Tins of Blackcurrents

[HappyKillmore]

I was in Tesco's buying some tinned strawberry that was reduced to 52p for 420gms when I noticed blackcurrent at 48p a tin so I picked up 6.

So guys any ideas on how to use them.

thanks
Happy

[fatbloke]

I was in Tesco's buying some tinned strawberry that was reduced to 52p for 420gms when I noticed blackcurrent at 48p a tin so I picked up 6.

So guys any ideas on how to use them.

thanks
Happy

The rather ancient CJJ Berry/tinned and dry fruit wines books says

BLACKCURRANT WINE

15oz tin Blackcurrants
3 and 1/4 lb. sugar (U.S. 2 and 3/4 lb.)
1/2 teaspoon citric acid
1/2 teaspoon tannin
1 tablespoon depectiniser
(U.S. 2 tablespoons)
1 yeast nutrient tablet
Bordeaux yeast
Water to 1 gallon

Blackcurrants are a highly acid fruit, but since we are using only a small quantity we still need to add a little citric acid to obtain a balanced must. The flavour is also strong, so this is best made as a sweet wine.
Dissolve the sugar in five pints of boiling water, and simmer the crushed fruit for about ten minutes. Cool, add the acid, tannin and depectiniser, and pour all into the ferrmenting jar, and fit air lock. Twenty-four hours later introduce the yeast and nutrient, refit lock and ferment on the pulp for 10 days away from the light to preserve colour. Strain into clean fermenting jar, filling to bottom of neck with water, and refet air lock. Ferment out, rack and bottle as usual.

Now it's fair to remember that I haven't got a clue how much the fruit to juice/syrup he may be on about. Plus it might be worth remembering Bob's suggestions about the CJJ Berry recipes being on the high side with the sugar. So whether it's worth adding less and then checking the SG and keeping it in the 1080 to 1090 range???

Also you'd have to check to see what's close to "Bordeaux" yeast (I'm thinking along the lines of Lalvin RC212 - not sure if that's right or not).

How close the tins you have are to the size suggested in the recipe, I don't know without checking (it's late right now).

Either way, it gives you a base idea for a batch and something for you too think about a bit.

Personally, if you got them in your local Tesco (you show Middx in your profile), then they're probably also reduced at my local (South Coast), so I'm gonna try and have a look tomorrow.

I was thinking along the lines that if I can get some, I might try a 1 gallon batch as per the recipe, but still checking the numbers and also a modified version with reduced sugar and an SG around the 1080/1090 range.

The nutrient tablet mentioned would either be Vit B1 or DAP, I don't know for certain, but I don't see why using an up to date nutrient like Tronozymol or similar shouldn't do the trick.

And thanks for the price tip, of course.

regards

JtFB

[Zebedee]

I was in Tesco's buying some tinned strawberry that was reduced to 52p for 420gms

Is that a 'typo' ?

they are 25p a tin at my local Tesco's

[goldseal]

I'm making 2 gals of this recipe at the moment, originally posted by Her Lushness, but modified a bit.

I can't tell you what it is like because it is in secondary at the moment. Smells nice though!

The tins I got from Tesco were 300g, so I used 3 and made 2 gallons instead of one.

Be careful with the sugar. I found 2lb per gallon gave me an SG of 1.080.

I didn't boil the fruit. I just left it in cold water for 24 hours, and used 2tsp pectolase per gallon, and some bentonite. I did this after reading the posts in the Tinned Fruit thread.

I used RC212 yeast. It took 7 days to get down to 1.010, at which point I racked, and it now seems to be fermenting a bit more vigorously. When I racked I added 1/2tsp of Tronozymol per gallon, because RC212 is supposed to give off H2S if there are inadequate nutrients.

This is the first time I have strayed significantly away from the published recipe, so the results may not be great. Smell and taste is promising so far though

[HappyKillmore]

Is that a 'typo' ?

they are 25p a tin at my local Tesco's

No not a typo reduced from 89p to 52p, I will travel up to you to buy my next lot lol.

thanks for all your help guys

[goldseal]

First of two DJs bottled today. There was one glass left over, so ....

Initial impression - it's going to be good

[Her Lushness]

I bottled the tinned blackcurrant wine that I did a few weeks ago, and it tastes pretty good - you can taste the blackcurrant in it which is nice coz I like blackcurrants. (obviously) TBH it was a little on the sweet side, which is why I decided to play around with it a bit.

I've also done my first blending experiment, and blended 1 bottle of tinned blackcurrant with 1 bottle of Elderberry wine, and added a bit of brandy... my OH is busy guzzling it as he says it tastes very Port like...

I've done another bottle of half and half with a bit of brandy and added some oak chips to see if it gets any better. I was going to wait until I had some "proper" tasting notes to report, but as it's kind of come up in conversation I'm sharing the concept with you now!