Blackberry Wine

[andyn11]

Nice one ... Think ill give this a go tomorrow nite ... Got my blackberries in a freeze thaw cycle will take em out in the morn and start tomorrow nite

 

[Halbrust]

If I used 4.5 lbs* of blackberries, how much sugar should I cut out?


*Will have to buy frozen berries in 12 oz packs. Six 12 oz packs is 4.5 lbs. I'd rather up the berries to 4.5 than reduce them to 3.75.

 

[Yooper]

If I used 4.5 lbs* of blackberries, how much sugar should I cut out?


*Will have to buy frozen berries in 12 oz packs. Six 12 oz packs is 4.5 lbs. I'd rather up the berries to 4.5 than reduce them to 3.75.

I'd start with a bit under 2 pounds, and check the SG. If the SG is bit low, you can add some more sugar.

 

[siroiszoo]

Question re: nutrients. When do you add the nutrients?

I'm using the Blackberry wine (heavy body) & the Blackberry wine (medium body - dry) from the jackkeller.net site. After last years failure (made quite a few mistakes), I've been reading and studying like crazy to prepare for the bumper crop of blackberries I have this year. thought I had it all down until I read this while ordering more nutrient: Use one teaspoon per gallon of must. Add to must (wine) 24 hours before adding yeast to provide the yeast with a healthy environment with much needed vitamins and nutrients.

Apparently I need to learn a bit more. I just followed the recipe and added the nutrient WITH the yeast. Have I already ruined the wine before I even got started?

 

[Yooper]

Question re: nutrients. When do you add the nutrients?

I'm using the Blackberry wine (heavy body) & the Blackberry wine (medium body - dry) from the jackkeller.net site. After last years failure (made quite a few mistakes), I've been reading and studying like crazy to prepare for the bumper crop of blackberries I have this year. thought I had it all down until I read this while ordering more nutrient: Use one teaspoon per gallon of must. Add to must (wine) 24 hours before adding yeast to provide the yeast with a healthy environment with much needed vitamins and nutrients.

Apparently I need to learn a bit more. I just followed the recipe and added the nutrient WITH the yeast. Have I already ruined the wine before I even got started?

No, that's fine. You can add the nutrient at any time. It's just easiest to mix up the must all at one time (including the campden/sulfites) and add the yeast 24 hours later.

 

[siroiszoo]

No, that's fine. You can add the nutrient at any time. It's just easiest to mix up the must all at one time (including the campden/sulfites) and add the yeast 24 hours later.

Thanks Yooper! If I may ask another question....

I noticed in one of your posts you oaked one of your blackberry wines. I was thinking of trying it with the 5 gallon batch I started a few days ago. Thinking I'd try using these: Oak Infusion Spirals - 2 pack - American or French Oak - Treats 6 Gallons from http://www.homebrewit.com/wine-making-oak-alternatives.

Of course, I'd have to research "oaking" wines. Totally new concept for me.

Could I please have your insight on this? Good product? Bad product? For the novice?

Thanks!

 

[Yooper]

Thanks Yooper! If I may ask another question....

I noticed in one of your posts you oaked one of your blackberry wines. I was thinking of trying it with the 5 gallon batch I started a few days ago. Thinking I'd try using these: Oak Infusion Spirals - 2 pack - American or French Oak - Treats 6 Gallons from http://www.homebrewit.com/wine-making-oak-alternatives.

Of course, I'd have to research "oaking" wines. Totally new concept for me.

Could I please have your insight on this? Good product? Bad product? For the novice?

Thanks!

Oh, yes, those are very nice spirals! I prefer the fullness (and less harshness) of the French oak, but the American is ok with some age.

I'm cheap, and often use chips or cubes but if I wanted something really special, the spirals are great. I've used them in expensive wine kits, and loved the results.

 

[siroiszoo]

Oh, yes, those are very nice spirals! I prefer the fullness (and less harshness) of the French oak, but the American is ok with some age.

