Some questions regarding blackcurrant wine made with fresh fruit

[gandy666]

Hi there, I have around 10KG's of blackcurrants that I want to brew up with, but I have a questions I hope someone can help me with. I've brewed with success in the past with the wine kit cans, but never with pure fruit. My questions are as follows:

• I'm going to put the currants into a bucket with some boiling water and pectonase to break it down, once it cools. In order to get the maximum juice out of the berries, i was going to run a hand blender through them, but I am concerned that it will be difficult to clear the the wine at the end. Am I better to mash the berries with a potato masher then put them through a muslin strainer, or is using a blender ok? Or should I add the water, fruit, pectonase, leave for a while and gently squeeze the currants so there is not too much sediment or fruit matter in the must?
• Blackcurrants in Scotland are quite bitter, and acidic. Some recipes call for adding extra lemon juice. Will this have an effect on the fermentation? I intend to use just over a kilo of sugar per imperial gallon. I have a hydrometer and have seen posts on here with instructions for use, which i will look at later on.
• Various recipes call for varying amounts of fruit by weight. Does it matter if I put extra fruit in - will this improve the taste or will it have a detrimental effect on the fermentation process?
• Any hints or tips for making wine with this kind of fresh fruit? i will be using a nutrient and a general purpose yeast from my local brewstore.

many thanks

 

[Bobby_M]

Boiling temps will denature pectic enzymes. Do not add additional acid unless you determine it needs it after fermentation. More fruit will bring in additional acid as well.

 

[Mallerstang]

Blackcurrants are indeed very acidic. I started a batch in July 2017 and have 5 bottles still aging, and a note from Dec 2020 that the flavour is lovely but if it's not mellowed out (in terms of acidity) by Christmas 2021 I may have to use the rest for mulled wine.

For reference I used 5.5 kg fruit, 3.4 kg sugar, 10.6 litres water, and no additional acid or tannin.

Notes say that it was a weird primary fermentation (k1 v1116 yeast) with no foam and I had to measure sg to be sure anything was happening.

 

[Yooper]

I wouldn't do a 100% black currant wine. I use about 20% in my mixed berry blend, and it's still very strong. Even though it ferments dry, the currants leave a sweet-like finish and we like it, but when we used more we didn't care for it at all.

 

[gandy666]

It's brewing away nicely. I blended the fruit with a band blender in cold wayer, left for a few days, added pectonaise, strained through muslin to 4 gallons of juice and water. Added sugar to where the hydrometer suggested it would brew to 14%. Should I add more pectonaise once the bubbling stops to ensure it clears?