I wish i could triple like this vid cause Brian's rant about JUICE IS JUICE!!!! Amen lol !!! EDIT: You two are so awesome sauce! I must watch all videos!
This recipe gave me some great ideas, I added black Doris plums, and added the black pepper (course ground) after the primary fermentation, turned out great, now I also age it on American oak spirits to finish it
I just racked my first batch of wine using your concord grape juice and bread yeast recipe! It's at 1.005 (making it a little over 13%) and I'm sampling it as I type this. It's got a sweet and almost peppery taste that's really lovely. I'll definitely be trying this recipe too, thanks! P.S. I suggested a lemon and rosemary mead on the livestream and I'm going to be starting it in a few days, I'll let you know how it turns out!
Brilliant stuff, I love your presentation skills. I do use fruit because I have two bushes in my garden. For 1 gallon (5ish ltrs) I use two Kilos and boil them for 15 minutes and add 3 1/2Lb of sugar high alcohol wine yeast (a bit like you don't have that much tea to chose from, we in the UK don't have the speciality yeasts, or I can't find them) let it sit for four weeks and then rack it off. This was done last year 2018 in July (nice fresh currants) now in March 2019 it is as clear as a shiny clear thing and waiting to be bottled. BUT I can't drink it until 2020 apparently and I have been advised to leave it until 2021 Huh!
When selecting a desk, which size carboys and how many should fit under it? J/K I noticed the elderberry bushes are flowering along the ditches here in Florida. I never used the blossoms before, but one of the best wines I ever made was with elderberries a long time ago. I didn't have a lot of berries to use just the juice. I washed what I had put them in a pot and smashed them with a potato masher, added a little water and brought the staining purple mess to a light boil and let simmer for 10+ min. Drained into my hot carboy, then added more water to the pulp and seeds. Brought that up to a boil and topped of the carboy. I added sugar to what was in the carboy before I added the 2nd liquid. I don't remember if I added any raisins. I let it cool and pitched the bread yeast. It turned out so good. I only went by guess on sugar. I don't know if thinning the must with water was an aid to the flavor or not. You are much better with this than my caveman methods. I've searched your channel and can't find any elderberries. Please try it. Many of the ditches have elderberries in them, they should be ripe in a couple months. Wear boots in case of snakes. Use pruners to cut the clusters off. It's a lot faster. Remember they stain. And a side note, the next morning after drinking the wine, your BM will be green, LOL I might try the blossom wine next week.
I love all the info you have provided in your videos. I do use electrical tape to secure my bungs to the glass carboy as a precaution, just a couple of wraps and i haven't lost a bung.
This looks like a really interesting wine. I also recently started a project... I put lemonade strawberry bananas and kiwi in my six and a half gallon batch... It was supposed to be just strawberry and lemonade and the kiwi was supposed to be the second fermentation of another batch but... We got really high... Ate to many and had to fill up space somehow... So now here we are
Long time listener, first time caller... I found your channel searching for mead recipes. I currently have 3 of your mead recipes bubbling and just started this wine recipe. (I have been making wine for 15 or so years, as well as brewing beers.) I wanted to comment on the ingredients that I used as they varied from the original recipe. Not by choice, out of necessity because I did not have all the original ones on hand. What I used was: 1 1/2 cups Black Currant concentrate 1 quart Concord Grape Juice 6 oz Strong Earl Grey tea 1 oz Chopped dried cranberries 1 tsp Toasted Black Peppercorns 1.3 lbs White Sugar Full Packet D-47 dry yeast Topped with water to one-gallon. Starting Gravity: 1.110 I understand that this will not produce the exact same product as your video, but I hope to produce something similar. I did try the must, and I thought it was tasty. Thank you for all the time and effort you both put into your channel. I find your videos very informative and enjoyable.
Just following up. Yesterday I did a final racking on this wine. I back sweetened it to taste, which ended up being a 1.020 SG. (I had fermented to 1.000 and was totally dry.) This is crystal clear and has a beautiful color. It would pair wonderfully with a heavy meal that would traditionally be served with a red wine, and yet it still has a fruitiness to it. And the reason that I am typing this is that I was looking up your recipe again so I could make another batch. 9 out of 10 (at least) Thanks again.
Long time viewer here I’m watched most of not all of your mead videos want to try wine and as this was in your top 5 can’t wait to check it out also I’m from England and 100% Yorkshire tea is best tea PG tips is fine we will accept it but if there was a choice us brits would pick Yorkshire tea every time keep up the good work guys 💪
Hey Brian and Derica! I am from northern England but moved to the states when I was 7. You are very correct about PG Tips being a superb tea, but my heart lies with Yorkshire Tea. For availability in the states, go with PG tips over Tetley, but you can get lucky with Yorkshire tea if you go to larger stores that have big international food section! I use Yorkshire in my meads because it is available at wegmans in MD and PA!
I didn't have enough sugar when I did my ginger beer, so added what I had and bought more the next day. The air lock was already bubbling very vigorously when I got home so I waited until the next day and then added more sugar and gave it several swirls over a couple hours to get most of it to dissolve. I always removed the air lock prior to swirling and replaced it ASAP. As far as I can tell, the brew continued the same as if I had just added all the sugar prior to pitching the yeast. The air lock bubbled for almost 3 weeks. Now I am letting it sit. I will let you know how it comes out. Unfortunately, I don't have a real OG, but I have a reasonable guess based on my first reading and the amount of sugar I added. Thanks for explaining how to figure that out again in this video.
This is my absolute favorite recipe. I've made it at least 5 times and it always comes out perfect ❤. I'm about to start another 3 gal batch. You guys are amazing. I love your channel ❤❤. Wish I could support you and be a VIP but don't have facebook. I so appreciate your videos ❤❤
I think their argument with juice thing not being wine, because traditional wine ferments with the crushed solids still in the juice. This adds to complexity and tannin's, but that doesn't mean straight juice can't make wine.
