Fruit Wine Q

[Jomay]

Howdo

This is my first attempt at fruit wine making, Im basically a BIAB/GF beer brewer. This year I have a load of fruit from my allotment left over - in the past I have made it into jam, mushed up for pies/crumbles, or made into cordial. This year am thinking to make some wine. Specifically at the moment have several kilos of Blackcurrants.
I have got a recipe from the low cost living website, but my question is - just how "clean" do the Blackcurrants have to be? I have take out all the ladybirds and leaves from the picking but there are a load of small stalks still attached to the berries. To take these off will be very time consuming, and am thinking whats the point?
Would be grateful for any advice on this aspect.

Best Wishes J

[goodolpete]

Personally I would use them as they are. Just a suggestion, elderberry are nearly ready to pick,
and if you added 250g to your blackberrys, it would improve the final wine a lot. If you freeze
the blackberrys while you wait for the elderberry, freezing and unfreezing the fruit breaks down
the cell walls and improves the extraction of the contents of the blackberrys.

[Jim]

I'm by no means a wine expert, but the traditional strategy for fruit wines is to use a campden tablet on the must to suppress wild yeast before adding the wine yeast.

As far as stalks are concerned, the only worry would be if they affected the flavour. If you're using a press to get the juice out that wouldn't be a problem but if you're infusing that might be a problem.

EDIT: Pete just got in while I was writing my post.

[Jomay]

Thanks for the replies

Just one correction, they are Blackcurrants, not Blackberries. I think I confused it by referring to the fruits as berries, sorry for that. Planning to squash them with a potato masher. Dont have any elderberry bushes, but where I live in N Lincs am sure there are a load of "wild" ones, will have a look.

Thanks - J

[wanus]

Hello Jomay,i do elderberry wine during october with berries fresh from the bushes.
Don`t freeze like goodolpete says.Pectin is the key carbohydrate in ripe fruits and loses starch and sugar content when frozen.
Jims advice concerning campden is again good advice.
I presume where ever you are aint N.lincs and you are looking for elderberry when you get home!!!!???
Iff theres no potato mashers also `i`ll send yer one.Its what i use.

[Jomay]

Hello Wanus
Yes I am in N Lincs, by that I mean North Lincolnshire England. Personally I would not have thought elderberries were out yet, I expect them Sept time, but am not an expert, and have not looked out for them, so maybe with all the hot weather we have been having they are early. Will have a walk by the Trent tomorrow or day after and see their state of maturity, or not

V Best Wishes - J

[wanus]

Let me know how your reccy mission along the Trent goes.
Berries ere in the north east of England are usually ready september or october but its been dry ere as mostly elsewhere around the country.
It could be a bad year for wild fruits but hopefully i will get enough elderberries for my wine and sloes for my sloe gin.
Fingers crossed.

[steviebobs83]

Let me know how your reccy mission along the Trent goes.
Berries ere in the north east of England are usually ready september or october but its been dry ere as mostly elsewhere around the country.
It could be a bad year for wild fruits but hopefully i will get enough elderberries for my wine and sloes for my sloe gin.
Fingers crossed.

Where are you getting them sloes, Wanus? Looking for a decent plot round north Tyneside is like looking for rocking horse s**t.

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[wanus]

Mainly from the fields at the back of my house,theres plenty of blackthorn.
With the dry hot summer it may not be a good yield this year so fingers crossed.

[steviebobs83]

Good luck, that's a bit of a hike for me so I shall keep searching

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[Rusticus]

I've made wine with blackcurrants and it was almost undrinkable, needed plenty of time to mature.

Bottled it in used wine bottles with screw tops. Probably didn't tighten them down in case fermentation continued but it then tasted very oxidised.

If I were to do it again I would probably blend them with something a bit "smoother".

Russell.

[lord.president]

There is a nice recipe for ‘English Port’ in CJJ Berry’s book. Bramble,blackcurrany,elder and slowe. I made it in 2016 with Young’s dessert wine yeast.
Bloody lovely!

[oldbloke]

I've not done a pure blackcurrant but I put around 4oz/gallon in every berry wine I do, seems to make everything more winelike. I have loads of raspberries but they don't give a great (or even much) flavour on their own so most of mine are about half rasp, then the featured berry, or mix of berries, and a bit of blackcurrant. I don't worry too much about a few bits of stalk - provides tannin.