Blackberry Wine Advice

[sheffield_homebrewer]

Hi everyone,

Just started homebrewing and I need some advice.

I've just made up a batch of blackberry wine. The recipe says that I should leave it in the fermentation bin for 3 days before straining it into a demijohn, but I've seen elsewhere that some people leave it for 7 days. Any thoughts?

The more pressing concern is at the end of the recipe. It says, leave the wine in the demijohn for a month and then rack, drink when it's 'fermented off'. What I really wonder is how do I will know when it is 'fermented off'? Does it look different? I assume that it tastes different, but I was wondering if there was another way of knowing (or a suggested time scale to wait)?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[Stigmond13]

Seven days in primary is absolutely fine. In terms of fermented off, you need to get yourself a hydrometer which will enable you to confirm that fermentation is over. There are lots of feeds in this forum on how to use one.

My recommendation would be to leave it in the demijohn as long as you can (syphon into a new demijohn if you have a lot of sediment at the bottom), home made wine improves hugely with age!