Hey io , just a little thing , to hidrate the yeast , is better to use water , because the sugar can kind of dehydrate the cells making the process of hydration a little "worst". Sorry for the English , Brazilian here . =D
So I'm going to make this since I finally got the juice, and had to laugh at Danica's fra- gil-eee comment about hydrometers because it reminded me of a gentleman buying two at the Beer & Wine Pantry the other day!!
Found out my carboys will take the honey squirt caps. The ones with the little silicone diaphragm that aids in stream shape. It makes for something of a blow off valve when mixing/shaking primary. Discovery of necessity, i forgetted stuff and dont like stairs.
Just discovered you channel, and it's really interesting. I am brewing and making wines and hard ciders for about 10 years now. Still, there is always something to learn. Which I do, from your channel! I was wondering if you are familiar with keeping you own yeast colony? Because I use my wine yeast multiple times. And I have great results with them.
Another great video. How about a video on homemade kahlua coffe liqueur. Using both cold brew and instant coffee. Few use vodka while the others use rum. Which ones do you suggest? Cheers!!
Can confirm, am English and in the UK, PG Tips is the best tea! Of course there's also Tetley's which is a close second, and Yorkshire Tea is an easy third place. After that there's Pukka, Twinings and other expensive teas but they're only really good for their Chais, Chamomile, Licorice, and other herbal and fruit teas.. Not so much for actual tea. There you have it folks, straight from the Brit 😂
I'm going to have a crack at this tonight. I can't get blackcurrant juice anywhere (UK) but I eventually managed to find some concentrate that was pure and sulphate free (I'm sure boiled Ribena could be used but I didn't fancy risking it). Thank you very much for this (although maybe I should reserve my thanks until after I have poisoned my family with this wine) and for all of your other fantastic and motivating videos!
I mean this as an interesting point, I am unfamiliar with the specific black tea that you mentioned, but one that I love, sourced through a vendor who comes to our highland games and Scottish festival out west is Glengettie, I could be spelling that wrong, but I simply love this tea and want to share in case you are interested, the people I have purchased it from in the past are the Welsh Baker, don't know if this interests you at all but thought I would mention it
You can leave it for 2-4 weeks, pretty much the whole primary fermentation. I would jiggle it every couple days to keep the fruit moist but not absolutely necessary. If you happen to see mold... you shouldn’t! But if you do, remove the moldy parts then rack off the fruit and put back under airlock.
10 30 huh? Am or Pm? Lol.. love the videos! Keep it up! EDIT: Also I've had some go up and out the container. I had some juice that had preserves and I heard cooking it off will kill the preserves. So I did it and not long after I did that I put the yeast in. Yeaaaa... BIG mistake. It overflowed and boy did the whole house smell like a bakery. It worked though, but not sure how well. This was the first time I started brewing for the short time I brewed. Want to get into again sometime.
Hello Brian and Derica. I am planning on make this mead and found out that Knudsen no longer make the Black Current juice. So I found black current concentrate from CurrantC™ all natural Black Currant Concentrate is a pure, healthy, aromatic Black Currant juice that has been concentrated by removing the water at the rate of 5/1. There are no sweeteners and no preservatives. I'm not sure how to proceed. Do I make a straight mead and add the concentrate in conditioning phase or add the water to the concentrate and honey and Knudsen Concord grape and hope for the best? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thank you for all the videos and info you both provide.
@@CitySteadingBrewsI just finished my first racking. It tasted a dry, like a table wine and tasted a bit dry, yet pretty good. I may step sweeten it once I drink a bit of the brew (I need a bit of head room in the carboy) and can add a simple sugar syrup to it and bottle it. It also had a nice note of tannins and also a hint of black pepper. ;)
I started out watching paw paw’s videos. I really like the two of you much better though. If you’re ever in South west Michigan let me know and I’ll get a batch of my brew ready for you to taste.
I followed your recipe for a traditional mead, starting it on Christmas 2018, OG 1.116, FG 1.030. After racking it twice, I bottled it yesterday and I'm loving the flavor it has right now. I'm trying to avoid using sorbates or sulfites in all of my brews. How long do your all natural brews last? Will they go bad? They are too good to leave the bottles full, but realistically, how long would it still be drinkable?
So I really, really love black currant juice. This was one mead we really wanted to try. Do you think we could find black currant juice without the 'ites' and 'ates'??!! Even my favourite Ribena has them! Extremely frustrating. Especially as Knudsons has stopped making the Black Currant juice. 😱😬😥 So we just found some black currant tea that has no preservatives in it and are hoping we can dry hop it to add the balck currant taste to a regular mead. Not sure how much to use though. Any suggestions? It's a very good quality tea so lots of leaves rather than "sweepings from the tea-room floor" as my Dad used to describe regular tea bags. And lovely, whole dried black currants. It smells divine! An alternative I was thinking about was using the Ribena in secondary conditioning for a flavour instead of a fermentable?
The tea sounds like a good idea. Our experience is that the addition of teas to a brew in primary tends to make the yeast very happy. Adding the juice in secondary would be a safer method as it wouldn't interfere with primary fermentation. That said, even juice with ites and ates in them can be fermented. It all depends on how tolerant your yeast are to the preservatives.
I love your guys channel. I am from right across the bay in Tampa. I was wondering what store you were able to find the Black Currant juice? My wife has been searching with no luck. I am currently stuck overseas on deployment for an indefinitely period of time, due to the virus, and enjoy watching your videos. I have this brew on the top of my list to make when I get home. Thank you for all the info.
True, if you are putting in fruit on a second ferment you just add fruit but at that point you are already passing or past 10% abv but not at all true on primary, it's just sweet juice at that point in time. As to black currants they are still illegal in many US states, legal in a few, and only starting to make a comeback slowly in the US for culinary use.
You've really inspired me to start brewing but I would appreciate your thoughts on using PET Plastic demi-johns.Are they any good and can they be used to store wine for several months ? Thanks
It may have been asked already, but… Wouldn’t it be easier to ferment in a bigger vessel like a bucket so you have room for everything. I’ve under the impression that when fermenting, the liquid doesn’t need to be all the way to the top. I’ve been getting 3gallon buckets from my local baker which I ferment my one gallon batches in. Then when I do eventually some to secondary, it then fill to the top. Just wondering your take on that. Love the videos!
