Blackberry brandy recipe/tutorial?

[Baelfore]

Hi all,
as mentioned in the title, looking or a recipe/tutorial for blackberry brandy.
Followed one a few times by possibly either John Fenna or British Red many moons ago but can't recall the ratios for berries/sugar.

Would appreciate a nod in the right direction.

Thanks, Stephen

 

[Moondog55]

While I've never made it myself I doubt you would go wrong using equal quantities of sugar and fruit.
You will wind up with something well South of 17% ABV tho as fruit is at least 90% water. Can you get a few litres of Everclear?
Just guessing but a litre of Everclear to a kilo or so of fruit plus a kilo of sugar macerate and store for a year before racking, if not everclear then OP vodka.

 

[gg012]

My experience of this extends as far as making sloe gin but would it be worth drying the berries a bit to reduce water content and increase ABV in the finished product?

Sent from underground

 

[Moondog55]

Doing some semi-extensive Googling [ OK So I looked up a few cooking pages] most people use rather less sugar that I would but also fewer blackberries. What I made for this festive season was a batch of Kupilka/Krupnikas, the spiced honey spirit from Poland and Ukraine.

 

[Baelfore]

Thanks a mil for all the replies guys. After doing a deep dive in the search I found the original:

Post in thread 'Blackberry Brandy' https://bushcraftuk.com/community/threads/blackberry-brandy.24621/post-323386

:For anyone who's interested...
Pretty much confirmed the ratios mentioned above.

Thanks for all the help.
All the best,
Stephen

 

[Moondog55]

Interestingly [ or not] somebody just gifted us a couple of kilos of over ripe red cherries so I've started a batch of cheery cherry brandy.
After stripping the stalks and discarding the rotten ones I would up with 1700 grams of fruit, I measured out 1200 grams of raw sugar and pummeled it with one of my wooden rolling pins trying to break a few of the pips for that authentic taste of bitter almonds that a good cherry brandy should have. I bought a half litre bottle of Polish Rectified and put everything into a 5 litre carboy.
Into a dark cupboard for a couple of weeks and then I'll decant and strain out most of the pips and pulp and back into storage for another few weeks then decant and strain again before adjusting the spirit level with enough brandy to get it down to 30%

 

[Chris]

Interestingly [ or not] somebody just gifted us a couple of kilos of over ripe red cherries so I've started a batch of cheery cherry brandy.
After stripping the stalks and discarding the rotten ones I would up with 1700 grams of fruit, I measured out 1200 grams of raw sugar and pummeled it with one of my wooden rolling pins trying to break a few of the pips for that authentic taste of bitter almonds that a good cherry brandy should have. I bought a half litre bottle of Polish Rectified and put everything into a 5 litre carboy.
Into a dark cupboard for a couple of weeks and then I'll decant and strain out most of the pips and pulp and back into storage for another few weeks then decant and strain again before adjusting the spirit level with enough brandy to get it down to 30%

With regards to the crushed cherry pips, does this pose any cumulative cyanide risk?

 

[Moondog55]

Does cyanide accumulate?
Yes I suppose it is a risk but one we have lived with for tens of thousands of years. We seem to like the taste of a small amount of bitter almond or marzipan wouldn't be so popular

 

[Chris]

Does cyanide accumulate?
Yes I suppose it is a risk but one we have lived with for tens of thousands of years. We seem to like the taste of a small amount of bitter almond or marzipan wouldn't be so popular

I’m not sure to be honest, just always been told that crushing pips is bad in that regard. Probably just something I was told as a child and never really thought/heard much more about.

Interesting to know that’s where the flavour comes from in cherry brandy.

 

[Moondog55]

Just to be on the safe side I might sample after another couple of days and if it is starting to get that sour cherry/bitter almond bite I'll strain sooner.

 

[Baelfore]

As a side note to the above, I will say following the recipe as is but with 300 ml mineral water and using Hennessey's instead of brandy produces a beautiful dram and when shoved into a press for a year or two

 

[Moondog55]

Hennnesy is a brandy tho, so using it won'tr be too much different to using a Greek or Italian or even a cheap Australian brandy.
Just because it's called Cognac doesn't mean it tastes much better.
Which segues into the question about rebottling cheap whisky into a flagon with wood chips and smoke essence to mimic more expensive single malts; perhaps adding vanilla essence and a bit of sweet sherry too.

 

[plastic-ninja]

I’m reliably informed that the dangerous dose for apricot kernel consumption orally is around 25 in a 24 hour period. The person who told me is still alive so presumably fairly accurate, although I’d challenge anyone to attempt to eat that many in one go.
We used to eat cherry kernels as kids with no obvious ill effects but I don’t suppose we had more than half a dozen or so at a time.

 

[Moondog55]

Two weeks now and smells like cherry brandy should but I thought it needed a little more edge so I added a 500ml bottle of pure Polish spirit to the carboy.
The party is on Saturday next so it gets strained on this coming Monday and racked for drinking on Friday next. The same with this batch of Krupnikas