Blueberry Wine

brazedowl · 07-19-2010, 03:42 PM

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Montrachete
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.122
Final Gravity: N/A
IBU: N/A
Boiling Time (Minutes): N/A
Color: Dark Red
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 14 Days @ ~70F
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): Until Stable
Tasting Notes: Waiting on aging...

~~Ingredients~~
10# Regular Cane Sugar
10# hand-picked blueberries
4# Raisins
1pkt Redstar Montrachet Yeast
1 tbls Energizer
1 tbls Nutrient
2 Crushed Campden Tablets
1/2 tbls pectic enzyme
1.5 tbls Acid Blend
Water to 5-6 Gallons

~~Prep~~
1) Dissolved sugar, energizer, nutrient, acid blend and pectic enzyme in 3-4 Gallons of H2O. Warmed over low heat while preparing fruit. Started yeast in a mason jar of warm water and 1/4cup sugar.
2) Used a blender to puree blueberries and place in a nylon brew-bag
3) Used a slap chopper to roughly chop the raisins and placed in a separate nylon brew bag.
4) Placed both brew bags in the primary and poured sugar & nutrient solution over them.
5) Pitched yeast into brewbucket and added water to bring to a inch or so from the top of the container.

~~Primary~~
- Sat for 14 days on the counter. Regular room temp 70F-75F.
- Stirred every other day or so.
- Be mindful the with the water level so high that the airlock may suck up some liquid... not that that happened to me.

~Secondary~~
Used blue plastic 5gal water jug (the type found at lowes etc).

Continued fermenting at 70F-75F until bubbling has almost completely ceased

~~Bottling~~
Bottled into 24 regular 750ml wine bottles.

~~Notes & Comments~~
- Yet to try the finished product... still bottle aging...

womencantsail · 07-21-2010, 05:11 AM

This sounds really good to me. One question, why the raisins?

brazedowl · 07-21-2010, 01:22 PM

I wondered the same thing when I read the recipe. Adds the body without really affecting the flavor. Makes it feel more like wine in the mouth and less like water.

brazedowl · 07-21-2010, 01:26 PM

Took a video when I stirred it. Looks sooooooooo good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8Tm4hHaKmM

womencantsail · 07-22-2010, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brazedowl

I wondered the same thing when I read the recipe. Adds the body without really affecting the flavor. Makes it feel more like wine in the mouth and less like water.

Thought it might be something like that...

I actually made 2 gallons of this last night (just scaled down the recipe and kept roughly the same proportions), so I'm looking forward to seeing how my first venture into wine making turns out.

brazedowl · 07-22-2010, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by womencantsail

I'm looking forward to seeing how my first venture into wine making turns out.

Fruit on your first try... brave

All mine up to this point have been from concentrate.

**shelly_belly** · 07-23-2010, 01:25 AM

Cool! I also made Blueberry wine 2 days ago. Recipe is pretty much like yours only I had no raisins so I added a can of grape juice concentrate.

brazedowl · 07-23-2010, 01:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shelly_belly

Cool! I also made Blueberry wine 2 days ago. Recipe is pretty much like yours only I had no raisins so I added a can of grape juice concentrate.

Nice...

I'm about to get more blueberries and do a batch of blueberry peach.

brazedowl · 07-24-2010, 08:55 PM

So I gently stirred each morning for a week before moving to the secondary... gravity went from 1.122 to 0.992 and is by far one of the dryest tasting wines I've made. The thing that struck me most was that it didn't have the rocket fuel taste to it. It was GOOD dry.

I racked it onto 2# of additional sugar in the secondary... I'm counting on the yeast punking out so I can get some sweetness here.

**NaZdrowie** · 08-17-2010, 03:52 PM

Any updates or sampling of the wine? Did you start the blueberry/peach yet and if so would you mind sharing your recipe?