BLACKCURRANT WINE RECIPE – 4.5L

1.5Kg Blackcurrants

1Kg Sugar – to 1.09SG

Juice of 1 lemon

Yeast – Lavlin 71B RC212 or Vintners Harvest R56

Yeast nutrient

Pectic enzyme

4L water.

DETAILED BLACKCURRANT WINE RECIPE HERE

BLACKCURRANT WINE RECIPE pt1

Good things come to those who wait and the 5 day cold maceration is already enough of a wait to really see what will become of the blackcurrants. There will probably be a two year wait for the first taste of this wine as the berries are so full bodied and decently high in tannin that it seems to need that time to mature.

I am hoping for a full bodied red wine that has the blackcurrant taste as well as a good approximation of a classic grape wine. I plan to use oak chips to add to the complexity as well as back sweeten after I stabilise it in 6 months time.

As the blackcurrants emerged from their slumber in the fridge the cold soak had really leached the colour into the water. The resulting currants were left more of a copper or bronze colour and the run off has a fresh flavourful hue.

A thorough potato mashing released the flesh and juice in what can only be described as a massacre. It was ultra rich in colour and aroma. I have dropped this mush into a sterilised sparge bag so that it is nicely contained in the primary fermenter… a plastic brew bucket. Last year making blackberry wine created a crown that literally exploded over night with an escaping alien blob monster of blackberry goo, a stained floor and a red faced me. The bag allows the gas to escape easily and prevents a hideous plug forming with trapped CO2 pushing it out the bucket.

After topping up to get 9 litres of water and I estimate 1 litre of juice I stirred in one tsp of pectolic enzyme to reduce the pectin I had released from the blackcurrants. This needed 24 hours to do its magic and clear which allowed the must to get to room temperature.

The hydrometer once added bobbed about happily as there is a lot of sugar liberated, this meant that only 1.75kg of sugar was needed to be added to the 10L of must which is the least I have encountered. My Start Gravity is 1.09 and I anticipate a 13% wine at the end. Just as sugar was high, the must only needed the juice of 2 lemons. The blackcurrants really seem like an elegant way to make wine with little need to really tinker or adulterate them. Yeast is Vintners Harvest R56 as I am keen to have a full body and keep the fruit flavours.

Pop back in 2 years to see me hammered on some turbo-Ribena.