Strawberry-blackberry wine

I picked up 5 pounds of frozen strawberry/blackberry mix. I have 4 pounds thawing in the carboy. I plan on muddling the berries, adding 2pounds of table sugar and fermenting with the fruit in the carboy.
I'm saving the other pound to use in secondary if I think it needs more fruit flavor.

Yeast suggestion? I was thinking of using the Lavlin RC 212 if the LHBS has it.

They had the RC 212. Hopefully it was a good choice!

Just a suggestion. I would consider using a fruit bag or getting the blackberry seeds out of the fermenter/secondary after 4-5 days as they can produce a bitter taste. I made the mistake of wringing out my fruit bag full of blackerry seeds after 5 days to get every last drop of juice out.

I'll rack of the fruit after 4-5 days then.
Jack Keller's blackberry wine instructions all say to remove the fruit after 4-5 days also.

Halbrust said:

I'll rack of the fruit after 4-5 days then.
Jack Keller's blackberry wine instructions all say to remove the fruit after 4-5 days also.

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Yes, but the fruit should be bagged in mesh bags as it's almost impossible to rack when the fruit is loose and mushy.

I normally use 4# of fruit per gallon of wine, depending on what I'm making. Some is more (like apples) and some is less (like blackberries).

But the fruit is already in the "carboy". fully thawed, lot's of juice. No water, sugar, or yeast has been added yet.

I could ferment it and then gently pour into another container, through a mesh strainer, after 5 days?
I could do the same now, but wonder how much thick, sticky, yummy juice I'd lose?

Halbrust said:

But the fruit is already in the "carboy". fully thawed, lot's of juice. No water, sugar, or yeast has been added yet.

I could ferment it and then gently pour into another container, through a mesh strainer, after 5 days?
I could do the same now, but wonder how much thick, sticky, yummy juice I'd lose?

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I"d probably pour the whole works into another container and strain out the fruit now and tie it off. What I mean is one of those great big mesh bags the homebrew store sells. You could use a paint strainer bag also, but they aren't as heavy-duty. Sanitize that bag, line a big plastic bucket with the bag, and pour the works into that. Tie off the bag, and ferment like that. Cover with a towel, so fruitflies can't get in. Removed the fruit after five days, and then transfer the wine to a carboy.

According to me RC 212 is good choice..

I chose to not listen to those who know more than me and pitched onto the fruit. Hope I'm not going to regret it too badly!

On Tuesday 10/30 I took my thawed berries from the fridge and shook them violently enough in the plastic carboy to triple the amount of juice present. I added two pounds of white sugar and spring water to bring to a gallon. I again shook the ever loving bejeesus out of the gallon carboy.

I drained about a cup of the must into a ziplock freezer bag, and put that in the freezer. I'll use it (thawed), along with more spring water to top up after first racking. Then pitched an entire packet of the RC 212 and again shook the F out of the carboy. I rubberbanded a piece of cloth over the opening and set it away to do it's thing. This is the first time i've made something without using an airlock.

I'll rack off the fruit, top off, and add airlock on 11/4 (4 1/2 days after pitching yeast)

The fruit stayed in a lot longer than 4-5 days (OOPS!!)
I racked this on Sunday 11/11/12, so 12 days total.

Smelled... interesting. Looked amazing!

It's my first time making wine, and the smell was more "rotting fuit" than I expected. The fruit cap (is that what it's called) was dry and white, so it could have been moldy but that wasn't a for sure. I pushed the auto siphon through the cap and drained 2 litres from the gallon jug.

The wine in the bottle after siphoning was crystal clear, but with floating pieces. Clear with pieces is a contradiction, I know. But it's the only way I can describe it. It was as if you took a brilliantly clear wine and sprinkled some small pieces of fruit skin in it. The wine would still be clear; Right? That's what it was like, clear but with floating pieces.

Are you saying you already have this bottled? Start to finish in approx 2 weeks? So what are your plans for it now? Are you drinking it, aging it?

Ferment related questions for you...
-did you ever punch down the cap, push it down into the wine?
-what was your primary container, a widemouth two gallon or larger bucket or a carboy?
-did you dose with SO2 at any time?
-how did you determine this was done...did you use a hydrometer?

