Blackberry / elderberry and sloe

[paulvernon63]

Hi,

I'm just planning how to use the fruit I have remaining from last year. I have 5 lb of blackberries, 3 lb of elderberries and 6 lb of sloes.

I was intending to use the black and elder (8lb total) to make up 2 gallons of wine. I thought I might then use the fruit again, after straining, with sloes; I've read elderberries will ferment again with other fruit.

Is is OK to reuse the two fruit mixture? Should I use all the sloes? About 6 lb sugar? A recipe I have for sloe wine adds raisins; I guess I should keep those in the mix for the three fruits? Any of that sound crazy?

Thanks; any other advice welcomed.

Paul.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Most fruit is pretty much just soft mush after primary fermentation, after all, you usually crush the fruit to extract the juice. You can make this easier & get better juice extraction (more flavor) if you freeze/thaw twice before crushing the fruit.

As far as how much fruit to use, I've found that 3-4 lbs/gallon is a fairly good benchmark with most commonly used fruit, but obviously some fruits have more flavor and/or more acid/tannin than others & the amount would need to be adjusted. I've never used sloes so I cannot advise you on the amount to use, but from what I've read they are rather tannic. Elderberries are a bit tannic too, so they might not be the best pairing.
Regards, GF.

 

[WVMJ]

Put them alltogether in 3 gallons should give you a good wine. We have done the blackberry plus elderberry many times, it works very well together, we did a plum plus elderberry and it turned out nicely also, the mix of all 3 should be great. If you like oak this would be a good place to use it, also dropping in some red winegrape concentrate might give it a little boost in body. WVMJ

 

[paulvernon63]

Thanks very much for your replies. My main question is whether you think I can use each fruit for a second time. I will use black and elder together for one wine and was intending to use the sloe separately for another. Can I then put the fruit together to create a third batch of wine? I guess I don't have much to lose!