Fig wine and redcurrants...

If I remember correctly, you can add the juice of a lemon or the juice of an orange for the acid requirement. It sound like your wine needs a lot of acid though, so I'm not sure if you should use one or two. When I make Rhubarb wine, I use the juice of an 1 orange, although Jack's recipe calls for 1 lemon. Why don't you check Jack's site and look at some other recipes. Or wait just a bit, maybe a more experienced winemaker will have a suggestion. Darlene

During fermentation, the yeast and CO2 will protect your wine from oxidation and other infestations, so I don't see why you couldn't start your fermentation prior to making your upward acid adjustment. You could adjust acidity and SO2 after the secondary fermentation.

I've never tried a fig/currant combination ... it sounds like an interesting experiment, who knows. As Darlene points out, you can use citrus fruit for a source of acid, but there is the problem of the citric acid being prone to acetic acid (vinegar) production during fermentation. If you're making a sweeter wine, the acetic acid probably won't be a problem.

Myself, I probably would pop the fresh figs into the freezer until I could make that trip to the brew shop. Jon

In message , Dar V writes

Thanks; I may go with the orange/lemon juice suggestion. But I was really curious to see whether anyone had an opinion on using redcurrant juice to provide acid. There's not enough of it to make a batch of wine on its own, and having had to unfreeze it, it's a shame to let it go to waste!

cheers, robin

I don't know - I'm not real familiar with redcurrant juice or if it could be used as the acid requirement. I'd be interested as well to see what someone else might think. Darlene

Robin,

I would suggest not adding any acid blend until you've had a chance to taste the finished product. I make a fig melomel each year, and only in my first year did I add any acid blend to the recipe. I added the acid blend after consulting a reference that said that figs were very low in acid. I believe that reference was accurate, but I've determined that the fig melomel needs no acid addition for balance.

Robin, sorry I didn't read your post earlier.

In developing the recipe for my fresh fig wine, I used an unknown fig variety given to us in quantity by friends. This fig is very light brown with yellow undertones and is very good but very low in acid. We were recently given some other figs, purple in color, which seem to have a different (higher) acidity than the others. I need to contact my friends and find out the names of the fig varieties, because I wouldn't add 3-1/2 teaspoons of acid blend to the purple figs. I may be modifying the recipe on my site once I have learned more about fig varieties and their sugars, acids and tannins.

But, to answer your question, I think the redcurrants would work well with the figs. Certainly they would mitigate the need for some (perhaps most) of the acid, but how much I cannot say. I would expect them to dominate the flavor (even if only a pint of juice), but you haven't mentioned how much you have.

Citric acid is perfectly acceptable to use, and I wouldn't worry about it's often reported instability. I have been using it for many years and have never had an acetic acid problem (let me just knock on some wood....).

Make the wine. Use an orange or a lemon for acid (use one of each if the amount of redcurrant juice is not too much). If the finished wine tastes flat, it needs more acid (and possibly a pinch of tannin). You can doctor it then.

Jack Keller, The Winemaking Home Page

In message , Jack Keller writes

Jack, (and everyone else who have given their views), thanks for the input. My figs are quite large, and not the dark purple-brown variety. They're mostly green, and as they ripen, they get flushed with reddish-purple, as they become squishier. They certainly don't taste that acid.

Anyway, I've made the wine, last night. Added about 1 1/2 pints of redcurrant juice to the gallon, and brought the SG up to 1090. As you suggest, I'll worry about adding any extra acid later on. It surely has an interesting aroma! By tonight, it's bubbling away quite merrily.

I'll report on how it goes!

thanks again, cheers, robin