Vintner's Harvest Fruit Base

[whino-wino]

I just whipped up a batch of Black Currant wine using the Vintner's Harvest fruit base. It says that one can will make a full bodied 3 gallon batch or a lighter bodied 5 gallon batch. I didn't want full bodied, but I didn't want light bodied either and I do not have a 4 gallon carboy. I dabbledwiththe idea of breaking it up between a 3 gallon and 1 gallon carboy, but in the end I decided to go 5 gallons, adding some grape juice concentrate to help add back a little body.


Here's what I went with:


1 Can V.H. Black Currant fruit base
4 cans Old Orchard frozen grape juice concentrate (thawed, of course)
3 tsp acid blend (to .60 tartaric)
4 tsp yeast nutrient
2 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
6 1/2 lbs sugar (13 cups - starting S.G. 1.082)
Water to 5 gallons
I am using Lalvin K1-V1116 yeast simply because I have a ton of it in the refridgerator.


One thing I noticed on the recipe given on the can. It calls for 12 POUNDS of sugar. I hope nobody has ever made the mistake of actually following this recommendation. That would be a whopping 24 cups in a 5 gallon batch and would give you a S.G. completely off the charts. You probably wouldn't end up with a high alcohol wine simply because the fermentation would likely never get started. You would have some awfully sweet juice though. All the more reason to use your hydrometer!!

 

[Bert]

That looks pretty good and that should be a nice starting SG....Should give you a very nice wine..

 

[Wade E]

You are going to love this wine. This flavor is what got me started into making wine as my wife and I went to a wine tasting and they had Black Currant. It was delish! They were selling 375 bottles for $14.75 and my wife was buying these 2-3 a week so I ventured online, found these Vintners harvest bases, went to my local LHBS and here we are now. I will never let this flavor disappear from my cellar.
I emplore anyone who hasnt tried this flavor to do so NOW!
Edited by: wade

 

[moose]

Sounds good! We will be starting our Black Currant this weekend. Picked up a 5 gal. carboy after work, along with 2 bottles of Winexpert red grape concentrate. Stopped in town and got enough sugar and bottled water. We will sit out the storm starting this new wine. We got 32" of snow last weekend and possibly another 12"-16" starting tonite thru Sat.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Looks like a good recipe...

Not only is their sugar out of whack so is the number of cans of water they suggest.

 

[whino-wino]

NW and Wade,


Sounds like both of you have done this one before. I have a couple of questions for you.


Do you make the 3 gallon or 5 gallon recipe?


Do you modify the recipe? (looks like moose has the same idea I had with adding the concentrate)


Last, but certainly not least, it seems to me that black currants would take well to oak. Have you tried this and what were the results?


I have on hand a couple of the 3 oz packs of heavy toasted french oak cubes and a couple of the medium toasted french oak cubes. I'm thinking the heavy toast might go well with this wine.


I have about a dozen or so black currant bushes that I planted 4 years ago. Every year they grow a bunch and then get munched down by deer during the winter. So, alas, I have not been able to get enough fruit to actually make a batch of wine yet. I really need a fence. The only problem here is that my garden is 40' x 90' (yeah, it's big) and to include my red and black currant bushes I would have to stretch that to 40 x 120. I want the whole thing fenced in, but a fence to keep deer out needs to be 8 feet high, minimum. I figure that the cheapest I could do it for would be about $1500. Perhaps when Uncle Sam sends me that ridiculously stupid "economic stimulus package" check then maybe, just maybe I'll finally get one put in. (sorry, I know we're not supposed to discuss politics, but I think this thing is just plain dumb. But hey, if they want to buy me a fence then go ahead.....ain't gonna change my vote though.)

 

[smurfe]

I have not done the Black Current but I have made the VH Raspberry. I made the 3 gallon batch for more body and am glad did as it was a lighter bodied wine. I think a 5 gallon batch would of been too thin. Using the grape concentrate is wise and recommended. If I remember the raspberry called for 7 pounds of sugar and the SG came out very high with that batch. Something like 1.112

 

[NorthernWinos]

his was the recipe I used...made a 5 gallon batch and did oak it with toasted oak....It was one of the best wines we have made and will do it again.


My recipe was...