Comments: the rotten fruit smell you described is dead on...you left the fruit intact too long. The white fruit, especially with black/red raspberries is common after fermentation due to color leeching out....but it could have been mold, especially if you say it was dry. Was it fuzzy looking?

What have you learned from your first attempt at winemaking?

It's bottled in a 2-litre soda bottle to age (in refrigerator), will bottle in glass wine bottle later.

Never punched down the cap.
Fermenter was a one gallon, plastic, spring water jug.
What's SO2?
No hydrometer was ever used

It was a little fuzzy looking. Not enough to make me think fuzzy mold though.

How did you determine it was done? Is a great question here... I didn't. And I didn't really think about it until you said it. I kind of assume/assumed it was done after the 12 days. With you asking I realize it may be done, and it may not be done. For right now I believe it will be "OK" in a refredgerator, but I should probably bring it out and let it warm up to room temperature with an airlock on it for a month or two.

If you attempt to squeeze the bottle if it is hard, then you likely have continued ferment ( and you likely have continued ferment). Typically 2/3 of the ferment is completed by Day 8 and some ferments can take months to finish up. A month is usually a safe mark to check and see if dry.

If you saw fuzz, you saw mold...white is classic with what you made and circumstances.

SO2 is sulphur dioxide, achieved by adding Campden tabs or potassium metabisulphite to your must/wine at indicated times....used to maintain a safe environment for your yeast, for your fruit, for your wine. Classified as a preservative http://vinoenology.com/calculators/SO2-addition/

May want to do some reading about winemaking, this is a great site .. http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/

My suggestions...important: buy potassium based Campden tabs that are dosed at one tab per gallon or potassium metabisulphite, aka k-meta. Avoid the sodium versions, because they are, well, sodium based...but you can use them interchangeably. To your 2 L add 1/2 a crushed campden tab that was dissolved in cool water. Remove all pulp pieces, place under airlock, and in a month, if there is a layer of sediment then rack the wine. You could continue to rack, read Keller info, stabilize, bulk age, bottle, etc. Oh, and invest in glass or Better Bottle type PET bottles....this is a 2 L batch, and you could easily transfer to a 1.5L wine bottle and a 0.5L and airlock them. Use balloons if necessary, some people use condoms since they are sanitized already. Avoid the obvious, powder or lube. If you continue with gallon batches, use a glass gallon jug, know friends who drink jug wine?, find a 2 gal food grade bucket or 2 gal glass cookie jar....your primary. This way you will get 4-5 750ml bottles per gallon. Most grocery stores get their cake frosting in 2 gal buckets. If you want to know where your wine is..grab a triple scale hydrometer ($3-10).

Most realistic case...dose with Campden, keep in refrig, drink soon. Try again with knowledge.

The bottle wasn't hard when I checked it around 11/16, and still wasn't hard two days ago.
I just bought some campden tablets, will be dosing it tonight.

i remember making wine and placing it in a 2 liter bottle after 30 days took it over to the local honky tonk had to keep stopping on the way to let the pressure off the bottle got there with it we drank it even though it was very tasty didnt make no difference but everything comes with time may be interested in a book before you start again called the joy of winemaking byTerry Garey I didnt know what alot of the chemicals i was using at first when i was going by recipes but i learn most over time good luck as you see no matter what happens your not the first and it will probably be drinkable just not great

Hit it with 1/2 a campden tablet on 11/28/12.

Saturday 12/8/12 I bottled it. The smell was much cleaner. It went from rotten fruit to cheap wine.

I bottled two small bottles, Belgian beer bottles I think. They looked like little wine bottles and took a tea cork just fine.
Then I took 750ml and added hyppocras spices. I will let them steep for several days, then add sugar the day it will be drank (so the sugar can't ferment, only sweeten).

Just had this wine judged, and it scored very well.
The campden took some of the smell away. But... The aroma scored VERY high, and it still had a touch of that rotten fruit smell to me. I'm thinking that maybe it was the correct smell for fruit wine, and I just didn't care for the smell.