Help with blueberry wine

[dionkar336]

Hello,

I would like some advice on blueberry wine. Here is my recipe:

4 lbs frozen blueberries
3 lbs white sugar
Lalvin EC-1118 yeast
1 cup strong black tea for tannins
1/8 teaspoon yeast nutrient
3/4 gal. Water

Process:
Macerated blueberries and sugar for about 2 hours. Added water, simmered for about 30 minutes, then allowed mix to cool. Moved to primary fermenter. Pitched yeast and nutrient, mixed well. Yeast added at 10:08p , noticed active fermentation an hour later.

This was started 02/03/2024

As of today, 2/18, fermentation still going strong, with one bubble every 8 seconds.
Original gravity was 1.28
It was starting to give an off smell, not bad, but almost tart/ sour. I was worried so I carefully removed the cover to check if the berries had grown something but it looks clear. When I got a better whiff, it actually smells like the same sour smell of some red wines. Would like advice on when to rack, and if additional nutrient or sugar is needed. Should I wait for fermentation to slow down more?

Thanks in advance,

Dion

 

[Raptor99]

Hi and welcome. I love Blueberry wine. A few comments on your process:

1. Never boil you fruit. Boiling destroys some of the flavor, and sets the pectin. That is a good thing when making jam, but it makes the wine difficult to clear.

2. I doubt that your original gravity was 1.28. Hydrometers are difficult to read until you get used to them. 3 lbs. of sugar in 1 gal. of water will give you a SG of 1.1124. The blueberries add some more sugar, so your SG might have been 1.128. If that is correct, it would give you a potential ABV of 18%.

3. I don't see pectic enzyme in your recipe. I suggest that you add some now, to help break down the pectin and allow your wine to eventually clear.

4. 1/8 tsp of yeast nutrient is probably not enough for a gallon of wine. But when you check the SG, we can see if the fermentation was able to finish or not.

5. If you haven't tasted it yet, I suggest that you taste a small sample. If it tastes sweet, fermentation has not finished. If it tastes tart/sour, then it might be done. But you should also check the SG.

6. I suggest that you wait until the SG gets down to 1.010 or lower, then rack into a carboy and put on an airlock. If the SG is not down close to that level, then maybe your fermentation is "stuck." What is the current SG?

7. I would not add any more sugar or nutrient at this point. (If it is stuck you might change my answer on this point).

8. A young wine usually won't taste very good. I age my blueberry wine in a carboy for 8-9 months before bottling. At that time I stabilize it and add a little bit of sugar (called "backsweetening"). That will help to bring out the fruit flavor.

Good luck on your blueberry wine!

 

[fluketamer]

this bilberry wine recipe comes out great everytime

1 liter of geohill's bilberry juice :
2 liters of white grape juice.
500 gms of table sugar
2 black tea bags in 1 cup of water steeped for 30 mins.
juice of half a lemon

bring to 1 gallon with tap water

1/2 teaspoon pectinase
1/2 teaspoon yeast nutrient
montrachet wine yeast
ferment dry

this always comes out very good.

much easier than frozen blueberries and this actually tastes more blueberry then when i use fresh fruit

 

[dionkar336]

Hi and welcome. I love Blueberry wine. A few comments on your process:

1. Never boil you fruit. Boiling destroys some of the flavor, and sets the pectin. That is a good thing when making jam, but it makes the wine difficult to clear.

2. I doubt that your original gravity was 1.28. Hydrometers are difficult to read until you get used to them. 3 lbs. of sugar in 1 gal. of water will give you a SG of 1.1124. The blueberries add some more sugar, so your SG might have been 1.128. If that is correct, it would give you a potential ABV of 18%.

3. I don't see pectic enzyme in your recipe. I suggest that you add some now, to help break down the pectin and allow your wine to eventually clear.

4. 1/8 tsp of yeast nutrient is probably not enough for a gallon of wine. But when you check the SG, we can see if the fermentation was able to finish or not.

5. If you haven't tasted it yet, I suggest that you taste a small sample. If it tastes sweet, fermentation has not finished. If it tastes tart/sour, then it might be done. But you should also check the SG.

6. I suggest that you wait until the SG gets down to 1.010 or lower, then rack into a carboy and put on an airlock. If the SG is not down close to that level, then maybe your fermentation is "stuck." What is the current SG?

7. I would not add any more sugar or nutrient at this point. (If it is stuck you might change my answer on this point).

8. A young wine usually won't taste very good. I age my blueberry wine in a carboy for 8-9 months before bottling. At that time I stabilize it and add a little bit of sugar (called "backsweetening"). That will help to bring out the fruit flavor.

Good luck on your blueberry wine!

I am definitely learning a lot from this one.
I mistyped the hydrometer reading, it was 1.128 as you said. I tasted a small sample and it tastes like a good red wine with strong blueberry jamminess. Still sweet, but it is still bubbling away, so I'm going to let it do it's thing. I haven't checked the gravity again, but will do so tomorrow or Thursday. I really appreciate the help, I will likely redo this at a later time and make some of the changes.

 

[gunhaus]

This is fun watch on the topic

 

[dionkar336]

This is fun watch on the topic

That's so funny, I've watched this video a bunch of times, but after I had already started my batch. Love their channel, tons of good stuff on there