Wild Berry Apple Wine

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Adolphus79

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This is a recipe I am in the process of perfecting, but so far it's coming out quite nicely.

Mitchell's Wild Berry Apple Wine

1/2 pound Raspberries
1/2 pound Blueberries
1/4 pound Strawberries
1 gallon Apple Juice (store bought 100% juice or fresh pressed cider)
1 Campden tablet
Pectic Enzyme
1 packet Red Star Champagne yeast

Start by throwing the berries into a blender with a little bit of the apple juice. Blend well. Pour must into primary and add campden and pectic enzyme. Let sit 24 hours. After 24 hours, pitch yeast, and let ferment on pulp for 2 weeks. Rack and ferment an additional 2 weeks. Rack again and ferment until clear (about 1 month). Rack again and bulk age 3-6 months. Bottle.

My OG was 1.084, and as of the bulk aging rack, SG had dropped to 0.998. The primary fermentation quantity actually comes out to about 1.25-1.5 gallons due to 1 full gallon of apple juice as well as the berry juice. When I tasted it at the bulk aging rack, it was still quite tart, and the alcohol flavor was strong. I'm hoping that 3 months will mellow it a bit, if not then I'll let it sit for another 3 months. I'll update when it's done with bulk aging.
 
so is this just a 1.5 gal recipe then? or what does the final volume end up around with the berry juice?
 
That sounds like an interesting recipe and I've got a question. When you rack it into a secondary how hard is it to keep the pulp from transferring over? Do you use a screen or something to filter out the pulp?

1.084 is a fairly decent OG without adding any sugar. This sounds like a good wine.
 
scottfro said:
so is this just a 1.5 gal recipe then? or what does the final volume end up around with the berry juice?

I made the mistake of going potty while it was racking and overflowed a 4l winejug. My original comment was meant to convey that 1.25 - 1.5 gallons of fluid makes it into secondary. I think to up this to a 5 gallon batch, I would simply multiply all ingredients by 4.

RichBrewer said:
That sounds like an interesting recipe and I've got a question. When you rack it into a secondary how hard is it to keep the pulp from transferring over? Do you use a screen or something to filter out the pulp?

1.084 is a fairly decent OG without adding any sugar. This sounds like a good wine.

I lined my primary (1.5 gallon bucket from Midwest) with a muslin bag, then pulled it out and hand pressed it a little before racking. Basically, just twisting and squeezing the bag until I got bored with it. The secondary still had a good bit of sediment, that's why I racked again after only 2 weeks.
 
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