Blackcurrant Wine — Home Brew Recipe

Blackcurrant Wine — Home Brew Recipe

Why Brew Blackcurrant Wine?

Blackcurrants are one of the most flavourful fruits for home winemaking. Their intense tartness and deep colour produce a wine that's unmistakably fruity yet sophisticated enough to rival commercial offerings. This recipe yields approximately 6 bottles of wine at around 12-13% ABV.

Ingredients

  • 1.8kg blackcurrants (fresh or frozen)
  • 1.2kg granulated sugar
  • 4.5 litres water
  • 1 tsp citric acid
  • 1 tsp pectolase
  • 1 tsp yeast nutrient
  • 1 sachet wine yeast (Gervin GV1 or similar)
  • 1 Campden tablet (optional, for stabilising)

Equipment Needed

  • Fermentation bucket with lid
  • Demijohn with airlock
  • Siphon tubing
  • Straining bag or muslin
  • Hydrometer

Method

Day 1: Preparing the Must

If using frozen blackcurrants, allow them to thaw completely — freezing actually helps break down the cell walls, releasing more juice. Place the fruit in a sterilised fermentation bucket and crush thoroughly with a potato masher or your hands.

Boil 2 litres of water and dissolve the sugar completely. Pour this syrup over the crushed fruit. Add the remaining 2.5 litres of cold water to bring the temperature down to around 20-25°C.

Stir in the citric acid, pectolase, and yeast nutrient. Cover loosely and leave for 24 hours. The pectolase needs time to break down the pectin, ensuring a clear finished wine.

Day 2: Pitching the Yeast

Sprinkle the wine yeast over the surface of the must and stir gently. Cover the bucket and fit an airlock or leave the lid slightly ajar. Ferment at 18-22°C for 5-7 days, stirring daily and pushing down the fruit cap.

Day 7-10: Straining and Racking

Once vigorous fermentation subsides, strain the liquid through a sterilised muslin bag into a demijohn, squeezing gently to extract maximum juice. Fit an airlock and leave to ferment in a cool place for 4-6 weeks until fermentation stops completely.

Racking and Clearing

Rack the wine off the sediment into a clean demijohn. If cloudiness persists, add a wine finings sachet. Rack again after 2-3 weeks. The wine should now be brilliantly clear with that characteristic deep purple hue.

Bottling

Once stable and clear (typically 3-4 months from start), add a crushed Campden tablet to prevent oxidation, then siphon into sterilised wine bottles and cork.

Expected ABV

12-13% ABV. Take hydrometer readings before fermentation (expect around 1.090) and after (0.995-1.000) to calculate precisely.

Brewing Tips

  • Sweetness adjustment: Blackcurrant wine can be quite dry. If you prefer a sweeter finish, stabilise with potassium sorbate and Campden tablets before adding sugar syrup to taste.
  • Ageing: This wine improves dramatically with age. Six months minimum; twelve months is even better.
  • Frozen fruit: Supermarket frozen blackcurrants work brilliantly and are available year-round.

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