Help black currant melomel

[bluestone]

I was thinking of making a smaller amount of black currant melomel made from pure pressed black currants. And if any successful to make more in august/septemb when I can get "bigger" amounts more cheaply.
How would I precede? Should I ferment it in primary or add it to secondary, back sweeten, water juice ratio, other ideas like complementary ingredients... etc.
Thanks

 

[Medsen Fey]

Do you have an idea what you want? Sweet or dry? ABV level?

How much black currant do you have?

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[bluestone]

Do you have an idea what you want? Sweet or dry? ABV level?

How much black currant do you have?

Sent from my THINGAMAJIG with WHATCHAMACALLIT

ABV : probably something "normal" like 12.
Sweet or dry : Just something that will work. I like it all.

Amount :
The amount I got is like 3 liters(~0.75 US gallon) pure black currant juice(probably filtered and pasturised ) without additives from an organic berry farm. They recommend mixing 1 part juice with 6 parts water for a refreshing lemonade drink. I was thinking of making from the juice because the juice is pure and very good, but also a heck of less work.
I got a few pounds(5-10, I dont know the exact amount) of froozen black currants from the same farm as well if needed.

It might be enough for 1-2 gallons mead depending on intensity if I use just the juice, but more if I add the froozen currants.

 

[WVMJack]

They pack a lot of flavor and acid, your 3 quarts of pure juice could make up to 5 gallons of melomel depending on how strong you want to have the black currant flavor come thru vs the honey. We grew black currants for a while, the hard part of making anything with them in their high acid. If you notice they advise diluting 1 quart of just with 6 more quarts of water for a lemonade type drink that should tell you how acidic your juice is. We have made wine from the Loonza juice and it always turns out good but we dont mind a little acid bite knowing what the fresh berries taste like. WVMJ

 

[Medsen Fey]

It sounds like you would be in good shape to use 1 pint of juice in a gallon. Use a good honey (what do you have available?) And start with a gravity of about 1.090-1.100 which puts you in the 12-13% ABV range. I'd consider using 71B which will metabolize some of the acid, but you still may need to adjust the pH. Ferment it dry, then assess. You may not need to sweeten it, but you might depending on your tastes. Adding 10g of medium toast American or Hungarian oak in the primary (and transferring to secondary) will add some magic if you aren't bothered by oak.

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[JDWebb]

Let me know how it turns out. I did a black currant, and it was terrible, so I fed it to the garbage disposal! It loved it! Bottom line, I just hate black currant. Red currant I like, black currant, no.

 

[bluestone]

1 pint of juice in a gallon is about 1 to 8 ratio. Or 3 quarts in 5 gallons is about 0.15 ratio. That was much lower than I though.

Anyway ... The honey I got is a very pale light tasting "wild/multiflora" mainly raspberry. And yes I like oak so Im adding that as well. Is that cubes or chips?

Thanks for contributions.

 

[Medsen Fey]

The beauty of using a smaller amount is that you may be able to keep it dry or semi-sweet. But you also retain the option to add more in the secondary if you find you want more acidity and/or berry character.

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[WVMJack]

For backsweetening black currant wine we sometimes use the British drink Ribena concentrate. We also drop a bottle of this in some of our ports to give it a boost of flavor. WVMJ

 

[bluestone]

... Adding 10g of medium toast American or Hungarian oak in the primary (and transferring to secondary) will add some magic if you aren't bothered by oak...

I just made the mead, but have not added any oak yet. Is that 1/3 ounce oak cubes pr gallon. How much chips would I have to add?

 

[Medsen Fey]

You can use the same amount of chips. The extraction is faster and you probably won't need to move them to secondary.