First time Blueberry Wine

[tully72]

Hi there, I just joined the forum today and already have a great question…

A 5 gallon batch of blueberry wine that I made stopped fermenting one week ago. It was a fairly heavy sedimented must, and I have racked it three times up to now. I top the carboy each time, cork it, and airlock it.

I would like to rack it at least one more time. I have not added any crushed Camden at this point. Is this the time to do so?

Also, should it be bulk aged in the carboy or is this the time to bottle it? Your opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Tully

 

[novalou]

Hi there, I just joined the forum today and already have a great question…

A 5 gallon batch of blueberry wine that I made stopped fermenting one week ago. It was a fairly heavy sedimented must, and I have racked it three times up to now. I top the carboy each time, cork it, and airlock it.

I would like to rack it at least one more time. I have not added any crushed Camden at this point. Is this the time to do so?

Also, should it be bulk aged in the carboy or is this the time to bottle it? Your opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Tully

I usually add Camden at every other racking. It helps prevent oxidation plus keeps bacteria at bay.

I'm making blueberry wine too, can't wait to taste it.

Wait until the sediment stops before you bottle, maybe a few months from now.

 

[tully72]

Thanks for the response. So how many per racking?

 

[boo boo]

Thanks for the response. So how many per racking?

I use 1 per 5 gallon batch when racking up to a limit of 5 per batch total, including initial campton for the berries.

I would bulk age in the carboy if possible. It seems to mellow the flavour a little more than bottling it right away.

 

[tully72]

Great info. So just crush 1 and stir it into the carboy the next time I rack?

My recipe was 12 3/8 lbs of blueberries, 12 3/8 lbs of sugar, 1 lb raisins and water to just under 6 gal.....

 

[brazedowl]

have you been measuring the SG? if so what was the OG and the current SG?

 

[tully72]

OG was 1.100. When it stopped fermenting it was .990

 

[brazedowl]

Right on. Proceed with whatever stabilizing plan you have in mind. I'm currently tipsy on my own blueberry wine.

 

[boo boo]

OG was 1.100. When it stopped fermenting it was .990

That's about what I get using EC-1118 yeast for my recipe.
I usually back sweeten a little when I eventually bottle.

 

[tully72]

Figured it was time for an update on this...
This was our first attempt at making any kind of wine. (I now have 35 gallons of various fruit wines at different stages.) We bottled this six months from the day that we pitched the yeast. The recipe we used ended up being a hybrid of two different ones that I found. I did write down everything I did.... With the exception of taking an O.G. reading.

If anyone is interested I could post the recipe here.

 

[brazedowl]

Are you planning to cork those? It doesn't look like there's a lot of room in the neck to fit a cork.

 

[Goofynewfie]

Im interested, would like to compare to my recipe. Btw the color in second pic is amazing

 

[tully72]

Oh yes, we corked them. This was our first attempt at making wine as well as bottling and using an auto-siphon. We just happened to have two empty glasses to pour the overfull ones into

I will post the recipe when I get out of work. It is incredibly full bodied. I based my own recipe on a wine that I tasted from a very small winery in Maine. It was a blueberry wine infused with brandy called Roughshod.

We picked all of our own blueberries local and plan on making two more 5 gallon batches of it this summer.

 

[1Mainebrew]

What was your recipe?