Wild Brewing Blackberries/Wineberries?

[Choch]

Does anyone have a recommended recipe for brewing blackberries/wineberries with just their natural wild yeast? These are truly native plants and are not "domesticated" so they will probably have yeast. Any tips? This is my first time trying it and i figured since blackberries/wineberries are coming into season might as well try em!



Thought i should add, should I attempt to harness the yeast in several different containers before attempting to ferment them? I believe its called a yeast starter.

 

[sweetcell]

all fruit have yeast on them, whether domesticated or wild.

i would start by throwing the fruit into a container (like a 1 gallon juice jug), mashing the fruit, then waiting. the yeast on the fruit will wake up in the presence of the sugars and get to work.

according to the links below, the average Brix of blackberry juice is 10.0, so about 1.040. assuming you ferment down to 1.000, that will make your wine 5.25% ABV. if you want a stronger wine, you'll need to add sugars - either by concentrating the juices of your berries, or by adding other sources of sugar (honey, white sugar, juice concentrate, etc). i couldn't find any info on wineberry juice sugar content.
http://www.fruitsmart.com/PDFs/TechnicalForms/SSBrixChart.pdf
http://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/19/151.91

I think it would be interesting to add some honey once fermentation has started so you end up making a wild melomel.

you might want to consider adding pectic enzyme. acid blend and tannin are other typical additions, but i'm getting the impression that you want to keep this "natural" and limit the additions (even if they might result in a better wine...)

final thing to consider adding is some nutrient. berries on their own typically don't have everything that yeast need to grow, then again you're not using a typical yeast. certainly couldn't hurt to add a few nutrients.

 

[Choch]

all fruit have yeast on them, whether domesticated or wild.

i would start by throwing the fruit into a container (like a 1 gallon juice jug), mashing the fruit, then waiting. the yeast on the fruit will wake up in the presence of the sugars and get to work.

according to the links below, the average Brix of blackberry juice is 10.0, so about 1.040. assuming you ferment down to 1.000, that will make your wine 5.25% ABV. if you want a stronger wine, you'll need to add sugars - either by concentrating the juices of your berries, or by adding other sources of sugar (honey, white sugar, juice concentrate, etc). i couldn't find any info on wineberry juice sugar content.
http://www.fruitsmart.com/PDFs/TechnicalForms/SSBrixChart.pdf
http://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/19/151.91

I think it would be interesting to add some honey once fermentation has started so you end up making a wild melomel.

you might want to consider adding pectic enzyme. acid blend and tannin are other typical additions, but i'm getting the impression that you want to keep this "natural" and limit the additions (even if they might result in a better wine...)

final thing to consider adding is some nutrient. berries on their own typically don't have everything that yeast need to grow, then again you're not using a typical yeast. certainly couldn't hurt to add a few nutrients.

Absolutely wonderful response! I greatly appreciate the time you took to type out such detail. Is there any nutrient in particular you would recommend?

 

[sweetcell]

Is there any nutrient in particular you would recommend?

there are several general yeast nutrients that you could use, like Wyeast's (http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_productdetail.cfm?ProductID=15). if you want to get fancy, you can use a combo of Fermaid-K (or Fermaid-O) and DAP.

 

[ChugachBrewing]

If you're sold on the honey route, you could also try making a braggot. (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Braggot)
I think the malt would complement the blackberries nicely. Just tossing out ideas.

 

[sweetcell]

a braggot is mead made with malt (i.e. a mix of mead and beer). not sure that the OP wants to introduce malt into his recipe, if he's looking to highlight the fruit. i've never heard of a fruited braggot...

 

[estricklin]

I second the idea of using honey with the blackberries. Oh I love blackberry wine in the Arkansas summer!!

 

[ChugachBrewing]

a braggot is mead made with malt (i.e. a mix of mead and beer). not sure that the OP wants to introduce malt into his recipe, if he's looking to highlight the fruit. i've never heard of a fruited braggot...

I've made fruited braggot before, its quite tasty. I interpreted the original post as more of an interest in harvesting wild yeast, not simply just to make wine.

 

[sweetcell]

I interpreted the original post as more of an interest in harvesting wild yeast, not simply just to make wine.

ah, good point. i'm under the impression that the OP wanted to stick with the berries.

but instead of assuming, let's ask: OP, what are your feelings about other fermentables and flavors? is this experiment more about the berries, or the yeast?

 

[Choch]

ah, good point. i'm under the impression that the OP wanted to stick with the berries.

but instead of assuming, let's ask: OP, what are your feelings about other fermentables and flavors? is this experiment more about the berries, or the yeast?

I'm going to be doing an experiment on both in a few seperate fermenters. I sense a lot of harvesting in my future :cross:

 

[two_squirr3ls]

I know this is old, but curious how it worked out. I used wineberries in a stout, tasted great but it was EXPLOSIVE! Not enough time in the secondary, i reckon.

 

[youreanimpulse]

Could also be too much fruit trub in bottles. I had a raspberry saison like that, but it was only bottles with a lot of sediment.