Blackberry Brandy

[British Red]

Sounds about all you need Lister - some brewing stuff needs nutrients, acid, tannin etc. Amazing what you can achieve with some lemons (acid), apples (nutrients) and strong tea (tannin)

Once you get the basics down, you can substitute for most of the ingredients and equipment.

 

[Elen Sentier]

I jelly my haws then do a similar thing to Red with the blackberries. Will have a go when I get back from Sussex and post up here.

behind every creative woman there's usually a very talented cat ...

 

[Baelfore]

spent the evening giving this a go. post up the pics tommorrow.

thanks for the pictorial.

 

[Baelfore]

so here is my attempt so far.

myself and swambo collected a toss load of blackberries on our aniversery trip back at the end of August. me being really clever forgot to move them from the fridge to the frezer and a lot went mouldy, so after freezing what was left i still had to go out and buy blackberries (THE SHAME!)



stewing up....



and brandy added and wrapped up.



post the rest next week when its done.

thanks again to both mr. Fenna for the original post and to mr. Red for the detailed reciepe and tutorial. :You_Rock_

 

[British Red]

Hows it looking?

 

[Baelfore]

sort of hard to tell to be honest..
theres about three layers of cling film round it to try and make it are tight and this has condensation across the top on the inside so its hard to see. can't really get any smell from it at the mo (I hope that means its air tight-ish) and don't want to unwrap it til at least Friday.

Hope this is all normal and I didn't do anything wrong?

 

[British Red]

it should be fine - don't be too paranoid about air tight - you are just keeping flies out!

 

[Baelfore]

thought i'd share the results

after a week....


Straining..


and the finished product! #I also got about 3/4 of a 6oz hip flask filled. (bad choice o lighting for the pic)


brought out the small bottle to a friends last weekend and it went over very well, will definetly be making more.

on lessons learned, i had slightly under a pound of berries and a 70 cl btl of brandy so the half pound of sugar made it very sweet. might reduce it slightly next time.

all in all, consider me a convert to fruit spirits.

elder berry voldka will be my next attempt!

 

[British Red]

Hmmm Try sloe or bullace - or even cherry over elderberry (I'm not a fan beyond its medicinal benefits).

The blackberry looks good - try other sugars too - muscovado for example - its fun to get right your way

 

[Baelfore]

i'd love to try cherry, but not really available around here, must put that on my to do list. my main reason for choosing elder berries is that their available all around my area and with my current schedule i won't be able to get away for anothr few weeks. i have never actually tried elder berries so this is really going to be an experiment.

If I'm being honest, I couldn't i.d. sloe berries if the branch smaked me in the face.

i'm hoping to get the equipment soon enough to jump on board your mead brew-along, but will have to see what the finances are like.

 

[British Red]

If you can get hold of a demijohn, make elderberry port (a form of elderberry wine) - its gorgeous - got 5 gallons on the go at the moment. I can send you any yeast and stuff you need

 

[Baelfore]

cheers, I may take you up on that if get the stuff. Going to have to sit do with th ever expanding to-do list on of these days and start prioritising.

thanks,

Stephen

 

[British Red]

No Worries Stephen - there is a full tutorial on elderberry port on here somewhere. If all else fails, get yourself a 5 litre container of mineral water and I can probably send you the rest - although a glass demijohn and airlock will make it easier