I'm cheap, and often use chips or cubes but if I wanted something really special, the spirals are great. I've used them in expensive wine kits, and loved the results.

I'm taking your advice, ordered some French oak chips and will hope they come in on time. I'd like to try American oak in one batch/French in the other.

 

[siroiszoo]

Oh, yes, those are very nice spirals! I prefer the fullness (and less harshness) of the French oak, but the American is ok with some age.

I'm cheap, and often use chips or cubes but if I wanted something really special, the spirals are great. I've used them in expensive wine kits, and loved the results.

Yooper, I have my French Oak chips, and have read so many different thoughts on the subject that I wanted to know when you add them and for how long....assuming you add them to blackberry wine (because I can't seem to find the post where I thought I had read that you do ).

 

[Yooper]

Yooper, I have my French Oak chips, and have read so many different thoughts on the subject that I wanted to know when you add them and for how long....assuming you add them to blackberry wine (because I can't seem to find the post where I thought I had read that you do ).

Oh, sometimes I do! It depends on the wine from each year. Some years, the berries are "lighter" and wouldn't hold up as well to oak.

I oak after the wine has been clear for quite a while and no new lees have dropped after at least 60 days. I rack onto the chips, and let the wine sit for about 3-4 weeks. I sample, and when it's just slightly too much (as it will fade in the bottle), then I rack and bottle or bulk age some more.

Oaking is the last thing I do to the wine, generally.

 

[MedicMang]

A fellow firefighter at my station gave me a bunch of blackberries yesterday and asked me to make wine out of it. I mostly make beer, but have dabbled in making crappy wine out of juice that I find on sale. My question is about the water... Is this mostly for mouthfeel? If I were to juice more berries, do I even need the water at all? Will it just make a "thicker" product?

Also, are you just using table sugar? Corn? Whatever?

 

[Yooper]

A fellow firefighter at my station gave me a bunch of blackberries yesterday and asked me to make wine out of it. I mostly make beer, but have dabbled in making crappy wine out of juice that I find on sale. My question is about the water... Is this mostly for mouthfeel? If I were to juice more berries, do I even need the water at all? Will it just make a "thicker" product?

Also, are you just using table sugar? Corn? Whatever?

The berries are high in acid. The purpose of the water is to dilute the juice so that the wine isn't so acidic. Yeast does ok with some acidic must, but if it's too acidic not just the taste will be impacted- so will fermentation. More berries may work, if the acidity is lower than normal. Blackberries are very high in malic acid, which isn't pleasant in too large an amount.

I use table sugar for most of my wines.

 

[neo71665]

I used jack Keller's recipes and the recipe he had with the most berries was "thick" to me. So to the point I watered down my finished wines and it was great a bit weak in the booze department. The batch I'm gonna make this year is gonna be one of the other ones.

 

[MedicMang]

Great. Thank you both.

 

[Yooper]

I've been picking blackberries like crazy for two weeks- and I"m hoping to have enough for at least a small batch of wine (since we freeze them and eat them daily all winter).

The blackberries are beautiful this year!

 

[chaka99]

hi can I use half blackberry half plum?

 

[Yooper]

hi can I use half blackberry half plum?

I haven't. I've made plum wine, but never blended them.

 

[chaka99]

I opted for 6lbs of plums and 18lbs of blackberry's. it only been going three days and it smells really fruity. better than my first attempt 5lbs of BB and 2 of sugar and 5 gallons of water, ooopps

 

[Yooper]

I made up three gallons of this, using 71B-1122.

The interesting thing this year is the berries seemed to be ultra sweet. I didn't even think to pull out my refractometer to check the berries' brix level, because I've made this wine many times and there seems to be very little variation in blackberries over the years.

This year, I used 5 pounds of sugar in the 3 gallon batch, and even without crushing the berries yet, I got 1.080!

Normally, I'd use 2 pounds per gallon, minimum, sometimes more! I expected to use 6.5 pounds total of sugar.

