Jack Kellar's Blackberry

Hi all,
I got my hands on 30 lbs of frozen berries and am making Jack Kellar's Heavy Bodied wine : http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/blackbr2.asp

My question is about bottling, as he doesn't say to add anything like potassium sorbate, or to pasteurize as I have done in the past with cider (this is my first go at anything but carbonated apple cider).

Do I just have to ensure that fermentation is done, or should I add something? Don't want any bottle bombs!

Thanks from a newb

okemasis said:

Hi all,
I got my hands on 30 lbs of frozen berries and am making Jack Kellar's Heavy Bodied wine : http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/blackbr2.asp

My question is about bottling, as he doesn't say to add anything like potassium sorbate, or to pasteurize as I have done in the past with cider (this is my first go at anything but carbonated apple cider).

Do I just have to ensure that fermentation is done, or should I add something? Don't want any bottle bombs!

Thanks from a newb

Click to expand...

After the wine is completely done, I'm sure his instructions say to "stabilize" if sweetening. "Stabilizing" means using sorbate and campden appropriately before bottling.

I dont' sweeten my blackberry wine, so I don't use sorbate.

Jack Keller's recipes assume the use of campden. He assumes you'll be either measuring S02, or using campden tablets in the amounts of 1 crushed per gallon at every other racking and again at bottling.

I think in MrKeller's basic page he talks about that while the recipes may not list the use of campden/sorbate for stabilizing after wine is a dry-est SG that is a given. Goes on to even say how he prefers to even add sorbate to a dry wine, as one more safety factor.

Thanks all. I've made sure to start reading his entire page. What a wealth of information!

Now having made hard cider before, I used the Stove-Top Pasteurization method that is a sticky in the cider forum :

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/easy-stove-top-pasteurizing-pics-193295/

Has anyone used this method for wine? As long as you have a large enough pot, it seems better to me than adding stabilizers (preservatives) like potassium sorbate.