Iv watched many of your videos and it has really given me the Courage to start brewing my question is do I really need to buy a start up kit or is it better to make a long list and purchase things separately I’m most interested in the beverage Jun kombucha and beer also sweet wines more juice than wine also does plastic or glass better
Made a larger batch of this but didn't follow recipe exactly. Used more concord grape juice and now it taste too much like the grape. Feel like I need to go buy more black cherry juice to address flavor profile. I added some oak chips a week ago to see if this tones down the concord grape juice flavor. Wish me luck!
Hi Brian and Derica. You often mention “making vinegar” as as result of incorporating too much oxygen once fermentation has started to produce alcohol. However, what if you wanted to actually make vinegar? Have you done this, and would you consider making a video? You two are both so approachable and intelligent that you make learning interesting and enjoyable.
Hey guys this wine reminded me of your craisin mead which I duplicated in a larger batch. My gravity went down and up a couple of times. (I did adjust for temp) I had to reason this with the sugars being released over time by the craisins.
Hello, I probably missed this somewhere but if I want to take a gravity reading to test for doneness a week before racking. Do I need to be carful not to stir up the yeast at the bottom? Sorry I'm new to this. Thank you!
Have you ever used vierka beer/wine yeast from Germany? I plan to use this in this said batch mainly because I have one packet left. I don't know much about this yeast at this point, albeit that it is for a sweet wine like port wein.
I know its been a while since you posted this. but i just discovered it. I would LOVE to try making this. But and its a big but Knudsen Black current juice is neigh on impossible to find.
Do you have a tasting video of this? I can't seem to find it and I'm very curious as to how it turned out? If I can get some black currant juice I'd like to make it.
I made this wine and it was very good, so I decided to make a 5 gallon batch. I mixed everything using a 1 gallon carboy and then pouring that into the 5 gallon carboy until the 5 gallon was full. I did a OG and it only came out at 1.075. My 1 gallon version was 1.104. Did I not mix it up well enough? It's been a few days and the air lock is bubbling once every second. Should I do another reading?
Bryan (Brian) I will be using red currant juice. Do I need to be advised of any differences in the recipe or directions? I’m making one gallon and using 1/2 pkg. Lalvin 71b.
@@CitySteadingBrews Thank you. I found you in the last few weeks and I’m still binging, what an incredible library of information you’ve created. You are both exceptional teachers. Cheers 🍷
If you were to use fruit or berries. Either store bought (frozen) or home grown. Does having the pulp included into the must change the taste in a positive or negative way, or if at all?
We have not done any direct comparisons on this, but we have noticed a preference in full fruit fermentations vs juice only, but this might be more due to the commercial process of making juice rather than making juice at home from whole fruit.
Thanks! Making this today! Using fresh cranberry juice too. I had fresh frozen cranberries from this fall. I’ll crush and juice them. I’ll put the black pepper in with the tea and steep.
Hey guys, love your videos! The only thing I still need to get is a hydrometer (I will soon, I promise!) but I wish I had the juice on hand to brew this one. Black currant and black pepper sounds like a very interesting combo! I'm currently doing a gallon batch of a recipe similar to your sweet red wine, but this time I'm using some EC-1118 to see just how foul it'll get, haha. In all reality, I'm curious how different it'll taste compared to bread yeast. I could always backsweeten if it gets too dry, just don't know if it'll be as fruity as the bread yeast because of all those wonderful esters and phenols. I started off my journey into brewing a few weeks ago by loosely following your sweet wine recipe. I only had half a gallon of juice on hand, so I ended up using water for half, using honey to add flavor so that it wouldn't taste watery (I did the math and tried to get near the gravity you guys measured out, used the honey in place of some of the sugar, using the 35 ppg estimate in place of the 46 ppg for added sugar/sugar from the juice.) After about 12 days of (not so patiently) waiting, I cold crashed it and poured it straight from the carboy (just got my auto-siphon this week) and it was fantastic. You had mentioned drinking it after about 10 days, and the activity was dying down so I figured it was at least close enough. After finishing off that gallon, I ended up trying out the method PawPaw uses with the cracked open lids. I have two cranberry-grape wines going, even though it makes me nervous not using an airlock. (I need to get more carboys, perhaps I'lll go shopping for cheap jug wine, lol) I had gotten curious when I saw a video PawPaw had done where he made a cheap sugar wine (in his video he mixes it with koolaid but I think it would be amazing with some fresh lemon juice) and now I also have a few variations of that going in sanitized bottles, using the cap method. The one I put together last is a 1L batch using plain white sugar. A few days before that, I had put together a 2qt batch using brown sugar, and a 2qt white sugar batch (just slightly flavored with honey.) I started them with Fleischmans, but I ended up pitching some EC-1118 in each one. because they seemed to be getting stuck and making a lot of sulfur. If they end up not tasting so great, maybe they'll be good for topping off what I have going in my carboy or the cran-grape wines for secondary fermentation. They have a lot of headroom, and after primary and racking, it'll need to be filled with something. Sorry about the long comment, might give some other viewers some ideas though. Cheers :)
I live in Thailand and am looking to give this a try, but cannot get blackcurrant or even a blackcurrant mixed fruit juice. What would you recommend as a substitute juice? I've seen comments about using black cherry, would there be a reason to use that? All thoughts very welcome. Thanks for your ideas.
@@CitySteadingBrews Thanks for your prompt reply. Having noted your reply I've trawled the internet sites of our local supermarkets/stores they mostly sell the same juice from the same Thai suppliers as you expect. Except for 100% red grape, these juices although 100% juice, are mostly blended around a 50% Grape mix, for example grape plus strawberry, red cherry, raspberry and blackcurrant. There is some imported 100% cranberry juice, and 100% Thai pomegranate but none of these are particularly dark. Given that limited choice how would you proceed? Which of these if any would get the best result? I'm new to this so didn't want to deviate too much from your recipe but needs must. Thanks again for your assistance.
Where do you guys get the inspiration for a lot of your brews? You test a lot of creative ideas, and I'm just curious if there's a particular way you guys come up with the pairings.
