Hello all! This is the 3rd time Im making 1 gallon of blackberry wine. It is my all time favorite! But it's been 10 years and I can't remember the recipe I used last time.
As a precursor, I prefer veeeryyyy dry wines. The closer the taste, to the smell of rubbing alcohol -- the better to me. Jokes. But for real, I love it reallll dry.
This time, I think I'd like to shoot for around 13% alcohol. So I was thinking, the more fruit, the better right? No, I guess not! In my research, I'm reading this can cause acid imbalance / tartness / flavor to be way off (to the average wine drinker they said -- whatever that means -- does that mean we can just appreciate a more tart, acidic flavour, lol?)
This is the recipes I am roughly following, except I am using 71B yeast. And I added 1/4 tsp Wine Tannin because I like the dry mouthfeel.
https://www.winemakersdepot.com/Blackberry-Wine-Recipe.aspx
Rather than the 4 pounds of fruit, I used probably ~6 pounds.
So far, -- where Im at -- I've mashed/crushed the blackberries in a straining bag in my primary fermenting bucket. Then added 7 liters of boiling water (with 2.5 lbs of sugar mixed in). Added a campden tablet, 1/4 tsp of Wine Tannin, and 1/2 tsp of citric acid. It's been about an hour so far (time is now 7:30 PM EST August 14th)
When the water cools down in many hours, I will add the yeast nutrient, 1/2 tsp pectin (or should I use 1 tsp?), measure my specific gravity and report back here!
Did I mess up by using too much fruit and adding an extra 1/2 tsp of aditional citric acid? Do I need to go out and buy an acid testing kit? Or do I just need to raise the S.G. till my desired 13% in this case to balance everything out? Or what?! Seeking guidance, please advise your thoughts!
Thank you so much in advance!
p.s Any other recommendations or changes anyone can suggest to the recipe above, and what I've already done, to ensure a drier wine? Cheers
As a precursor, I prefer veeeryyyy dry wines. The closer the taste, to the smell of rubbing alcohol -- the better to me. Jokes. But for real, I love it reallll dry.
This time, I think I'd like to shoot for around 13% alcohol. So I was thinking, the more fruit, the better right? No, I guess not! In my research, I'm reading this can cause acid imbalance / tartness / flavor to be way off (to the average wine drinker they said -- whatever that means -- does that mean we can just appreciate a more tart, acidic flavour, lol?)
This is the recipes I am roughly following, except I am using 71B yeast. And I added 1/4 tsp Wine Tannin because I like the dry mouthfeel.
https://www.winemakersdepot.com/Blackberry-Wine-Recipe.aspx
Rather than the 4 pounds of fruit, I used probably ~6 pounds.
So far, -- where Im at -- I've mashed/crushed the blackberries in a straining bag in my primary fermenting bucket. Then added 7 liters of boiling water (with 2.5 lbs of sugar mixed in). Added a campden tablet, 1/4 tsp of Wine Tannin, and 1/2 tsp of citric acid. It's been about an hour so far (time is now 7:30 PM EST August 14th)
When the water cools down in many hours, I will add the yeast nutrient, 1/2 tsp pectin (or should I use 1 tsp?), measure my specific gravity and report back here!
Did I mess up by using too much fruit and adding an extra 1/2 tsp of aditional citric acid? Do I need to go out and buy an acid testing kit? Or do I just need to raise the S.G. till my desired 13% in this case to balance everything out? Or what?! Seeking guidance, please advise your thoughts!
Thank you so much in advance!
p.s Any other recommendations or changes anyone can suggest to the recipe above, and what I've already done, to ensure a drier wine? Cheers
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