Schnapps In Derby
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We had a glut of damsons in our hedge last Autumn - I froze 17 lbs and used the remaining 9lbs to get a brew on.
Searching the web I came across a very simple recipe, which produced a fantastic port at the first attempt. Try this:
9lb damsons, 1lb blackberries for colour and tannin, 9lb ordinary sugar, pectic enzyme, Young's dessert/high alcohol wine yeast,
Cover the fruit in water in a jam kettle or similar and heat. Get your hands in and mash the fruit to separate it from the stones. Take them out if you want, but the whole thing will be sieved later anyway. Heat up to sterilise the fruit and dissolve all the sugar. Pour into FV and make up to 3 gallons - you might want to add a little more water, as the large amount of pulp takes up some volume. When cool, add the enzyme and yeast according to instructions on the packet.
After a week fermenting, sieve into another sterilised FV. I use a colander as an ordinary sieve mesh is too fine. I also squeeze the remaining pulp through a muslin - its sounds a pain but is well worth it to get the extra bit of juice.
Syphon the resulting liquid into 3 demijohns, primed with 150g of sugar each. Airlock and leave 6-8 weeks until fermentation stops. I taste and adjust for sweetness halfway.
Syphon into bottles - its drinkable now, but better after a month. You can still add a tsp of sugar to the bottle to adjust sweetness if you want. This makes about 14 bottles of port for £6 - bargain! Mine turned out fruity, med-sweet, with lots of body, quite a syrupy consistency,very clean - tasting with a beautiful ruby-red colour. Had to ration myself to one glass per night as its incredibly drinkable. With all my family scrounging bottles, I've had to get another batch going from the frozen fruit. This is pretty much the most drinkable brew I've made yet.
Searching the web I came across a very simple recipe, which produced a fantastic port at the first attempt. Try this:
9lb damsons, 1lb blackberries for colour and tannin, 9lb ordinary sugar, pectic enzyme, Young's dessert/high alcohol wine yeast,
Cover the fruit in water in a jam kettle or similar and heat. Get your hands in and mash the fruit to separate it from the stones. Take them out if you want, but the whole thing will be sieved later anyway. Heat up to sterilise the fruit and dissolve all the sugar. Pour into FV and make up to 3 gallons - you might want to add a little more water, as the large amount of pulp takes up some volume. When cool, add the enzyme and yeast according to instructions on the packet.
After a week fermenting, sieve into another sterilised FV. I use a colander as an ordinary sieve mesh is too fine. I also squeeze the remaining pulp through a muslin - its sounds a pain but is well worth it to get the extra bit of juice.
Syphon the resulting liquid into 3 demijohns, primed with 150g of sugar each. Airlock and leave 6-8 weeks until fermentation stops. I taste and adjust for sweetness halfway.
Syphon into bottles - its drinkable now, but better after a month. You can still add a tsp of sugar to the bottle to adjust sweetness if you want. This makes about 14 bottles of port for £6 - bargain! Mine turned out fruity, med-sweet, with lots of body, quite a syrupy consistency,very clean - tasting with a beautiful ruby-red colour. Had to ration myself to one glass per night as its incredibly drinkable. With all my family scrounging bottles, I've had to get another batch going from the frozen fruit. This is pretty much the most drinkable brew I've made yet.
and 2 x 9lb of fruit in the freezer!