@@CitySteadingBrews Because it got bacteria as everything else. It something we do with beer when we put some primming to make CO2 in the bottle, we boil the sugar with some water.
I can't argue about PG Tips, I haven't had it .. but it might be worth checking out 'Paris' by Harney and Sons, it's very good, and smells absolutely amazing. Again, I'm not arguing that it's better than PG Tips, but if you like experimenting with teas, I think you might like it, it may be worth trying.
Question: Why not use a sugar syrup, say 2 cups of sugar, dissolved in 1 cup water? (Or 1 cup sugar in a half cup water? Depending on the OG that you are trying for?)
Any flavour-related reason for D47 rather than 1118 or 71B, or was it that you had some on hand? I always have a packet or two of 1118 in the fridge, for restarting ferments that stick (my place has no insulation so temp control is an issue - stuck ferments is my normal life!). But I was going to give the 71B a go next time Asda had Italian grape juice on sale. However if you got great results from D47 rhone white, I will get a packet or two of that instead...
Ec-1118 is meant for carbonating champagne. Also it would make this very dry and difficult to backsweeten. I am aiming for 14-15% and 1118 goes to 18 or higher. It’s not known for good flavors and gives a rocket fuel taste. D47 is a great yeast for mead from what I hear. This is my first time using it so judgement will come later!
@@CitySteadingBrews Yeah I like 1118 mainly because it hauls me out of stuck ferments almost every time, but the end taste is rather more "let's get rat-arsed fast" than contender for beer-of-the-year! The idea becomes that the aftertaste of the first swig is bad, the second swig dulls that taste and by the third you stop caring... But I will hang on to my remaining boxes of juice until I see your initial results; black pepper seems a perfect spice to shzush up a turbo-wine. I like a drop of good cab sav when my wallet stretches far enough, & they generally emphasise black pepper and blackcurrant notes, so I have my fingers crossed hoping you get an awesome brew out of this! :)
Actually have you guys thought of buying a small oak barrel to finish some of your creations in... found a tuber that has a few vids out on just that and at $30 USD I find myself thinking that this might be one of those extra steps worth looking into! Love to get your ideas on it and maybe another video with that so so good city steading touch! P.s. the lighting is sooo good I really love the look of all these newer vids since the upgrade guys! =D
Thank you! I went back and watched the video again and your ABV video and I see your point, better to use the recipe as is with a lower alcohol tolerance yeast, which seems to be the “sweet spot” for sweeter table wines in the 12% to 14% ABV range……which is my favorite! Thank you for what you do and cheers!!
@@CitySteadingBrews I have a ton of Martinelli's Glass bottles with the metal caps.I was just afraid the caps might not be airtight and might not work well for ageing.
I wish i could triple like this vid cause Brian's rant about JUICE IS JUICE!!!! Amen lol !!! EDIT: You two are so awesome sauce! I must watch all videos!
This recipe gave me some great ideas, I added black Doris plums, and added the black pepper (course ground) after the primary fermentation, turned out great, now I also age it on American oak spirits to finish it
I tried this...and...damn! It is GOOD!!! It's my first wine that is turning out to be good! Thank you so much for all your guidance!
LOVE black currant! I'll have to brew it with black pepper next time. Cool idea.
I just racked my first batch of wine using your concord grape juice and bread yeast recipe! It's at 1.005 (making it a little over 13%) and I'm sampling it as I type this. It's got a sweet and almost peppery taste that's really lovely. I'll definitely be trying this recipe too, thanks!
P.S. I suggested a lemon and rosemary mead on the livestream and I'm going to be starting it in a few days, I'll let you know how it turns out!
So, three years later, do you remember how the lemon and rosemary mead turned out?
I make blackcurrant wine for 5 years, but now I find you, and that's mean new experiment's gone happen. You inspiring!
I love Danica’s humour and the little tidbits she adds through the vids
Me too!
City Steading Brews 👍
I have made this, transferred to secondary, whoa, yum.
Brilliant stuff, I love your presentation skills. I do use fruit because I have two bushes in my garden. For 1 gallon (5ish ltrs) I use two Kilos and boil them for 15 minutes and add 3 1/2Lb of sugar high alcohol wine yeast (a bit like you don't have that much tea to chose from, we in the UK don't have the speciality yeasts, or I can't find them) let it sit for four weeks and then rack it off. This was done last year 2018 in July (nice fresh currants) now in March 2019 it is as clear as a shiny clear thing and waiting to be bottled. BUT I can't drink it until 2020 apparently and I have been advised to leave it until 2021 Huh!
When selecting a desk, which size carboys and how many should fit under it? J/K
I noticed the elderberry bushes are flowering along the ditches here in Florida. I never used the blossoms before, but one of the best wines I ever made was with elderberries a long time ago. I didn't have a lot of berries to use just the juice. I washed what I had put them in a pot and smashed them with a potato masher, added a little water and brought the staining purple mess to a light boil and let simmer for 10+ min. Drained into my hot carboy, then added more water to the pulp and seeds. Brought that up to a boil and topped of the carboy. I added sugar to what was in the carboy before I added the 2nd liquid. I don't remember if I added any raisins. I let it cool and pitched the bread yeast. It turned out so good. I only went by guess on sugar. I don't know if thinning the must with water was an aid to the flavor or not. You are much better with this than my caveman methods. I've searched your channel and can't find any elderberries. Please try it. Many of the ditches have elderberries in them, they should be ripe in a couple months. Wear boots in case of snakes. Use pruners to cut the clusters off. It's a lot faster. Remember they stain. And a side note, the next morning after drinking the wine, your BM will be green, LOL I might try the blossom wine next week.
I love all the info you have provided in your videos. I do use electrical tape to secure my bungs to the glass carboy as a precaution, just a couple of wraps and i haven't lost a bung.
This looks like a really interesting wine. I also recently started a project... I put lemonade strawberry bananas and kiwi in my six and a half gallon batch... It was supposed to be just strawberry and lemonade and the kiwi was supposed to be the second fermentation of another batch but... We got really high... Ate to many and had to fill up space somehow... So now here we are
Also 23:50 how north
Long time listener, first time caller...
