Bullace for wine

[Sedgie]

Hi everyone...can I please have any thoughts on the best way to extract from bullaces for wine? I have recently moved to a place with lots of bullace hedges (not sloes) and they are prolific. Having read on the internet about stones causing cyanide poisoning, which I'm skeptical about, but possibly more believable chance of tainting wine I have some worries. Tried so far using 3 different ways...fermenting on pulp, pre freezing then fermenting, and heating first then straining...am not sure which is better. One batch yielded enough for 2 Demi's...so far one tastes normally fruity, the other had a slightly more bitter edge...but this latter now going as they have aged. I can't face de-stoning hundreds of fruit!! Would be interested if anyone else has had any success and/or advice. Also has anyone done anything else with bullaces...I've got a load soaking in a mix of home made red wine and vodka to try a slivovitz type thing...so far it smells amazing!! Cheers!

 

[Cwrw666]

I make bullace wine most years. Sometimes pure bullace, sometimes 50/50 with sloes (which I prefer).
Basic recipe:
4Lb of fruit - pour on about 6 pints of boiling water and let it stand for about 5 days. Strain off the fruit. Add about a kilo of sugar and top up to a gallon with boiled water - then adjust the sugar content to get the OG you want. Throw in some wine yeast and ferment in a bin for a week before transferring to a DJ.

Woops, forgot to say I always freeze the bullace/sloes first, then thaw out before adding the boiled water.

Another edit - you can make `sloe gin' with bullaces as well. Tastes pretty much the same and an awful lot easier to pick than sloes.

 

[Sedgie]

Thank you! So you don't destone your bullaces first?...phew!! LOL

 

[Wynott]

Ooohhhh.....wish I could find some bullace. There used to be some near me, but the farmer not only cut back the hedge dramatically, but put a deep ditch in front of it! I used them to make jam, as well as bullace gin, which was superb.

 

[Sedgie]

LOL...the deep ditch is possibly an attempt to stop the darned things suckering...these are my own bullaces inherited when we moved from someone who hasn't touched them for twenty years and the "hedges" are over thirty feet thick in places, but they do have fruit, so I don't mind. We make a couple of gallons of sloe gin most years so I will try a bullace one this year. Thanks Wynott

 

[Dickydido]

I make bullace wine most years. Sometimes pure bullace, sometimes 50/50 with sloes (which I prefer).
Basic recipe:
4Lb of fruit - pour on about 6 pints of boiling water and let it stand for about 5 days. Strain off the fruit. Add about a kilo of sugar and top up to a gallon with boiled water - then adjust the sugar content to get the OG you want. Throw in some wine yeast and ferment in a bin for a week before transferring to a DJ.

Woops, forgot to say I always freeze the bullace/sloes first, then thaw out before adding the boiled water.

Another edit - you can make `sloe gin' with bullaces as well. Tastes pretty much the same and an awful lot easier to pick than sloes.

Hello, I've 15 lb of fruit, would you up the sugar amount accordingly please?

 

[MashBag]

Woops, forgot to say I always freeze the bullace/sloes first, then thaw out before adding the boiled water.

Absolutely.

Sugaring. Yes, make it to come out at about 10 - 11 %

 

[Dickydido]

Absolutely.

Sugaring. Yes, make it to come out at about 10 - 11 %

Absolutely.

Sugaring. Yes, make it to come out at about 10 - 11 %

Thank you!