Blackberry Wine

[user 211287]

Started this today.

3/4 of a gallon blackberry juice from frozen blackberries. (Mix of wild Missouri and thornless from last years harvest)
Enough sugar to bring it upto 1.13
Welch's unfiltered concord grape juice. (Enough to top off)
Montrachet yeast
1/2 tsp yeast nutrient
1/2 tsp pectic enzyme

I have extra blackberry juice leftover. All juice was strained through a course bag so there is a little pulp left. It tasted fantastic sweetened.

 

[meatcleaver]

wow...didn't realize that this has been bulk aging for almost a year!
just bottled after 30 days on medium toasted French oak & again, wow!
this is my best wine to date.
thanks to yooper for posting a great recipe.

 

[Yooper]

It's blackberry season again! Today I'm mixing up 6.6 gallons of wine. I should end up with 6 finished gallons if I planned it right.

I just love this wine- I think it's my all time favorite.

 

[FARoad]

I've got a home juicer, great for separating skins/seed from tomatoes etc. and would allow me to skip using the mesh bag. If the berries were juiced do you think this would significantly change the quality of the wine?

 

[Yooper]

I've got a home juicer, great for separating skins/seed from tomatoes etc. and would allow me to skip using the mesh bag. If the berries were juiced do you think this would significantly change the quality of the wine?

Yes, I think it would. The difference between the flavor of eating a blackberry fresh vs the juiced version is remarkable.

I never did it with blackberries, but my friend gave me three gallons of chokecherry juice. I fermented it side by side (5 gallon sized batches or so) with my own, and the difference was amazing. His was thin, lighter in color, and far less complex than the other one. The taste was similar, but not nearly as rich and good.

 

[dchalladay]

How much does the original recipe here by @OP? Id like to do a 5 or 6 gallon batch but sure if I should multiply each of the ingredients x5/x6. Any guidance is appreciated by this wine noobie [emoji3]

 

[Yooper]

How much does the original recipe here by @OP? Id like to do a 5 or 6 gallon batch but sure if I should multiply each of the ingredients x5/x6. Any guidance is appreciated by this wine noobie [emoji3]

It's a one gallon batch, so multiply the ingredients (except for yeast) accordingly.

 

[Blue-Frog]

Yooper, I am trying (blackberry) oaking based on your comments, and out of curiosity.
I oaked in the bottle and plan on following your lead so to speak (except in bottle not in bulk); it is now about 24 days and while the first dew days were horrible, that has gotten better. I have no idea about oaking, or oaked flavors, and perhaps therefore wonder if I should continue beyond your time frame of 30 days... what would you suggest?
The oak is a medium toast chips added @ 1oz/3G. I belive the oak to be French, but the seller has not confirmed this yet. Before adding, I briefly boiled them and in 2 days or so the wine tasted unpaletable (sp?), but after 10 or so days, became drinkable again. What should I look for, in determining when to pull the oak? If I over oak, can I age out the excess? Any thoughts, light or music appreciated.

What should the goal of oaking be? I taste a difference, but have no idea if it is an improvement. Sometimes it just seems different, not better.

 

[Yooper]

I just saw this- so sorry I didn't reply. I never saw it. Oaking provides tannins and some flavor from the oak- some vanilla type flavor in a light toast oak, some deeper more complex flavors with darker oaks. There is some structure to the wine after oaking, and the body feels richer.


I started a new batch today of this great wine! It's one of my very favorites.

 

[primerib]

Hi Yooper, sorry to resurrect this old thread. Thank you for sharing your recipe. I'm going to give your/Jack Keller's method a try, in a 5 gallon batch. My previous experiments have been with ciders and beer, it'll be my first time doing a fruit wine. I'm having a little bit of a hard time wrapping my head around some of the specifics, maybe you can help me.

1. Do you think I can get by initially using a 6.5-7 gallon bucket? (I'm not at home right now and can't specifically remember which volumes I had for pails). I know some threads have mentioned that you will need at least a 10 gallon fermenter for a 5 gallon batch. Not having done this before, as others have mentioned I'm having a hard time imagining how much space 20 lbs of blackberries will take up in the bucket, and how this will effect final volumes, ABV, etc.

