Blueberry goodness

MikeRLynch · 08-13-2007, 12:06 PM

Ok guys, it's blueberry season in the northeast, and I grabbed 10 lbs of the sweetest most wonderful blueberrys I've laid eyes on and of course it's my first instinct to make wine with them. I've seen recipes that call for only 2 lbs per gal, with several pounds of sugar. Do you guys have any tried and true recipes, or other ideas for these guys? I've thought of a blueberry wheat as well, but that depends on how much I have left after wine making and pie

mike

**Adolphus79** · 08-13-2007, 01:19 PM

I know exactly how you feel, I'm getting ready to do a wild berry wine here. Raspberries, Strawberries & Blueberries. I'm thinking about using 2 pounds of each, and 2 pounds of sugar in the primary. Then rack it once a month & add another 1/2 cup or so of sugar at each racking until desired sweetness...

I got the idea after looking here http://scorpius.spaceports.com/~goodwine/winerecipes.htm

Petunia · 08-13-2007, 03:49 PM

Wow, that is right up my alley. Would love to use blueberries for wine. This year we had a late hard frost and it killed off the harvest. Perhaps next year...

Good luck with that wine, I'll catch up with you with a batch next year!

Petunia

mgayer · 08-13-2007, 05:30 PM

If you like the meads, try the Blueberry Melomel I put in the receipes section! It is wonderful. It only uses 5 lbs of berries but more could be added to the secondary for the added blueberry flavor. My wife keeps asking me to do some more tests so she can get more samples!!

**olllllo** · 08-13-2007, 05:36 PM

I am not a fruit in the beer person but I really liked this:

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f5/sea-dog-blueberry-wheat-17817/?highlight=blueberry

**Adolphus79** · 08-13-2007, 06:45 PM

hehe... I read that thread with a Sea Dog Raspberry Wheat in hand... that's a Maine brewery (Portland, I think)... it's some of the only non-BMC stuff I can get...

I dunno about the blueberry one, but the raspberry wheat is quite good...

MikeRLynch · 08-13-2007, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mgayer

If you like the meads, try the Blueberry Melomel I put in the receipes section! It is wonderful. It only uses 5 lbs of berries but more could be added to the secondary for the added blueberry flavor. My wife keeps asking me to do some more tests so she can get more samples!!

I read the recipe, 16 lbs of honey AND 5 lbs of blueberrys!?!?!! holy crap! All recipies I've read call for about 2.5 to 3 lbs per gal. This sounds like it would end up like rocket fuel or extreamly sweet. How long have you aged this for so far, and how is it? I might try blending my traditional mead with a blueberry wine down the road sometime, but this recipe sounds a bit difficult to get to proper attenuation.

mike

mgayer · 08-14-2007, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MLynchLtd

I read the recipe, 16 lbs of honey AND 5 lbs of blueberrys!?!?!! holy crap! All recipies I've read call for about 2.5 to 3 lbs per gal. This sounds like it would end up like rocket fuel or extreamly sweet. How long have you aged this for so far, and how is it? I might try blending my traditional mead with a blueberry wine down the road sometime, but this recipe sounds a bit difficult to get to proper attenuation.

mike

Right now the gravity is sitting at 996! I started with 13 lbs of honey and have added about 2.5 lbs. She is not sweet but looking at about 17.3% abv. This is not a hard receipe. The hardest part is squeezing the juice out of the berries and that happens at the first racking and it can sit on the lees for 3 months. The current batch has been on the lees about a month and a half. It is clearing and a beautiful purple color. You can taste the alch. but not real hot and the blueberry is present but not overpowering. I will let this sit for a couple more months, stabilize and then backsweeten to about a 1.00. As I said my wife does not like a real dry wine but loved this as the honey and blueberry are present in the nose and flavor. If you have a traditional mead you like just use that receipe and add about 5 lbs of berries in the primary or secondary.

MikeRLynch · 08-14-2007, 08:58 PM

Interesting! I may have to go blueberry picking again so I can try variations on recipes. These berries are beautiful and are amazingly cheap (2 bucks a pound!). I have to stop making blueberry-peach pie though, it's starting to cut into my wine supply

mike

mgayer · 08-15-2007, 02:13 AM

I hear that! I went down the the city market in Kansas city on Sunday and scored Strawberries! Started with 28 lbs and got down to 14.5 lbs after cutting out the bad spots and cleaning. Not bad for $10.00.

If you want to see how it looks go here and look at the last picture. It is a beautiful purple!