1 can VH Black C</span></span>urrant Fruit Base

2 bottles WinExpert Red Grape Concentrate

9 1/2# sugar

5 campden tablets

4 tsp Acid Blend

3 tsp liquid tannin



Thought
my S.G. was a little high at 1.100... Had 5 gallons at his point,
didn't want to dilute it too much more...added 2 quarts more water
brought it to 1.090...was happy with the wine.


2 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme

5 tsp yeast nutrient

3 tsp yeast energizer

EC-1118 yeast


Might try a different yeast next time..

 

[NorthernWinos]

I have about a dozen or so black currant bushes that I planted 4 years ago. Every year they grow a bunch and then get munched down by deer during the winter. So, alas, I have not been able to get enough fruit to actually make a batch of wine yet. I really need a fence. The only problem here is that my garden is 40' x 90' (yeah, it's big) and to include my red and black currant bushes I would have to stretch that to 40 x 120. I want the whole thing fenced in, but a fence to keep deer out needs to be 8 feet high, minimum. I figure that the cheapest I could do it for would be about $1500. Perhaps when Uncle Sam sends me that ridiculously stupid "economic stimulus package" check then maybe, just maybe I'll finally get one put in.

Do you recall what varieties you planted??? I have some Ben Sarek and Consort....mine were getting eaten down by rabbits last fall, so, I helped them out and took some cuttings.....then I put some chicken wire cages around them....with any luck and they grow this year will have to get taller chicken wire.

I hope they produce up her and wondering if I should start more plants this spring...Wondering how many plants are needed for a 5-6 gallon batch of wine...anyone know????

 

[whino-wino]

I have both the Ben Serak and Ben Lomond varieties of black currants (6 of each) and another 4 plants of red lake (red currants)


I do not know how many plants are needed. I'm hoping with a dozen shrubs I would eventually be able to at least make a gallon of wine.

 

[grapeman]

I think you can figure on about 3 bushes per gallon for a typical mature bush. I have seen figures much higher for yield, but the most relaible seem to be between 2 and 4 pounds per bush.

 

[whino-wino]

Thanks appleman for the info.


With the way the deer devour mine each year, I've only been able to count on 2 or 3 handfuls per bush

If I ever get that fence put up and they are able to actually grow, I might already have enough plants for close to a 5 gallon batch if your figures are right. I must get this done.

 

[grapeman]

Some places even say as much as 15 pounds per bush- bet I think that is on the very high side.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Would be fun to get some fruit off of those bushes...don't expect any for a few years...ho-hum!!!!....meanwhile...a bumper crop in every Vintners harvest can.

 

[grapeman]

Here are a few pictures of my year old Black Currant bushes. The Titania are definitely more vigorous.


Black Currant - Titania
The wire is at 32"

Another Titania

Here is a Prince Consort- much smaller.

Lots of pine needles and oak leaves showing up as the snow melts. I'm hoping to get at least a small crop of them this year.

 

[whino-wino]

Finished de-gassing the black currantyesterday and added Super-Kleer. Today it had already cleared out nicely. I placed a flashlight behind the carboy and took a picture. The light shines through pretty good and it's only been 24 hours.....

Islightly sweetened this with an apple/black currant concentrate that I found. I tried some first in a glass and you can't even tell that there's any apple in it. It has a very strong black currant flavor so I decided to go with it. Finished S.G. was .995. Backsweetened to .999-1.000.


I'm going to do the oak after clearing during bulk aging. I want to use up my heavy toasted french oak cubes since I have 2 bags of them. I'll use one on this batch and the other on the elderberry. I'll probably just go with the minimum recommendation of 8 weeks given on the oak cube packaging. I know I should taste from time to time, but I find that the more I do that the more tempted I am to rush things into the bottle.


Oh, I also added super-kleer to my pineapple wine yesterday. That has also cleared nicely after 1 day:

Super-Kleer is Super-Cool!!!

Everyoneshould have at least 5 on hand at all times in my opinion....

 

[NorthernWinos]

Yes...Super-Kleer gets the job done right before your eyes.

 

[smokegrub]

Another vote for SuperKleer.

 

[Wade E]

Its always in my drawer.

 

[Waldo]

They both look great whino..great job !!