2. When would you say is the most accurate time to take a hydrometer reading for a starting gravity, considering I'll have a mesh bag with crushed blackberries also sitting in the bucket? I'm guessing before I add the yeast but after the berries have had a day to steep?

Thanks for your help, I'm really looking forward to this!

 

[Yooper]

1. I just started a 5 gallon batch, and it's right to the top of the 8 gallon bucket. It's ok, no explosions, but it's close. Once I remove the blackberries in the bag, the level will drop to 5 gallons.

2. That's when I do it- you really don't get as much fermentable from the berries as you'd think, and so the OG reading then is as accurate as you can get I think.

 

[JLegel]

I'm still new to this and am a little unclear on one thing with this recipe... when to add sulfite. I am assuming in the steps shown below, that "allow two months to finish" means it is still actively fermenting, though slowly, so I don't add sulfite then, right? Only before bottling?

5 day primary
Rack to secondary for 3 weeks.
Rack again and allow 2 months to finish.
Rack and bottle. <--- sulfite here???

Also, if I add a step to rack and age on oak cubes for 2-3 months before bottling, can I add sulfite two rackings in a row? I know when guesstimating, you generally do it every other racking and then at bottling.

 

[Yooper]

I'm still new to this and am a little unclear on one thing with this recipe... when to add sulfite. I am assuming in the steps shown below, that "allow two months to finish" means it is still actively fermenting, though slowly, so I don't add sulfite then, right? Only before bottling?

5 day primary
Rack to secondary for 3 weeks.
Rack again and allow 2 months to finish.
Rack and bottle. <--- sulfite here???

Also, if I add a step to rack and age on oak cubes for 2-3 months before bottling, can I add sulfite two rackings in a row? I know when guesstimating, you generally do it every other racking and then at bottling.

I add sulfites at every other racking, and at bottling. So you'd add the sulfites once fermentaton is done and then at every other racking and at bottling.

 

[Yooper]

Making this again today! We have 47 pounds of blackberries…….so I’ll make 12 gallons. The blackberries this year are soooooo good.

 

[Yooper]

70 pounds of blackberries this year. Starting the must in a few days.

 

[Yooper]

70 pounds of blackberries this year. Starting the must in a few days.

Ended up with 15 gallons of blackberry wine, just into secondary. It looks great. I will rack in about 30 days, and probably oak most of it before packaging next year.

 

[Erik the Awful]

I have one decent-sized bramble, and I got three gallons off it this year. I used all my blackberries as filler for my jalapeno-cherry wine.

 

[Apis Mellifera]

Any shot of saving this?

 

[Yooper]

Any shot of saving this?
View attachment 872546

I can’t really tell what I’m looking at. Are those white spots bubbles, or solids, or something else?

 

[Apis Mellifera]

I can’t really tell what I’m looking at. Are those white spots bubbles, or solids, or something else?

Solids, maybe mold? Not sure if this pic helps or not.

I’m trying to bulk age right now and walking into the closet a few days ago and noticed this.

 

[Yooper]

Solids, maybe mold? Not sure if this pic helps or not.

I’m trying to bulk age right now and walking into the closet a few days ago and noticed this.

View attachment 872580

I can’t really tell much from the photo. Is it topped up to 1/2” below the bung? Have you sulfited it?

 

[Apis Mellifera]

I can’t really tell much from the photo. Is it topped up to 1/2” below the bung? Have you sulfited it?

No to both.

It’s probably 2” below. I didn’t have enough to fill it up to the top when racking and don’t have a small suitable container.

On the sulfite, after you mentioned it and thought back and realized I forgot it.

 

[Yooper]

No to both.

It’s probably 2” below. I didn’t have enough to fill it up to the top when racking and don’t have a small suitable container.

On the sulfite, after you mentioned it and thought back and realized I forgot it.

Unfortunately it looks like without sulfite and without topping up that contamination is the most likely.

 

[Apis Mellifera]

Unfortunately it looks like without sulfite and without topping up that contamination is the most likely.

That’s what I was afraid of.

Any tips on keeping it cool during spring and summer? I’d rather not have to wait until the fall to give this another shot.