MRM ~ Tatum’s Black Currant Masterpiece #5

10/16/23
MRM ~ Tatum’s Black Currant Masterpiece #5
1 Gallon batch recipe:
28 oz Rebina Black Currant concentrate
1 tsp acid blend
1/2 tsp wine tannin
3 lbs plain white sugar
Lalvin RC212 yeast (16% tolerance)
Crystal Gyser water

Mixed all ingredients and topped to 1 gallon with water.  O.G. = 1.140 (potentially 18.8 if goes dry)
This is obviously NOT a mead.  It’s made with sugar instead of honey.  It’s technically a wine.  Just a nice experiment and we shall see how it turns out.
This is not the week we studied Art Tatum but we rated him pretty high so I wanted to do him some justice with this wine.

10/31/23 (16 days)
It’s fermenting nicely.  Not much activity in the airlock but a little.  Couple more weeks and I’ll open it up and taste it.  It’s clearing out OK though.

11/10/23 (26 days)

OMG I tasted this today and OMG!!!  It still has a lot of residual sugar but it feels good in the mouth and is sweet.  The black currant shines through nicely.  It’s not hot at all.  I didn’t take a gravity reading yet.

11/21/23 (37 days)
Um….I took a gravity reading today and it may have stalled.
I added:
1/2 packet 71B
1 tsp yeast nutrient.  S.G. = 1.108

12/1/23 (47 days)
It’s not fermenting at all.  I may try to add this to another gallon of mead or something to see if I can at least use it for something.  Still at 1.108 (yes 1.108)

12/22/23 (68 days)
I added more nutrient.  It’s still fermenting cause it’s down to 1.090.  This is just a very slow fermentation.  It may be June before I get to bottle this.

1/11/24 (a whole lotta days)
S.G. = 1.072
Sweet, good mouthfeel but not very tastey.
2/12/24 (Even more days)
Not good.  I actually dumped it.  There was NO saving this one.