Blackcurrants and gooseberries, oh my

[me!]

Stupid question time again.

I was given a couple of buckets of fruit - about 6 1/2 pounds of blackcurrants and about 7 1/2 pounds of gooseberries. I've put them into fermenting buckets with sugar, water and yeast (2 bags of sugar and 7 litres of water, aiming at 2 gallons of wine from each). Stupid question #1: should I add lemon juice and/or tea to either or both of these? I have with everything I've made up to now, but I've never done either of these before, don't know if they need additional acid etc.

I've done some reading which suggests blackcurrants are a really strong flavour so you don't need as much fruit per gallon as other wines and now I'm worried I've overdone it. So, stupid question #2: if I were to adjust it to 3 gallons would it be better to just add more water & sugar to the bucket now, or strain off the fruit and start another batch in a separate container? (It's been in the bucket for a week at this point).

I know I could just ask Google these questions but anytime I try that I seem to find conflicting advice, so I thought I'd be better off asking here :) Sorry about mixing metric/imperial...

[Green Aura]

I'd add lemon juice to both but tea to only the red. White wines generally don't have added tannins which is why they can be drunk earlier and don't last so well. Did you add any yeast nutrient? I always use about a 1/4 tsp of Vegemite, per gallon.

I may be wrong but I reckon both will be a bit strong. You could probably take some fruit out of both and make a third mixed berry bucket. You might need to add a couple of apples or something to make it up to about 3lb of fruit.

And you can probably do a second batch from the blackcurrants, I've never tried with gooseberries but had good results with elderberries so blackcurrants might do. If a wine is too strong you can always dilute it a bit before you bottle it.

[me!]

Thanks GreenAura. Yeast nutrient, yes, I forgot to mention that but it's in there :)

I was going on the basis of between 3-4 pounds of fruit per gallon as that's what I used for bramble wine last year, but I guess all fruits are not equal...

Right, I'm off to make some tea and squeeze some lemons.

[ina]

Don't you need that anti-gelling agent for currants? Can't remember, but I seem to remember putting something in that counteracts the pectin in them...

I made some wonderful black currant wine once. Oh my...

[Green Aura]

Pectolase, I think you mean. If you do need it you can add it later.

[me!]

Oh yeah, that's in there too. Sorry, seems like I missed out half the ingredients I used in my initial post

Wonderful might be a bit ambitious this time round Ina, I'll settle for drinkable

Thanks for the replies.

[elfcurry]

What happened? How many gallons did you make with how fruit in each and how did it turn out?

I've made both blackcurrant and gooseberry wines a few times and certainly the former received some very positive comments and I've enjoyed the latter except for the first attempt

My main mistake on my first ever gooseberry wine was to not soak them overnight and throw away the soaking water before other steps. Ever since then, I've done the soaking and it's turned out very nicely but it's best served chilled.

[me!]

I'm embarrassed to admit it's all still sitting in demijohns waiting for me to find the time/energy/motivation to bottle. But the wee tastes I had while racking were quite promising :) Just hope I haven't ruined it by leaving for so long.

I have 2 gallons of gooseberry and 3 of blackcurrant - 2 from the first batch, then re-used the fruit for a third. I'm not sure how successful that will be; it's a much paler colour than the first 2.

(Sorry for the slow reply)

[Brewtrog]

My second run blackcurrant wine is one of the nicest young wines I've brewed. The first run is still aging.