Blackberry wine Question

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Turnerdude1

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Hello:

Last week I made 30 gal of Blackberry Wine and used 93 lbs of berries. I picked through all 93 lbs and took out the ones that had mold on them. Next week will make another batch and was wondering if it would hurt anything if I just dumped the berries in my crusher as it was a pain to pick out the moldy ones. By mold I mean the berry had white fuzz on it...other wise they were over ripe and full of juice...

Thanks
 
Hello:

Last week I made 30 gal of Blackberry Wine and used 93 lbs of berries. I picked through all 93 lbs and took out the ones that had mold on them. Next week will make another batch and was wondering if it would hurt anything if I just dumped the berries in my crusher as it was a pain to pick out the moldy ones. By mold I mean the berry had white fuzz on it...other wise they were over ripe and full of juice...

Thanks

I would always pick out the moldy berries before crushing. Sure, you will use campden tablets to kill most wild yeast and mold spores, but why put in some fruit with obvious mold on it? It's not worth losing 30 gallons of wine to save a few dollars in berries.
 
Thanks guys. I plan to put in the Potassim Metabisulfite during the second racking, which will be in a couple months. I am using Jack Keller's recipe for a light body blackberry wine and it does not call for it during the initial stage.
 
Thanks guys. I plan to put in the Potassim Metabisulfite during the second racking, which will be in a couple months. I am using Jack Keller's recipe for a light body blackberry wine and it does not call for it during the initial stage.

Jack Keller's recipes always assume you're using sulfite in making the must. It's just always something that's "done", I believe.
 
Yoopper:

Ok did not put in any sulfite, so are you saying itis ok to put 1/4 tsp per five gal of wine into the must. I have two plastic trash cans with 15 gal in each one and I plan to rack them out of primary on Tues. This will not cause "stuck fermention".

Thanks for any help you can throw my way...
 
....... so are you saying itis ok to put 1/4 tsp per five gal of wine into the must.

Ummmmmmm............I don't think so.

It's my understanding that the sulfite goes into the whole pot in the primary fermentation vessel BEFORE the yeast goes in. It sterilizes everything but is "gassed off" a day or so later when the yeast goes in.

I'm far from an expert. But If I understand you right, adding sulfite now would wreck you.
 
VinoD

Ok thanks will stick to my plan and put the sulfite in during the second racking....
 
Sulfite doesn't kill wine yeast- they are pretty tolerant to sulfites. That's why we can use sulfite without harming the yeast.

I don't use teaspoon measurements of sulfite any more, since I rarely make more than 15 gallons of wine at a time, I find it easier to use the campden tablets. I just use one campden tablet per gallon at the mixing of the must and at every other racking. This seems to do the trick. Ideally, I'd have an SO2 meter and keep the sulfite level at 50 ppm, but the adding at every other racking approximates this amount.
 
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