Wine problem - confused

Hello folks,

I am new to the forum and winemaking. After going to the local wine/brewers shop We thought we had a handle on the process but are now stumped as what to do. So here is what we have;

Blueberry, Blackberry and Loganberry mix. Approx. 2.5 gals

My wife works at a local farm and get all the berries free because they were a few days old and most consumers wants fresh berries.

We put all the berries in a nylon bag and crushed them to get the juice, we added the sugar, Pectic Enzyme, yeast nutrient and Potassium Bisulfite (camden tablet equivalent) to the mix. Initial hydrometer was 1.080

Let that sit for 24 hours then added the yeast (Vintners Havest VR21)

Sealed it up with an airlock and let it sit for 7 days.

Here's the problem, there never was signs that the mix was fermenting, i.e. no bubbles in the airlock. I checked it today and the hydrometer is still at 1.080 but during the acid test, it took 10cc of Sodium Hydroxide before the juice would turn to a dark brown/greyish color the test said to look for.

Ok, I get that the acid level is too high. So what can I do to bring that down? And because of the high Acid level, did that kill off all the yeast?

Kinda stumped on how to proceed and certainly don't want to waist this batch as most of the berries around here are done growing, oddly enough.

Than you in advance for any help you may offer!

Pappy

The yeast may not be dead, but are dormant with excessive acidity. Try adding some Potassium or calcium carbonate to the must to bring the acidity back up and bit and add yeast energizer (in addition to the yeast nutrient) to make sure you have enough nitrogen for the yeast to keep going.

Deacidification calculator:

http://www.winebusiness.com/tools/?go=winemaking.calc&cid=24

How many campden tablets did you add? Did you check the date on the yeast packet? Many winemakers will add the berries to water to bring the acidity down and reduce the cost.
Here's a method that uses 4.5 lbs of berries, 2.5 pints of boiling water to (partially) sterilize the fruit and get more juice out and another 2.5 pints of water along with sugar and pectin: Good Luck!
(note there are many methods that are used to make good fruit wines, try several different ways and see what works for you)

http://www.wineturtle.com/homemade-blackberry-wine-recipe-in-4-easy-steps/