Blueberry wine help

[10borderline11brew]

Hey I'm thinking of doin a blueberry wine, I got 60lbs of frozen berries. Has anyone ever done a straight juice blueberry wine? Is there any reason not to try it? Most recipes have like maybe 3-5 lbs to the gallon.
Also I only have a juicer so I was thinkin of juicing the berries first and then ferment with no skins. Would this work? What is the reasons for pressing after fermination? Is it more for color? I couldnt find much on that.
Thanks

 

[lukebuz]

I was in a similar boat to you. I had 50 lbs, and made a 10 gallon batch. I am extremely disappointed at how it turned out. Just "blah". Not bad, but blah. Now, granted, the berries were these commercially grown (looked pretty, hardly any taste) so that is probably the reason. If yours aren't bursting with flavor, I'd do at least 8 lbs/gallon.

 

[10borderline11brew]

Ok I was thinking of trying about 11 pounds to the gallon it would b a straight juice and then add the yeast. I guess I will c how it goes. Being that there is that much juice should it b aged longer in the bottle?

 

[theDREWery]

A lot of flavor, color, and tannin will come from the skins. I put the berries in a mesh bag, and punch them down every day. Every other day, I squeeze them with my cleaned, sanitized hands. I do this for 7-10 days before racking off the fruit. I'd suggest about 5 lbs per gallon; blueberries being high in acid may stall a fermentation if you go much higher, and I'm not adding much acid, if any, at 5 lbs/gal.

The fruit will still have some stuff to give after this, so I usually mix up a batch of Welch's wine to add to the squeezed fruit leftovers, at about half the volume of your blueberry batch.