Getting Berry Confused..

[kelper]

Several what?

 

[johncrobinson]

Years
Because of the high tannin content wine made from fresh elderberrys takes a while to settle down.

 

[johncrobinson]

I seem to recall Kelper that you use DRIED elderberrys,Perhaps that makes a differance.????

They do seem to make a nice wine though,Esp. when mixed with blackberrys.

 

[kelper]

Yes, dried must have less tannin because my wines drink early

 

[johncrobinson]

Good point Kelper
I think you might be right there.

 

[hedgerowpete]

i steam extract all my elder berries,and that makes a massive difference too. I also choose which bush to collect from, take a single berry and try its sweatness and tanins, some bushes are higher than others at that day of picking, try to weedle out the unsavoury

 

[johncrobinson]

Well hedgerow i can certainly vouch for the idea of selecting bushes,It makes a mamoth difference.

 

[hedgerowpete]

Several what?

sorry thats me being ignorant,

elderberry port, i normally make with a shed load of black or red fruits, its way over the top on fruit levels 4kg per gallon is not unheard of , of mixed fruit and the steam extractor i use, if i ferment on fruit pulp i always run a second amount of water over the fruit for a second ferment at a lower concentrate wine. averageis 2 to 4 years before the tanins drop enough to drink, it helps if you chill the wine for several months to help the tanin drop out as its cold. some times that wine can easily go four to six years before good to drink, i have had batches go to ten years and the thing is when its in that sweet spot of being perfect its gone in a month, lol

normal for me is six wine bottles to the gallon batch, first bottle tried in 30 months, if its had six months to chill down. second is 36 months. now if either of these its very brutal still, its left then to 60 months for a third go, i would say that 5 years is a good starting point before drinking, but these are extreamly high fruit and alc wines and they really do need a good sit down before opening

 

[hedgerowpete]

Well hedgerow i can certainly vouch for the idea of selecting bushes,It makes a mamoth difference.

its a very old skool trick, most beginners and hugh fernnley whittingstall hedge row nibblers just blank pick the whole hedge, its sooooooooooooooo funny watching them collect from " that " bush,

when we do cuttings its allways from 3 or 4 bushes that give good berries and large crops of sweeter fruits

 

[johncrobinson]

So true as i think i have said before whittingstall is a unfunny joke.
Still he made some good money from it. So i suppose its a case of hats off.

 

[johncrobinson]

Get the fruit levels up !!!! I have been helping another member with this.By all accounts he has proiduced a dellicious wine.

 

[hedgerowpete]

So true as i think i have said before whittingstall is a unfunny joke.
Still he made some good money from it. So i suppose its a case of hats off.

when he started river cottage and his head was still out he was okay,as soon as the second series started and the townies started to follow him out to the country side and everyone blindly shreading the trees and bushes and having house chickens, he really upset me, then he decided to become the saviour of the uk food supply chain and that head got firmly stuffed up. after that i now detest the ***** and his friends, far to rightous for me

 

[johncrobinson]

Alough berrys ripen when they want to I find it advantagious if thats the right word to wait for a bit of a wet spell the berrys seem to be super juicy during this short window of oppertunity.

 

[johncrobinson]

Steam extraction ???? sounds very interesting
I would like to see some details please

 

[hedgerowpete]

Steam extraction ???? sounds very interesting
I would like to see some details please

No problems, i can do a full write up and a shed load of pictures. I own a MEHU but its a thousand years old by now, hahahahahah

I am seriously thinking about doing a series of Berry's recipes and breaking them down so a newbie can learn from them, maybe a series for beginners and a seperate one for intermediates

After all before Worzle there was TEA wines from Berry, which seems to have fallen from grace now. may be if we explain the recipe and ingrediants and there interaction it will help

 

[johncrobinson]

Thanks hedgerow looking forward to it.

As regards updating/correcting Berry its a good idea,But i dont know where you will stand regarding copyright
Perhaps one of the moderators could advise you.

 

[Richie_asg1]

Well if you change the recipes there shouldn't be any copyright issues. You can allude to the originals but not publish them complete.
You could just do your versions under the same title and explain how it differs from the original. Nothing wrong in that. How many books are there on baking bread that only has 3 ingredients?
You may as well just publish it under "Hedgerow Pete's country wine recipes" and mention CJ Berry in the foreward, saying how things have changed over the years. No need to state the difference as we can work that out ourselves and you won't get in any trouble for it.

 

[hedgerowpete]

i will research copyright laws at home tonight and see where i stand

 

[johncrobinson]

Richie asq1. What you say sounds reasonable and logical enough.
Especially as we are now taking about the LATE CCJ Berry.

Wildly out sugar levels do cause folk problems, Esp but not limited to Beginner winemakers.

 

[kelper]

He died in 2002 so his books are still in copyright. It's 70 years isn't it?