I found your channel searching for mead recipes.
I currently have 3 of your mead recipes bubbling and just started this wine recipe.
(I have been making wine for 15 or so years, as well as brewing beers.)
I wanted to comment on the ingredients that I used as they varied from the original recipe.
Not by choice, out of necessity because I did not have all the original ones on hand.
What I used was:
1 1/2 cups Black Currant concentrate
1 quart Concord Grape Juice
6 oz Strong Earl Grey tea
1 oz Chopped dried cranberries
1 tsp Toasted Black Peppercorns
1.3 lbs White Sugar
Full Packet D-47 dry yeast
Topped with water to one-gallon.
Starting Gravity: 1.110
I understand that this will not produce the exact same product as your video, but I hope to produce something similar.
I did try the must, and I thought it was tasty.
Thank you for all the time and effort you both put into your channel.
I find your videos very informative and enjoyable.
Just following up. Yesterday I did a final racking on this wine. I back sweetened it to taste, which ended up being a 1.020 SG. (I had fermented to 1.000 and was totally dry.) This is crystal clear and has a beautiful color. It would pair wonderfully with a heavy meal that would traditionally be served with a red wine, and yet it still has a fruitiness to it. And the reason that I am typing this is that I was looking up your recipe again so I could make another batch. 9 out of 10 (at least)
Thanks again.
Oh my goodness! I have to try this . Sounds delicious 😊
Hope you enjoy
Awesome video I never thought of using black pepper
Y’all are such a great couple, both of you are made of awesome, cheers!
Aww, thanks!
Long time viewer here I’m watched most of not all of your mead videos want to try wine and as this was in your top 5 can’t wait to check it out also I’m from England and 100% Yorkshire tea is best tea PG tips is fine we will accept it but if there was a choice us brits would pick Yorkshire tea every time keep up the good work guys 💪
Hey Brian and Derica! I am from northern England but moved to the states when I was 7. You are very correct about PG Tips being a superb tea, but my heart lies with Yorkshire Tea. For availability in the states, go with PG tips over Tetley, but you can get lucky with Yorkshire tea if you go to larger stores that have big international food section! I use Yorkshire in my meads because it is available at wegmans in MD and PA!
Sometimes going back to the older videos helps me to remember details 😊
the ad placement was perfect.... right after your red bucket LOL.... nice video BTW
Thanks for the link, guys! I forgot about this brew!
Any time!
Another delicious idea. Thanks for sharing.
I didn't have enough sugar when I did my ginger beer, so added what I had and bought more the next day. The air lock was already bubbling very vigorously when I got home so I waited until the next day and then added more sugar and gave it several swirls over a couple hours to get most of it to dissolve. I always removed the air lock prior to swirling and replaced it ASAP. As far as I can tell, the brew continued the same as if I had just added all the sugar prior to pitching the yeast. The air lock bubbled for almost 3 weeks. Now I am letting it sit. I will let you know how it comes out. Unfortunately, I don't have a real OG, but I have a reasonable guess based on my first reading and the amount of sugar I added. Thanks for explaining how to figure that out again in this video.
This is my absolute favorite recipe. I've made it at least 5 times and it always comes out perfect ❤. I'm about to start another 3 gal batch. You guys are amazing. I love your channel ❤❤. Wish I could support you and be a VIP but don't have facebook. I so appreciate your videos ❤❤
FB is a free account. I really use it only for our VIP myself, lol.
When you start to do math, my brain starts to do, “la la la... look squirrel “
This looks awesome guys. Does this recipe work with the Fleishman’s bread yeast?
Sure.
I think their argument with juice thing not being wine, because traditional wine ferments with the crushed solids still in the juice. This adds to complexity and tannin's, but that doesn't mean straight juice can't make wine.
i used to work at PG in trafford park i used PG in my brews too also used yorkshire tea just as nice different flavour but just as good
Hey io , just a little thing , to hidrate the yeast , is better to use water , because the sugar can kind of dehydrate the cells making the process of hydration a little "worst".
Sorry for the English , Brazilian here .
=D
So I'm going to make this since I finally got the juice, and had to laugh at Danica's fra- gil-eee comment about hydrometers because it reminded me of a gentleman buying two at the Beer & Wine Pantry the other day!!
Found out my carboys will take the honey squirt caps. The ones with the little silicone diaphragm that aids in stream shape. It makes for something of a blow off valve when mixing/shaking primary. Discovery of necessity, i forgetted stuff and dont like stairs.
Making first batch today. Used black cherry as store did not have black currant juice.
Just discovered you channel, and it's really interesting. I am brewing and making wines and hard ciders for about 10 years now. Still, there is always something to learn. Which I do, from your channel! I was wondering if you are familiar with keeping you own yeast colony? Because I use my wine yeast multiple times. And I have great results with them.
Welcome to the channel! We haven’t gotten into reusing yeast. Enough folks have asked though so maybe we can explore it.
Another great video. How about a video on homemade kahlua coffe liqueur. Using both cold brew and instant coffee. Few use vodka while the others use rum. Which ones do you suggest? Cheers!!
Can confirm, am English and in the UK, PG Tips is the best tea! Of course there's also Tetley's which is a close second, and Yorkshire Tea is an easy third place.
After that there's Pukka, Twinings and other expensive teas but they're only really good for their Chais, Chamomile, Licorice, and other herbal and fruit teas.. Not so much for actual tea.
There you have it folks, straight from the Brit 😂
Also english. PG tips is the best tea
I have a young nurse that has recently started staying at my hotel who is English and she swears by her Yorkshire tea being the best.
Can I be make into mead? How much honey would you recommend? I absolutely love the wine. My second batch of wine is degassing
To make it with honey, just add about 1.3X the amount of honey as you would sugar.
I'm going to have a crack at this tonight. I can't get blackcurrant juice anywhere (UK) but I eventually managed to find some concentrate that was pure and sulphate free (I'm sure boiled Ribena could be used but I didn't fancy risking it). Thank you very much for this (although maybe I should reserve my thanks until after I have poisoned my family with this wine) and for all of your other fantastic and motivating videos!
