Blackberry wine

[Dark_Ale]

I'm making a 5 gallon batch of blackberry wine.
What temp should I ferment this at?
I'm using Red Star Montrachet active wine yeast.
Thanks

 

[Dark_Ale]

I've got 15 pounds of berries, so I guess I'm going to make 3 gallons, most of the online recipes call for 4 pounds of berries per gallon. Could I add raisins to get more body....If so how much.....
24hrs prior to fermentation do I add 1 camden tablet or do I add 1 camden tablet per gallon of must...
Thanks

 

[ATD]

the recipie I have calls for 3 1/2 pounds of berries per gallon, optional campden tablet, pectic enzyme yeast yeast nutrient 1 1/2 cup orange juice and 2 1/4 pounds of sugar.

It comes from the Wild Wines and Meads book by Pattie Vargas and Rich Gulling I haven't tried it yet as the berries aren't ripe around here yet. should be ready about july 4th so I should be trying it soon after that

 

[mgayer]

I've got 15 pounds of berries, so I guess I'm going to make 3 gallons, most of the online recipes call for 4 pounds of berries per gallon. Could I add raisins to get more body....If so how much.....
24hrs prior to fermentation do I add 1 camden tablet or do I add 1 camden tablet per gallon of must...
Thanks

I always add 1 campden table per gallon! I would just get enough frozen berries to make up the difference. Wal-mart sells a 2lb bag or try Sam's club for fresh ones. I would try to keep the temp in the 70 degree range. Other wines I make with Montrachet I have been between 72 and 78.

 

[Yooper]

Here's my blackberry wine recipe (from Jack Keller's site):

BLACKBERRY WINE (2) [Medium Bodied Dry]
4 lb blackberries
2-1/4 lb granulated sugar
1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
1/2 tsp acid blend
crushed Campden tablet
7 pts water
wine yeast and nutrient
Pick fully ripe, best quality berries. Wash thoroughly and place in nylon jelly-bag. Mash and squeeze out all juice into primary fermentation vessel. Tie jelly-bag and place in primary fermentation vessel with all ingredients except yeast. Stir well to dissolve sugar, cover well, and set aside for 24 hours. Add yeast, cover, and set aside 5 days, stirring daily. Strain juice from jelly-bag and siphon off sediments into secondary fermentation vessel of dark glass (or wrap clear glass with brown paper), filling only to the upper shoulder of the secondary, and fit airlock. Leftover must should be placed in a 750-ml wine bottle with airlock (a #2 bung fits most wine bottles) and used for topping up. Top up when all danger of foaming over is past. Place in cool (60-65 degrees F.) dark place for three weeks. Rack, allow another two months to finish, then rack again and bottle in dark glass. Allow a year to mature to a nice semi-sec. [Adapted from Raymond Massaccesi's Winemaker's Recipe Handbook]

I did put some oak in it during one of the rackings, and it fermented dry, to .990, not semi-sec. So now it's bottled and it's dry with a tiny hint of oak. It's really terrific! This makes one gallon- you can easily multiply it for 5 gallons (but still use only one package of yeast). And I used premier cuvee yeast.

 

[BamaProud]

Sounds like a great wine.

 

[Heavywalker]

I use jack kellers heavy body recipe which used 6 lbs of blackberries per gallon. Like yooper I also ferment it to dry and oak with a medium toasted oak spiral. Bottle it up after around 8 months and then give it another 6 in the bottle, I need to bottle the 2012 batch in the next few weeks when I get some time. Blackberries have enough body on their own that they do not need raisins added for body.

 

[BamaProud]

Reading another thread on strawberry wine, I saw a recommendation of freezing the fruit. Makes sense, I guess since freezing would destroy the cell walls allowing juice to flow more freely.

Is this recommended for all fruits? Should I freeze my blackberries?

 

[Heavywalker]

Yes Freeze them before using.

 

[goosen1]

I use jack kellers heavy body recipe which used 6 lbs of blackberries per gallon. Like yooper I also ferment it to dry and oak with a medium toasted oak spiral. Bottle it up after around 8 months and then give it another 6 in the bottle, I need to bottle the 2012 batch in the next few weeks when I get some time. Blackberries have enough body on their own that they do not need raisins added for body.

How long do you oak your Blackberry wine? For the whole 8 months?

