help with damson wine/cider?

[burton247]

First post here :) Finally decided to start brewing, I've been wanting to for a while now but finally bought the stuff. I've got a batch of cider on the go just from apple juice from the supermarket, will see how that goes.

I've got loads, and I mean loads of damsons (I think that's what they are, little plum like things?) and I've read a few different methods of making a wine/cider out of them so I wanted to ask your opinions. Some guides I've read ferment it twice in different DJs some only once. What methods have worked for you guys out there?

I'll sneak another question in here too, when making normal apple cider does anyone add water or just juice? Mine is just 4l of cheap juice, sugar and yeast.

Cheers

 

[metalmickey]

its just juice, but it depends on how strong you want your finished product. My first and only batch has a starting gravity of about 1045 giving an alcohol content of about 5/6%. If you add water youll weaken the brew.

 

[Ken L]

I did a 1 gallon batch of TC as a trial and while it was perfectly drinkable, it was a bit insipid so when I upped the quantity of apple juice to 17L for the second batch, I added the juice of 8 lemons and four limes, a desert spoon of glycerine, 2 heaped teaspoons of grape tannin, a little nutient and an extra 600g of sugar. This was bottled yesterday and a quick taste confirmed that it is dry and that it now has the acity and depth that I was aiming at.
I primmed the bottles and after hosing off any spilt liquid, retired the crates to my usual outdoor but undercover resting place (outdoors is much less mess if a bottle gives way) for the secondary fermentation.
I'm really looking forward to trying the final finnished product.

BTW. My brewing notes have a reminder to strain the pips and bits out of the lemon juice before adding them to the brew next time - I had to run the whole lot through a sieve before I could bottle.

I like the idea of Damson cider as it would give it an interesting twist (My dad is a big fan of blackcurrent with real ciders) and provide much of the acidity that I'm currently getting from the lemons. I may have to extract some damson juice and drop it in the freezer for future use.

I may be trying some damson wine too. With all these soft fruit, I tend to use heat to kill of the wild yeast and then ferment on the pulp for 4 days before straining and adding a kilo of sugar and letting it go.

Don't forget Damson vodka. Every bit as good as sloe gin.

Then there's jam.

What a great fruit.

 

[burton247]

Cheers for the advice guys :)

I've got some sole berries too I think. Might try flavoring the cider with damsons first instead of damson wine. This is my first time brewing and I think I might stick with cider for a bit. I'll freeze some damsons though :)