Brian wields Thor's hammer like a true Viking 😂
Brian Cracks Corn and He Don't Care!
I mean this as an interesting point, I am unfamiliar with the specific black tea that you mentioned, but one that I love, sourced through a vendor who comes to our highland games and Scottish festival out west is Glengettie, I could be spelling that wrong, but I simply love this tea and want to share in case you are interested, the people I have purchased it from in the past are the Welsh Baker, don't know if this interests you at all but thought I would mention it
You kidding? We love exploring new teas.
Being Canadian, I firmly believe that Tetley makes the best black tea. But who knows, I could be wrong
Brian I'm making a dark cherry,blackberry and blueberry wine. How long should I keep the fruit in the mash? Thank y'all for all y'all do.
You can leave it for 2-4 weeks, pretty much the whole primary fermentation. I would jiggle it every couple days to keep the fruit moist but not absolutely necessary. If you happen to see mold... you shouldn’t! But if you do, remove the moldy parts then rack off the fruit and put back under airlock.
In the must not madh sorry I'm very new.
@@nicksims9150 must/mash, tomato, tomatoh.... answer is the same :)
10 30 huh? Am or Pm? Lol.. love the videos! Keep it up! EDIT: Also I've had some go up and out the container. I had some juice that had preserves and I heard cooking it off will kill the preserves. So I did it and not long after I did that I put the yeast in. Yeaaaa... BIG mistake. It overflowed and boy did the whole house smell like a bakery. It worked though, but not sure how well. This was the first time I started brewing for the short time I brewed. Want to get into again sometime.
Hello Brian and Derica. I am planning on make this mead and found out that Knudsen no longer make the Black Current juice. So I found black current concentrate from CurrantC™ all natural Black Currant Concentrate is a pure, healthy, aromatic Black Currant juice that has been concentrated by removing the water at the rate of 5/1. There are no sweeteners and no preservatives. I'm not sure how to proceed. Do I make a straight mead and add the concentrate in conditioning phase or add the water to the concentrate and honey and Knudsen Concord grape and hope for the best? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thank you for all the videos and info you both provide.
I made my first batch today. Will be racking it in 6 weeks I expect. I used a 2.5 c. of sugar and Vierka beer/wine yeast. :)
Do yourself a favor and take the readings, but 6 weeks should do it.
@@CitySteadingBrews It was 1.100 final reading after pitching the yeast which works out to be 13% ABV.
@@CitySteadingBrewsI just finished my first racking. It tasted a dry, like a table wine and tasted a bit dry, yet pretty good. I may step sweeten it once I drink a bit of the brew (I need a bit of head room in the carboy) and can add a simple sugar syrup to it and bottle it. It also had a nice note of tannins and also a hint of black pepper. ;)
I started out watching paw paw’s videos. I really like the two of you much better though. If you’re ever in South west Michigan let me know and I’ll get a batch of my brew ready for you to taste.
Nice I bet it comes out good .cheers
I followed your recipe for a traditional mead, starting it on Christmas 2018, OG 1.116, FG 1.030. After racking it twice, I bottled it yesterday and I'm loving the flavor it has right now. I'm trying to avoid using sorbates or sulfites in all of my brews. How long do your all natural brews last? Will they go bad? They are too good to leave the bottles full, but realistically, how long would it still be drinkable?
Years!
So I really, really love black currant juice. This was one mead we really wanted to try. Do you think we could find black currant juice without the 'ites' and 'ates'??!! Even my favourite Ribena has them! Extremely frustrating. Especially as Knudsons has stopped making the Black Currant juice. 😱😬😥
So we just found some black currant tea that has no preservatives in it and are hoping we can dry hop it to add the balck currant taste to a regular mead. Not sure how much to use though. Any suggestions? It's a very good quality tea so lots of leaves rather than "sweepings from the tea-room floor" as my Dad used to describe regular tea bags. And lovely, whole dried black currants. It smells divine!
An alternative I was thinking about was using the Ribena in secondary conditioning for a flavour instead of a fermentable?
Ps, I'm in Canada.
The tea sounds like a good idea. Our experience is that the addition of teas to a brew in primary tends to make the yeast very happy. Adding the juice in secondary would be a safer method as it wouldn't interfere with primary fermentation. That said, even juice with ites and ates in them can be fermented. It all depends on how tolerant your yeast are to the preservatives.
@@CitySteadingBrews any suggestions on how much tea we use to dry hop with? :-)
Best not to dry tea. Make a cup of tea and add that.
ummmm i may need to try making this into Mead. Looking forward to the taste test video
Ya'll seem so dang cool. I'd hang out with you and make wine.
I love your guys channel. I am from right across the bay in Tampa. I was wondering what store you were able to find the Black Currant juice? My wife has been searching with no luck.
I am currently stuck overseas on deployment for an indefinitely period of time, due to the virus, and enjoy watching your videos. I have this brew on the top of my list to make when I get home. Thank you for all the info.
Beer and Winemaker's Pantry, Mary is the owner: www.beerandwinemaking.com/
True, if you are putting in fruit on a second ferment you just add fruit but at that point you are already passing or past 10% abv but not at all true on primary, it's just sweet juice at that point in time. As to black currants they are still illegal in many US states, legal in a few, and only starting to make a comeback slowly in the US for culinary use.
You've really inspired me to start brewing but I would appreciate your thoughts on using PET Plastic demi-johns.Are they any good and can they be used to store wine for several months ? Thanks
I wouldn't use plastic beyond primary fermentation. Personal choice, but... plastic CAN absorb flavors.
At 15:03 how do I factor in specific yeast I'm using so say a 14% as opposed to an 18%?
That just determines the alcohol content the yeast can potentially get your wine or mead to.
It may have been asked already, but…
Wouldn’t it be easier to ferment in a bigger vessel like a bucket so you have room for everything. I’ve under the impression that when fermenting, the liquid doesn’t need to be all the way to the top. I’ve been getting 3gallon buckets from my local baker which I ferment my one gallon batches in. Then when I do eventually some to secondary, it then fill to the top. Just wondering your take on that. Love the videos!
