I have 2 gallons of blackberry wine going for 3 days. Can I add berries, sugar water, and yeast to make a 3rd gallon?

[TallCoolOne]

Hi everyone!

I'm a very small batch wine maker largely due to the amount of fresh fruit I have available at a given time.

One of my biggest dilemmas in wine making is having enough berries at one time to make a batch of wine. 3 days ago, I had a 3 gallon carboy that I want to fill but I only had enough berries for 2 gallons of wine. Some of the berries were off the vine for quite a while and I didn't want them to rot prior to being made into wine. Now, after 3 days of initial fermentation, I have enough berries to make a 3rd gallon.

Here's my question: Can I mash the new berries and add simple syrup to what I have already started without hurting the fermentation process already going on? Or, would it be a better idea to get initial fermentation going on the new berries separately, then mix the 2 batches together? Or, should I just make an extra 1 gallon of wine?

Thank you in advance for your input.

TCO

 

[ShadesManna]

Making a separate one-gallon batch with the new berries will save you a lot of extra work. After both batches are all the way done, you can taste each, and decide about blending, sweetening, etc.

If you decide to go for one three-gallon batch, there are a lot of extra steps. Sanitizing the new carboy. Making the new mash / juice. Pooling it all together. Measuring PA and sugar levels, then adjusting. Possibly having to add more yeast, acid, and nutrients to get it going again. Doing these things risk the wine you already have in the works, but it's not impossible.

Personally, I'd make the one-gallon batch separately, and see how they both go independently. Then, once they're both done, you can decide what you'd like to do with each.

 

[TallCoolOne]

The initial 2 gallons are still in a 5 gallon bucket. I haven't strained the pulp and placed the wine in a carboy yet.

 

[Yooper]

The initial 2 gallons are still in a 5 gallon bucket. I haven't strained the pulp and placed the wine in a carboy yet.

Then mash up the berries, add your sugar to some water to dissolve, and add it. You won't know your OG, though, unless you do this as a one gallon batch in a different vessel (say, a different sanitized bucket), and take the SG before dumping in with the other batch.

 

[Yooper]

If you decide to go for one three-gallon batch, there are a lot of extra steps. Sanitizing the new carboy. Making the new mash / juice. Pooling it all together. Measuring PA and sugar levels, then adjusting. Possibly having to add more yeast, acid, and nutrients to get it going again. Doing these things risk the wine you already have in the works, but it's not impossible.

There aren't any extra steps really. You won't need extra yeast especially. And there won't be any risks adding new must to fermenting wine, since the yeast have reproduced enough to ferment. it'll be fine. I've done very similar things over the last 30 years.

 

[TallCoolOne]

I talked with 2 local guys last night that make A LOT of REALLY GOOD homemade fruit wine. I'm talking 150 plus gallons per year. Both of them said it wouldn't be any problem to add the new fruit and sugar water to the original 2 gallons. They said just make sure the new fruit gets a good amount of fermentation time in the bucket before transferring the must to the carboy.

 

[Seamonkey84]

Just do it lol