 

[Heavywalker]

I use one oak spiral per 6 gallons of wine, I ferment and then move to secondary, and let it sit for about a month, at this point I rack and add the oak spiral. I let this sit for approximatly 3-4 months then rack one more time and allow the wine to finish clearing. In total I have the wine on oak for 3-4 months depending on how lazy I am. The good thing about spirals and cubes, as apposed to barrels, is that cubes and spirals etc, get total extraction in around 6-8 weeks so letting them stay on the proper amount of oak does not over oak them.

I just bottled my 2012 blackberry yesterday.

 

[goosen1]

I bottled my blackberry right around 8 months after I moved it into my secondary. The thing is, I was debating if I wanted to oak last year but I didn't. This years blackberry, I will try out the heavy bodied recipe and oak it.

 

[Heavywalker]

A blackberry can take oak if it has good body, and if you do not sweeten it, but there is a limit to how much it can take. I usually use about half as much as I do for a red grape wine. The key is to let the blackberry wine age enough that the natural fruit flavors come out in the wine without the sweetness, then the oak is kinda in the background, very subtle but adds a lot to complexity of the wine.

 

[BamaProud]

20 pounds of fresh berries are washed and frozen.

 

[Heavywalker]

All that juicy goodness down the drain

I hate washing fruit, because I can see all the juices running off the berries as i rinse them.

Edit to add: Not that it is avoidable but still no less depressing.

 

[BamaProud]

Here's my blackberry wine recipe (from Jack Keller's site):

BLACKBERRY WINE (2) [Medium Bodied Dry]
4 lb blackberries
2-1/4 lb granulated sugar
1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
1/2 tsp acid blend
crushed Campden tablet
7 pts water
wine yeast and nutrient
Pick fully ripe, best quality berries. Wash thoroughly and place in nylon jelly-bag. Mash and squeeze out all juice into primary fermentation vessel. Tie jelly-bag and place in primary fermentation vessel with all ingredients except yeast. Stir well to dissolve sugar, cover well, and set aside for 24 hours. Add yeast, cover, and set aside 5 days, stirring daily. Strain juice from jelly-bag and siphon off sediments into secondary fermentation vessel of dark glass (or wrap clear glass with brown paper), filling only to the upper shoulder of the secondary, and fit airlock. Leftover must should be placed in a 750-ml wine bottle with airlock (a #2 bung fits most wine bottles) and used for topping up. Top up when all danger of foaming over is past. Place in cool (60-65 degrees F.) dark place for three weeks. Rack, allow another two months to finish, then rack again and bottle in dark glass. Allow a year to mature to a nice semi-sec. [Adapted from Raymond Massaccesi's Winemaker's Recipe Handbook]

I did put some oak in it during one of the rackings, and it fermented dry, to .990, not semi-sec. So now it's bottled and it's dry with a tiny hint of oak. It's really terrific! This makes one gallon- you can easily multiply it for 5 gallons (but still use only one package of yeast). And I used premier cuvee yeast.

hmmmmmm ^====that times 5 does not fit into my primary. Had to split it in 2 and I'm fermenting in my bottling bucket. My first wine from fruit...made a hell of a mess in the kitchen too.

OG 1.092 does that sound about right?
Also, should I pick another packet of yeast or just pitch half in each bucket?

 

[brazedowl]

20 pounds of fresh berries are washed and frozen.

Those were some damn nice looking berries! All mine are about half that size. If I wait for them to get that big they're all half picked by birds.

 

[Yooper]

hmmmmmm ^====that times 5 does not fit into my primary. Had to split it in 2 and I'm fermenting in my bottling bucket. My first wine from fruit...made a hell of a mess in the kitchen too.

OG 1.092 does that sound about right?
Also, should I pick another packet of yeast or just pitch half in each bucket?

Half into each bucket is fine for a 5 gallon batch.

My wine primary is about 8 gallons, with a super wide headspace to make it easy to remove the fruit and to stir. A bottling bucket is pretty small for a 5 gallon batch, so I can see why it didn't fit!

 

[goosen1]

I have two 10 gallon fermentation buckets that I will be using for blackberries this year. A few of my neighbors have large wild blackberry patches that I can pick from. As long as they get a few bottles of the wine, they will be happy!!

 

[BamaProud]

Looking good! I managed to get a full 750ml bottle for topping off.