Iv watched many of your videos and it has really given me the Courage to start brewing my question is do I really need to buy a start up kit or is it better to make a long list and purchase things separately I’m most interested in the beverage Jun kombucha and beer also sweet wines more juice than wine also does plastic or glass better
Buy what you need as you go.
Made a larger batch of this but didn't follow recipe exactly. Used more concord grape juice and now it taste too much like the grape. Feel like I need to go buy more black cherry juice to address flavor profile. I added some oak chips a week ago to see if this tones down the concord grape juice flavor. Wish me luck!
When me and my brother started making wine we didn't have the patience to wait. Now we wait a month before we rack into secondary fermentation.
Hi Brian and Derica. You often mention “making vinegar” as as result of incorporating too much oxygen once fermentation has started to produce alcohol. However, what if you wanted to actually make vinegar? Have you done this, and would you consider making a video? You two are both so approachable and intelligent that you make learning interesting and enjoyable.
Do you have any tips/tricks to fermenting in the winter?
Blankets, heating pads. For us... air conditioning most days, lol
Hey guys this wine reminded me of your craisin mead which I duplicated in a larger batch. My gravity went down and up a couple of times. (I did adjust for temp) I had to reason this with the sugars being released over time by the craisins.
You guys could do a quick video about the different stages a brew goes through and what a normal fermentation looks like (talking about bubbling/etc)
Hello, I probably missed this somewhere but if I want to take a gravity reading to test for doneness a week before racking. Do I need to be carful not to stir up the yeast at the bottom? Sorry I'm new to this. Thank you!
Well.. I try not to stir it up but if you do, just let it settle again before racking.
Have you ever used vierka beer/wine yeast from Germany? I plan to use this in this said batch mainly because I have one packet left. I don't know much about this yeast at this point, albeit that it is for a sweet wine like port wein.
I know its been a while since you posted this. but i just discovered it. I would LOVE to try making this. But and its a big but Knudsen Black current juice is neigh on impossible to find.
Do you have a tasting video of this? I can't seem to find it and I'm very curious as to how it turned out? If I can get some black currant juice I'd like to make it.
Should be links in the description but here's the next in the series: Black Currant Black Pepper Wine Racking
ua-cam.com/video/l6FdjYNjCgs/v-deo.html
I made this wine and it was very good, so I decided to make a 5 gallon batch. I mixed everything using a 1 gallon carboy and then pouring that into the 5 gallon carboy until the 5 gallon was full. I did a OG and it only came out at 1.075. My 1 gallon version was 1.104. Did I not mix it up well enough? It's been a few days and the air lock is bubbling once every second. Should I do another reading?
I wouldn't worry about the readings if you simply scaled the recipe. Most likely it's just not mixed enough. Let it ferment out, it'll be fine.
Bryan (Brian) I will be using red currant juice. Do I need to be advised of any differences in the recipe or directions? I’m making one gallon and using 1/2 pkg. Lalvin 71b.
Honestly no idea. Never used red currant juice but I don't anticipate a huge difference.
@@CitySteadingBrews Thank you.
I found you in the last few weeks and I’m still binging, what an incredible library of information you’ve created. You are both exceptional teachers. Cheers 🍷
You guys need some "Lady Grey" tea in your life! Seriously!
Could do that.
I like the smell of yeast
How close to grapes do currants taste? I love pepper but I hate grapes and grape wine, and I'm not sure I want to try this.
when you talk about a half pack of yeast, is whole one 5g/0,176oz?
Knudsen Black Current Juice seems to be out of stock everywhere. Has anyone tried Ribena? If so, how much did you use for a one gallon batch?
I'm going to try this one as well. It sounds interesting. I'll repost and let you know how it went. ;)
If you were to use fruit or berries. Either store bought (frozen) or home grown. Does having the pulp included into the must change the taste in a positive or negative way, or if at all?
We have not done any direct comparisons on this, but we have noticed a preference in full fruit fermentations vs juice only, but this might be more due to the commercial process of making juice rather than making juice at home from whole fruit.
so if sugar is 0.046 per pound per gallon of must, does that mean a two gallon batch of this would require 2.6lbs additional sugar?
Could I steep the black pepper with the tea?
Yup!
Thanks! Making this today! Using fresh cranberry juice too. I had fresh frozen cranberries from this fall. I’ll crush and juice them. I’ll put the black pepper in with the tea and steep.
Hey guys, love your videos! The only thing I still need to get is a hydrometer (I will soon, I promise!) but I wish I had the juice on hand to brew this one. Black currant and black pepper sounds like a very interesting combo!
I'm currently doing a gallon batch of a recipe similar to your sweet red wine, but this time I'm using some EC-1118 to see just how foul it'll get, haha. In all reality, I'm curious how different it'll taste compared to bread yeast. I could always backsweeten if it gets too dry, just don't know if it'll be as fruity as the bread yeast because of all those wonderful esters and phenols.
I started off my journey into brewing a few weeks ago by loosely following your sweet wine recipe. I only had half a gallon of juice on hand, so I ended up using water for half, using honey to add flavor so that it wouldn't taste watery (I did the math and tried to get near the gravity you guys measured out, used the honey in place of some of the sugar, using the 35 ppg estimate in place of the 46 ppg for added sugar/sugar from the juice.)
After about 12 days of (not so patiently) waiting, I cold crashed it and poured it straight from the carboy (just got my auto-siphon this week) and it was fantastic. You had mentioned drinking it after about 10 days, and the activity was dying down so I figured it was at least close enough.
After finishing off that gallon, I ended up trying out the method PawPaw uses with the cracked open lids. I have two cranberry-grape wines going, even though it makes me nervous not using an airlock. (I need to get more carboys, perhaps I'lll go shopping for cheap jug wine, lol)
I had gotten curious when I saw a video PawPaw had done where he made a cheap sugar wine (in his video he mixes it with koolaid but I think it would be amazing with some fresh lemon juice) and now I also have a few variations of that going in sanitized bottles, using the cap method.
