Bourniplus
Active Member
Greetings everyone,
I'm making blueberry wine with my own blueberries. Most recipes call for what I would say is a considerable amount of sugar; around 10-15 lbs for a 4-gallon batch. This year the harvest was pretty good and I started 4 batches. Adding that much sugar somehow doesn't seem right, so for the last three batches I added only 4 pounds.
In the past I've made a dozen batches of Apfelwein / cider, gradually decreasing the amount of sugar to the point of adding almost none, and this is the way I prefer it.
I was wondering if anyone else makes their fruit wines this way. Is this still called "wine" when you have around 5% ABV?
Given that I'm ok with making a wine that will be consumed in the coming year, what should be taken in consideration in the process?
I took gravity readings of the different batches and tasted the samples. When they're around 1,005 after a couple weeks of fermentation it tastes really good. If I could have that taste in the bottle, with the light fizz, I think it would be a really nice refreshing beverage. However if I let it ferment to complete dryness and backsweeten a little, it seems that it won't give that same taste. I've always used wine yeast, maybe I should try a beer yeast?
Thanks in advance for any comment or suggestion.
Martin
I'm making blueberry wine with my own blueberries. Most recipes call for what I would say is a considerable amount of sugar; around 10-15 lbs for a 4-gallon batch. This year the harvest was pretty good and I started 4 batches. Adding that much sugar somehow doesn't seem right, so for the last three batches I added only 4 pounds.
In the past I've made a dozen batches of Apfelwein / cider, gradually decreasing the amount of sugar to the point of adding almost none, and this is the way I prefer it.
I was wondering if anyone else makes their fruit wines this way. Is this still called "wine" when you have around 5% ABV?
Given that I'm ok with making a wine that will be consumed in the coming year, what should be taken in consideration in the process?
I took gravity readings of the different batches and tasted the samples. When they're around 1,005 after a couple weeks of fermentation it tastes really good. If I could have that taste in the bottle, with the light fizz, I think it would be a really nice refreshing beverage. However if I let it ferment to complete dryness and backsweeten a little, it seems that it won't give that same taste. I've always used wine yeast, maybe I should try a beer yeast?
Thanks in advance for any comment or suggestion.
Martin