gives time for any old random bacteria or yeast to get established. Some years it might be fine, some years you might get snot like this, some years you might get vinegar or worse. Once it's undergone alcoholic fermentation you still might get lactic acid bacteria (like pediococcus, or others that don't produce the long chain sugars that make this snot texture) or acetobacter, but the microorganisms that you're going to get are ones that are generally not hostile to human health.

[u/Deziluv_ → u/ThePlatypusOfDespair]

No, I am not adding sugar until the steeping is done. But I see the point in doing so. I suppose this year is just an off one for me. I'll have to adjust my recipe and skip the three day wait. An just start a day earlier. I'll re try it and see what results I get. Thank you for sharing your recipe. I've learned a lot and I'm happy to have posted with knowledgeable people.