The one I put together last is a 1L batch using plain white sugar. A few days before that, I had put together a 2qt batch using brown sugar, and a 2qt white sugar batch (just slightly flavored with honey.) I started them with Fleischmans, but I ended up pitching some EC-1118 in each one. because they seemed to be getting stuck and making a lot of sulfur. If they end up not tasting so great, maybe they'll be good for topping off what I have going in my carboy or the cran-grape wines for secondary fermentation. They have a lot of headroom, and after primary and racking, it'll need to be filled with something.
Sorry about the long comment, might give some other viewers some ideas though. Cheers :)
Speaking for myself, I enjoy reading what new brewers are up to. Good luck in your adventures!
I live in Thailand and am looking to give this a try, but cannot get blackcurrant or even a blackcurrant mixed fruit juice. What would you recommend as a substitute juice? I've seen comments about using black cherry, would there be a reason to use that? All thoughts very welcome. Thanks for your ideas.
Black cherry, grape, any dark fruit juice will make a nice wine using this method.
@@CitySteadingBrews Thanks for your prompt reply. Having noted your reply I've trawled the internet sites of our local supermarkets/stores they mostly sell the same juice from the same Thai suppliers as you expect. Except for 100% red grape, these juices although 100% juice, are mostly blended around a 50% Grape mix, for example grape plus strawberry, red cherry, raspberry and blackcurrant. There is some imported 100% cranberry juice, and 100% Thai pomegranate but none of these are particularly dark. Given that limited choice how would you proceed? Which of these if any would get the best result? I'm new to this so didn't want to deviate too much from your recipe but needs must. Thanks again for your assistance.
Yum
Where do you guys get the inspiration for a lot of your brews? You test a lot of creative ideas, and I'm just curious if there's a particular way you guys come up with the pairings.
They just come to me... things I want to make or do...
I like The wizard of Oz quote para no attention to the man behind the curtain
No mixing sugar with water and boil the sugar to sanitize?
Not following... why would you sanitize sugar?
@@CitySteadingBrews Because it got bacteria as everything else. It something we do with beer when we put some primming to make CO2 in the bottle, we boil the sugar with some water.
Brian....Lil off topic but vanilla mead, would you suggest adding vanilla bean to primary or secondary?
Secondary.
Tetley is that other British tea.
I can't argue about PG Tips, I haven't had it .. but it might be worth checking out 'Paris' by Harney and Sons, it's very good, and smells absolutely amazing. Again, I'm not arguing that it's better than PG Tips, but if you like experimenting with teas, I think you might like it, it may be worth trying.
I am wondering if you could do this as a mead but substituting honey?
That’s the difference between wine and mead so... yes.
Question: Why not use a sugar syrup, say 2 cups of sugar, dissolved in 1 cup water? (Or 1 cup sugar in a half cup water? Depending on the OG that you are trying for?)
Same thing.
You should check out teabox. Damn good loose leaf tea, really cheap.
Any flavour-related reason for D47 rather than 1118 or 71B, or was it that you had some on hand? I always have a packet or two of 1118 in the fridge, for restarting ferments that stick (my place has no insulation so temp control is an issue - stuck ferments is my normal life!). But I was going to give the 71B a go next time Asda had Italian grape juice on sale. However if you got great results from D47 rhone white, I will get a packet or two of that instead...
Ec-1118 is meant for carbonating champagne. Also it would make this very dry and difficult to backsweeten. I am aiming for 14-15% and 1118 goes to 18 or higher. It’s not known for good flavors and gives a rocket fuel taste. D47 is a great yeast for mead from what I hear. This is my first time using it so judgement will come later!
@@CitySteadingBrews Yeah I like 1118 mainly because it hauls me out of stuck ferments almost every time, but the end taste is rather more "let's get rat-arsed fast" than contender for beer-of-the-year! The idea becomes that the aftertaste of the first swig is bad, the second swig dulls that taste and by the third you stop caring... But I will hang on to my remaining boxes of juice until I see your initial results; black pepper seems a perfect spice to shzush up a turbo-wine. I like a drop of good cab sav when my wallet stretches far enough, & they generally emphasise black pepper and blackcurrant notes, so I have my fingers crossed hoping you get an awesome brew out of this! :)
Actually have you guys thought of buying a small oak barrel to finish some of your creations in... found a tuber that has a few vids out on just that and at $30 USD I find myself thinking that this might be one of those extra steps worth looking into! Love to get your ideas on it and maybe another video with that so so good city steading touch! P.s. the lighting is sooo good I really love the look of all these newer vids since the upgrade guys! =D
I am going to make a blueberry pomegranate version of this, do you think the peppercorn would still be a good addition or should I leave that out?
Hrm... it’s subtle so maybe leave it?
Cheers guys .. Cherry pilsner done .. Doesn't really taste of cherrys and has a bitter/dry note ... Its still nice tho lol
Was hoping to find a discord in the description . thanks for the advice when i asked before really helped with the worry i had over it
Really wish I could make this, but I am unable to find black current juice. Is there another fruit juice that tastes comparable to black currents?
Erm, not really... but elderberry and grape together are... sort of... kind of... like it?
Have you tried this recipe with 71 beast yeast? If so, how would you adjust the amount of sugar for a final gravity of 1020-1030?
I don't recommend it. We did, and it came out dry. If you add enough sugars to do what you're asking, you might risk a stall.
Thank you! I went back and watched the video again and your ABV video and I see your point, better to use the recipe as is with a lower alcohol tolerance yeast, which seems to be the “sweet spot” for sweeter table wines in the 12% to 14% ABV range……which is my favorite! Thank you for what you do and cheers!!
10:16 🔨 😂 🥂
Can you reuse the juice bottles to store wine, mead or ciders?
We always do, but use glass, not plastic.
@@CitySteadingBrews I have a ton of Martinelli's Glass bottles with the metal caps.I was just afraid the caps might not be airtight and might not work well for ageing.
We could totally see it. :P
Oh no not a loose bung.
Does mixing the yeast in the juice cause the yeast reacting with the sugars in the juice instead of using water.
Nah, yeast still need sugars to make alcohol.