Frozen elderberries and black currants advice please

[Wherryman13]

Hi all had to clear freezer out as SWMBO has got a few frozen turkeys to store so looking for advice ref what additional volumes of ingredients do I need to get this little lot off and running :
I have (frozen weight)
9.5lbs of elderberries
3lb 10oz of blackberries...
All currently thawing in one 20 lt ferm bin.......
Over to the experts for what to add what to do to get best result and volume
Thanks all and wishing you all a great Xmas
WM13

[Nitro Jim]

Black currants or berries?
Can't help you either way but some clarification is required.

[oldbloke]

A blackberry/elderberry mix is quite good, but better in the opposite proportions to what you have. If you've mixed them up in the defrosting bin already you can't easily go back to do a straight elderberry and a separate mixed berry.
But what you have there will be drinkable.
You have about 13lbs of fruit, which ought to do 3 to 4 gallons. If you use apple juice for much of the liquid you need to add, 4 gallons easily.
You shouldn't need tannin as the elderberries have plenty. If you use apple juice you shouldn't really need any acid. So just sugar.
The berries don't actually contribute much so work out how much you need for your desired ABV (20gm/litre gives 1%, near enough), adjust according to the pack's sugar listing if you used apple juice, and go for it.

[Wherryman13]

A blackberry/elderberry mix is quite good, but better in the opposite proportions to what you have. If you've mixed them up in the defrosting bin already you can't easily go back to do a straight elderberry and a separate mixed berry.
But what you have there will be drinkable.
You have about 13lbs of fruit, which ought to do 3 to 4 gallons. If you use apple juice for much of the liquid you need to add, 4 gallons easily.
You shouldn't need tannin as the elderberries have plenty. If you use apple juice you shouldn't really need any acid. So just sugar.
The berries don't actually contribute much so work out how much you need for your desired ABV (20gm/litre gives 1%, near enough), adjust according to the pack's sugar listing if you used apple juice, and go for it.

Hi oldbloke, thanks for your reply , just to clarify , the pulp as it has thawed is at about the 5 litre mark, do I need to mash this ?
What qty of apple juice is needed ( budget juice?)
How much sugar to add?
Does the mashed (if that's the case) pulp need to be removed before adding the apple juice ?

Ps. It was blackberries not blackcurrants
Thanks

[oldbloke]

As the fruit was frozen much of the cell walls will be broken already but a good mashing would be useful, working at one gallon levels I use a potato masher, with your volume you'd want something bigger....
I usually add a little liquid and some of the sugar then ferment the whole mess for a few days before straining it, but with this volume the straining will be difficult.
So, probably, run the fruit in batches through a juicer or other food processor so you can start fermenting the juice and some of the sugar with most of the pulp gone. There will still be a lot of solids in the liquid but after a few weeks you'll be able to rack and leave it behind.

I generally do 1.2kg sugar per gallon, ending up around 13 or 14% depending on the fruit, racking losses, etc.

Each litre of AJ you use knocks 100 to 110 grams off your sugar total, depending on brand- it's listed on the packs. It can go in in stages so you can see how much space you have for AJ when you rack and recalculate final sugar addition from that.