Apple and Blackcurrant

[oldmate]

So I was at my local orchard grabbing some more juice for a plain ol' hard apple cider when I stumbled upon some preservative-free apple and blackcurrant juice. Bought 18 litres, pasteurised, added 1.5kg brown sugar, 0.5kg white sugar and pitched some champagne yeast. OG was around 1.080.

Has anyone used/brewed with blackcurrant juice? How did it turn out? Any predictions how this will turn out? Going to let ferment out try and hopefully backsweeten with a leftover bottle of apple juice.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

So I was at my local orchard grabbing some more juice for a plain ol' hard apple cider when I stumbled upon some preservative-free apple and blackcurrant juice. Bought 18 litres, pasteurised, added 1.5kg brown sugar, 0.5kg white sugar and pitched some champagne yeast. OG was around 1.080.

Has anyone used/brewed with blackcurrant juice? How did it turn out? Any predictions how this will turn out? Going to let ferment out try and hopefully backsweeten with a leftover bottle of apple juice.

I've fermented a blend of black currant & apple juices; it fermented dry & was way too tart to drink. I only used 3.5qts with 5 gallons apple juice. Back sweetening helped some, but it's still pretty tart. Been thinking about trying some calcium carbonate to reduce some of the acid. I just noticed you're in AU, are you fermenting actual European black currants or conker berries?

I used juice from European currants, wich have over 300% of the USRDA of vitamin C, that's why it's so tart. I also used brown sugar, and found out that it left a funky flavour. It might've been good with just apple juice, but the currant juice just didn't go well with it. I still hope to salvage it as I have 6 gallons of the stuff. Hope yours turns out better than mine did. Regards, GF.

 

[oldmate]

Thanks for the reply. How do I use the calcium carbonate? Just chuck it in after fermentation, or use it when bottling? I used brown sugar too, and the smell coming from the air lock smells pretty damn bad. I'm not sure on the berry type, it would be from the local orchard which would probably use the European currant.

I have a bad feeling about this

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Jack Keller's site has some helpful info on acidity in wines here: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/acid.asp
Here's a handy link for berry info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackcurrant
It also provides a listing for the conkerberry. Hope this info helps. Regards, GF.

 

[oldmate]

Thanks for the info, I just had a taster and it's not half bad. It's coming along like a wine with a slight blackcurrant after taste. Definitely drinkable at the moment.

 

[Beernik]

I did a black currant cyser. 4 gallons apple cider, 9 pounds honey, 1/2 gallon black currant juice. It's still a little young, but it's good.

 

[oldmate]

That sounds like it would taste delightful.

My ciders have been coming out extremely carbonated from the primary, is this normal? It makes it hard to take an accurate gravity reading.

 

[Styles]

I've done apple and blackcurrant cider, just using bottled juice. I used 18 litres of apple and 6 litres of apple and blackcurrant (I think the apple and black currant was about 5% currant). I did it with a wine yeast (can't remember which now) and didn't add any sugar or anything. It's pretty good. I'm planning on doing a batch with a little more black currant, as the first batch only had a slight pink tinge, and not a lot of black currant flavour.
I find all of my ciders seem to be very carbonated right from the primary. Just swirl the hydrometer around a bit till it loses it's carbonation (I take it you use a trial jar?)

 

[oldmate]

I had another taste today, it has certainly 'matured' from a few days ago, if that is possible. I think I may cold crash it early to retain some sweetness (or should I ferment it out and add some apple juice/cider?) and let it age all nice and proper-like. Thanks, I tried that and it worked a lot better! I was getting worried because someone on here had questioned the carbonation in the carboy.

 

[Styles]

I usually just let my cider ferment completely then bottle with priming sugar so it's a dry, sparkling cider. However I have experimented with artificial sweetner, but haven't got that quite right yet.

 

[oldmate]

I like a little sweetness to my cider and I've never had any problems just cold crashing! (touch wood) They still come out pretty damn good IMO.

 

[Styles]

Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, but unfortunately I just don't have the refridgeration space to accomplish that.

 

[oldmate]

Just incase anyone was wondering.. did NOT turn out well. Way too sour, even backsweetening hasn't helped. Hopefully after a few months might somehow be drinkable, but at this time I'm just thinking that I might freeze distill it to reduce the volume that I have to drink, and just use it in something else.....

 

[copper]

How long has this aged? Ciders can take a good long while to mature well, especially if they are real dry. I would probably bottle it up and forget about it until November or December and see how it tastes then.
The apple/black currant sure SOUNDS like it should taste good.

 

[Styles]

I'm guessing it was the tannins that have made it taste bad (sort of a dry puckering taste?). Perhaps the freezing option may work (mix with lemonade or something? But perhaps like a bold wine a few years ageing may help the tannins mellow? I say biff a couple of bottles somewhere coold for a few years just to see what happens....

 

[oldmate]

It's only been in bottles about 2 weeks, which is very young, I know. Styles, you're spot on with the dry puckering taste and yeah that is the plan! I am going to freeze half, drink a quarter and then mellow another quarter out down the back in the wine cellar until I remember about them sometime in the future! I learnt my lesson, from now on I'll probably just backsweeten with a blackcurrant juice rather than fermenting with it.