It was a good year for blackcurrants and strawberries.
The birds were eating most of my blackcurrant crop, so i figurd it was about time I put them to use.
Jam or Wine? Wine!
Here's the recipe I used:
3lb fruit (2.5lb blackcurrants, 1lb strawberries, .5lb frozen raspberries)
1kg sugar
100g raisins (no oil or wax)
1 teabag
Wine yeast.
(http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt234/eoinlayton/Beer/30072013651_zpsfc58d67f.jpg)
I realise that most people don't have a bunch of fruit bushes out the back, so I found a replacement in Lidl.
Instead of the fresh fruit, use 750g frozen fruits of the forest (€3) and 500g frozen raspberries (€3)
(http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt234/eoinlayton/Beer/30072013650_zpse73058d5.jpg)
Bring 3L water to a boil.
Add and disolve sugar.
Brew a strong cup of tea and add this.
Add all of the fruit and bring it all back to a simmer, then turn the heat off.
You don't want to cook the fruit, just break the skins and soften them a bit.
Mash or blend it all (mashing would make it easier to get the pulp and skin out later).
I used a hand blender but i regret it now because it's thick with pulp and I can't strain it. In hindsight, I shoul dhave only added the blackcurrants and raspberries and strained the juice off the seeds and skins. then add the strawberries to the primary sliced. Ah well, it'll settle out :)
Put the pot somewhere to cool, a sink of cold water is good.
Once it gets down to about 25C, pitch your yeast and add to primary.
As usual, my primary for this wine is a new 5L water bottle with a hole drilled into the cap to fit an airlock.
I'll leave it ferment out until the solids have dropped out, then I'll rack to a demijohn and top up with pre-boiled water.
Once the fermentation is completely finished, I'll rack it again, then let it sit to clear up before bottling
I'm not so sure that cap will drop. I'd mix it a few times over the primary, say a week or so then rack it out from under the fruit to continue, I'd also be very surprised if a lot of that fruit doesn't blow out the top of a 5l bottle, I'd tend to do a primary like that in a bucket and then rack to a bottle when it no longer has all the fruit solids in it as they will blow out the neck. See how it goes though.
'I'm not so sure that cap will drop' - i have no idea what that means.
I like to use a 5L bottle instead of a bucket becausea)its cheap b)i can see into it c)it comes with fresh clean water to use
Using 3L water to begin with leaves enough space to avoid much of a blowout.
There was a little blowout last night, but only about 2 or 3 ml.
The heavy solids are already settling nicely as planned, and the light solids are being churned around with the fermentation action.
I'll leave it ferment out until the solids have dropped out, then I'll rack to a demijohn and top up with pre-boiled water.