I left it at 1.080, thinking that I could add some more sugar with the topping up water if I wanted to boost the ABV a bit without making the wine too "hot". Right now, I'm on track for a just-under 12% wine so it may be exactly right. Blackberry wine can typically handle a higher ABV than some fruit wines, if it has enough berries in it. I'll sample at racking and decide then.

 

[northernlad]

Yooper,
My wife processed about 16 quarts of blackberries by adding a couple quarts of water and cooking them down on the stove. I told her to not go over 150 and keep it there for 10 or 15 minutes. It resulted in a couple gallons of juice.
I decided to try making wine as an afterthought so I have a couple questions:
Is the way we made the juice ok for wine?
How much water should I add to the juice?
Just add sugar to the desired OG?
Thanks!

 

[Yooper]

Yooper,
My wife processed about 16 quarts of blackberries by adding a couple quarts of water and cooking them down on the stove. I told her to not go over 150 and keep it there for 10 or 15 minutes. It resulted in a couple gallons of juice.
I decided to try making wine as an afterthought so I have a couple questions:
Is the way we made the juice ok for wine?
How much water should I add to the juice?
Just add sugar to the desired OG?
Thanks!

I have no idea how to do it without the fruit, sorry!

 

[mindiB]

If you add sugar like 3 cups to 6 per galon to the fruit juice mixture then strain all the fruit pulp add tannin if u like yeast nutriant ect water to how ever manny gallons your doing add yeast airlock

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[RegarRenill]

Ideally you wouldn't add any more water, use the juice you have and add sugar to your desired OG. Add nutrient & yeast and ferment away!

 

[shelly_belly]

What is the difference between k1v116 and 71b-1122 that you could describe? Have you found a yeast you like better? Do you have a nutrient preference? Have you used dextrose instead of table sugar and if so is there a difference? Thank you for your time.

 

[Yooper]

What is the difference between k1v116 and 71b-1122 that you could describe? Have you found a yeast you like better? Do you have a nutrient preference? Have you used dextrose instead of table sugar and if so is there a difference? Thank you for your time.

The 71B is purported to reduce more of the malic acid during fermentation, so if the berries have a "bite" to them, that is my preference but most years our berries are nice and sweet so I haven't really noticed a huge difference in the final product.

The wine from last summer was just bottled, and it was so rich that I oaked it. I think it will be very nice in the end (it was awesome at bottling!) and I used 71B.

 

[cajunlte]

Any idea how much juice you get in each lb of Blackberries?

 

[rowan57]

I am making a one gal batch of this, followed recipe exactly and used D47 yeast. I am on day 4 of primary, tomorrow is racking to secondary day. Today when stirring, its starting to get pretty sulfury, anything to worry about? Should I take any remedial action when I rack tomorrow?

Thanks!

 

[Yooper]

I am making a one gal batch of this, followed recipe exactly and used D47 yeast. I am on day 4 of primary, tomorrow is racking to secondary day. Today when stirring, its starting to get pretty sulfury, anything to worry about? Should I take any remedial action when I rack tomorrow?

Thanks!

You could add some yeast nutrient, one teaspoon, dissolved in some of the wine first (to avoid a volcano due to nucleation points!), and "splash rack" when you rack tomorrow. A sulfur note is not a good sign, but you may be able to fix it if you start quickly.

 

[rowan57]

Thanks Yooper! I gave it a really vigorous stir tonight to try and oxygenate the must, I will follow your instructions tomorrow.


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[meatcleaver]

made a gallon & a half of this back in October. just finished racking for I think the 3rd time & decided to get a sample & check my fg.
.990!
I didn't measure my og...I figured the fruit solids would throw off my measurements anyway. per brewersfriend my og should have been 1.113 which gives me a abv around 16%
anyway...sample tastes great, although a little hot still. it's very dry of course & super fruity, borderline jammy.
I will definitely make this again.
thanx for posting yoop