It's blackberry season so I went out and picked just over 5 lbs from around my house. I really like blackberries but those bushes do take their pound of flesh before giving up their fruit. Here's my recipe:
- Local Wildflower Honey - shooting for around 11% alc; OG about 1.080
- Total must volume: 2.5 gals (1/2 gal for topping off, then who knows)
- 2 gm Potassium Carbonate (maybe more, I've got a monitor, looking to maintain pH of 3.5, first time using it)
- .2 oz of Lavender Flower tips (tea) in primary (my sister likes lavender)
- Rehydrate with GoFerm
- Staggered Nutrient Additions
- Release CO2 3x/day for a couple of days depending on gravity readings. Then taper daily stirrings to only an occasional agitation until gravity readings don't move (hopefully 1.000 or less).
- Begin thawing the blackberries (they've been frozen by the way). Add pectin enzyme, cover and put in the frig over night.
Note: Not sure I should use k-meta here. The berries are, after all, wild. Maybe freezing will kill the unwanted passengers. I'd appreciate any thoughts on this.
- Split the berries into 2 muslin bags, put 1 each into 2 1gal carboys. Mash them a bit. Rack onto the berries from primary.
- Rack when necessary. Bottle when ready.
- Take one gallon and Oak with American medium for 3-4 wks before bottling.
So my big question is the yeast. I want to use 71B because I have it in the frig. but it has an alcohol tolerance of 14%. When I rack my 11% primary must onto the blackberries it will restart the fermentation process. Won't the taste be the same as if I added the berries to the primary? I prefer, in this case, to avoid the fruit-in-primary wine taste for the more crisp fruity taste of the secondary addition. This is the first time I've planned on a honey amount that will yield an alcohol level short of the yeast's potential. I could add a Campden tablet but that's not a guarantee that fermentation won't eventually start again. Should I just buy a more suitable yeast?
- Local Wildflower Honey - shooting for around 11% alc; OG about 1.080
- Total must volume: 2.5 gals (1/2 gal for topping off, then who knows)
- 2 gm Potassium Carbonate (maybe more, I've got a monitor, looking to maintain pH of 3.5, first time using it)
- .2 oz of Lavender Flower tips (tea) in primary (my sister likes lavender)
- Rehydrate with GoFerm
- Staggered Nutrient Additions
- Release CO2 3x/day for a couple of days depending on gravity readings. Then taper daily stirrings to only an occasional agitation until gravity readings don't move (hopefully 1.000 or less).
- Begin thawing the blackberries (they've been frozen by the way). Add pectin enzyme, cover and put in the frig over night.
Note: Not sure I should use k-meta here. The berries are, after all, wild. Maybe freezing will kill the unwanted passengers. I'd appreciate any thoughts on this.
- Split the berries into 2 muslin bags, put 1 each into 2 1gal carboys. Mash them a bit. Rack onto the berries from primary.
- Rack when necessary. Bottle when ready.
- Take one gallon and Oak with American medium for 3-4 wks before bottling.
So my big question is the yeast. I want to use 71B because I have it in the frig. but it has an alcohol tolerance of 14%. When I rack my 11% primary must onto the blackberries it will restart the fermentation process. Won't the taste be the same as if I added the berries to the primary? I prefer, in this case, to avoid the fruit-in-primary wine taste for the more crisp fruity taste of the secondary addition. This is the first time I've planned on a honey amount that will yield an alcohol level short of the yeast's potential. I could add a Campden tablet but that's not a guarantee that fermentation won't eventually start again. Should I just buy a more suitable yeast?
