Is there a winemaking thread? I can’t find one for wine, I could only find beer threads …
Also I started my first ever wine yesterday - blackcurrant! I’ve put it all in the fermenting bucket with a lid on as per recipe (Mollie Harris - A Drop O Wine) but I’m concerned about explosions … will the wine be ok if I let some of the gas out? Mollie says to leave it in a ‘tightly closed bucket for 6 days’ before transferring to a demi-john and airlock but I’m not sure the roof will still be on the house if I leave it another 5 days there seems to be a lot of pressure already…
Thanks for all
No, don’t keep it completely tight. Lot’s of CO2 that needs to come out. We use open top fermenters at the winery and just cover it with a loose-fitting lid.
This sounds like a version of carbonic maceration that was used at a winery I worked at once. We used large plastic containers that I think were roughly 100 gallon that had lids that screwed on so the pressure wouldn’t blow them off. I think they were fitted with gaskets as well but not sure. I don’t know how well this would work in a small bucket with a tight fitting lid as I assume eventually the gas will find a way out of that arrangement.
For small scare home winemaking and especially for a first batch, I would follow the more standard fermentation approach. Keep a loose lid or cover on it during primary fermentation. Press and transfer to a closed container with air lock at dry or preferably slightly before dry so that the final fermentation creates a CO2 blanket in your container. Let it sit and clear via gravity and then rack to a smaller container without head space. Can bottle anytime after its dry and its clear enough for what you want in a wine.
As long as you go to dry you should be able to treat currant the same as grape wine unless you need to use some enzymes during fermentation in which case you should have already added them.
To my understanding, there is no sense trying to use currants the same as grapes, since the composition of water, sugar and acidity is noticeably different. Normally currants don’t have capability to reach particularly high alcohol levels without chaptalisation if fermented dry, and the piercing acidity really requires both some dilution and residual sugar to round the acidity off.
Finally, as the acid composition is different from grapes one should be warned that some are prone to be metabolized into noticeable levels of volatile acidity over the fermentation process - which is also why currant musts are often watered down.