Blackberries wine

[Vegas]

Hello new to site been making wine about 10 years now my question is got 60 lbs of blackberries want to make a 6 gallon batch does anyone have anyone advice? Thanks

 

[jgmillr1]

I've made several batches of blackberry wine. Found that the flavors are deliciously rich and subtle, so best to make with no water addition. And with 100% blackberries, the pH and acid are about right. You will need to add about 6lbs of sugar or so to get it to 21brix. I like to add some tannin to help stabilize the color, which is a problem often seen as precipitation in the bottle later. I prophylactically add pectic enzymes to all my fruit wines and will mix in DAP midway through the fermentation. Made using 71B, D47 and EC1118 at various times with similar tasty results. Good luck.

 

[lukebuz]

oh man, where did you get 60lbs of blackberries? wanna be my friend?

 

[Vegas]

I started 10 blackberries vines 3 years ago will post pic later on when they start blooming this will be year 4! And yes I'll be your friend!!! Lol

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Hello new to site been making wine about 10 years now my question is got 60 lbs of blackberries want to make a 6 gallon batch does anyone have anyone advice? Thanks

Depends on what you want for the end product. I like my wines off-dry or dry, so that's what I make. I'd go with 3.5 or 4 lbs of fruit per gallon of volume, IE: 24 lbs of blackberries for a 6 gallon batch. You'll need at least an 8 gallon bucket fermenter to accommodate all that fruit.

I made a plum wine with 26 lbs of fruit & only had enough volume left for 1 lb of sugar. I let the yeast & enzyme work over the fruit for a couple weeks, then when I removed the fruit, I added the rest of the sugar & water.

I'd freeze those berries & thaw them before crushing with a potato masher; freezing helps break down the cell walls & gives you more juice. Contain the fruit in a mesh sack for easy removal. Use pectic enzyme & yeast nutrient/DAP. Add sugar to your desired OG & pitch your yeast. I like my wines to be between 12 & 16%, with 14% being just about perfect for me. I'd use 71-B yeast, as it will not only ferment the sugar, but will also metabolize about 20% of the malic acid in the fruit, thereby "softening" the wine. If you want a bit of a tart finish to your wine (a lot of people do), then go with another strain of yeast, like Montrachet or D-47. All 3 strains will go to 14%.

I do not backsweeten, I like to use a yeast that will reach it's limit right when it runs out of sugar. I'd add sugar to an OG of right about 1.100 so a yeast that reaches it's limit at 14% would stop right about 1.000, which would be just a hair under 14% You might want to add a bit less sugar, due to the sugar in the berries, or use a yeast that goes to 16%. Like I said, it all depends on what you want for your end product.

Some people would oak a blackberry wine, some would not. Either way, I think I'd bulk age it at least a year, probably 2, then bottle. Of course you'll need to rack it 2 or 3 times while aging.
Hope that helps. Regards, GF.

 

[lukebuz]

^^ Guy above it pretty much right, although I'd recommend using TWICE the fruit. You got the quantity available. 6 x 8 = 48 lbs. Would you rather have 6 gallons of light fruit wine, or intensely fruity wine? I guess it's really your call. I like heavy and fruity.

14% might be a bit hot, but hot unreasonable. I usually aim for 1.088, which will finish you at 13%.

You don't need to bulk age 2 years. Who has time for that? I'd bottle after it's cleared for ≈6 months. Enjoy a bit at a time. You can see how it ages and improves (or not) over time...

 

[iceman_ii]

New to wine making, other than the wine I made out of Hawaiian punch fruit juicy red 40 years ago in High School... that said, I too harvested just over 60lbs of black berries from my 10 3 year old plants, normally I make jam, but when I froze enough mashed berries to make 160 jars of jam, I realized I needed to do something different because the freezer was out of space.

I got a "fastferment", and I'm preping the juice (juiced the berries through my kitchenade stand mixer) using about 4 lbs berries per gallon, 20 lbs for a 5 gallon batch today. I'm pitching the yeast in the morning (WLP720 Mead Yeast). Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated! (Advice such as "add tannin" or "don't add tannin") I have also seen recipes that use anywhere from 2.5 to 3.5 lbs of sugar per gallon, I don't like dry wines, so was leaning towards 3.0 to 3.5, any thoughts would again be GREATLY appreciated!