Wineberries...what do I do with these? Wine :)

[Pat_13]

They are a species of raspberry Rubus phoenicolasius - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I have found a bunch of these berries and have been picking them and putting them in the freezer until I have a bunch. They are a little tart but good. I could not find any reference to making wine with them.

Anyone have a receipe?

 

[etp777]

As usual, Jack has the answers.

Wineberry wine
winemaking: requested recipes (Wineberry Wine)

WINEBERRY WINE

* 2-1/2 lbs ripe wineberries
* 2-1/2 lbs granulated sugar
* 1 tsp acid blend
* 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
* 1/4 tsp tannin
* 7-1/2 pints boiling water
* 1 crushed Campden tablet
* 1 tsp yeast nutrient
* wine yeast


Use only sound, ripe berries, washed and destemmed. Crush berries and put all ingredients except yeast in primary. Pour boiling water over ingredients and stir well to dissolve sugar. Cover with plastic wrap until cooled to 70-75 degrees F. Add yeast, recover, and stir daily 5-6 days. Strain out fruit pulp and press to extract juice. Transfer to secondary, top up, fit airlock, and set in dark, cooler (60-65 degrees F.) place. Rack in 3 weeks and again in 3 months. Rack again in 3 months, stabilize, sweeten to taste if desired, and set aside 1 month before bottling. Store in dark place to preserve color. Age one year. [Author's own recipe]

 

[Pat_13]

Thanks.

I was also thinking of adding some apple or wine juice in place of some of the water.

 

[etp777]

Certainly could, just adjust the sugar accordingly.

 

[MTBREWDOG]

You could do pie. When I lived out east my mom use to make pies out of them. hahaha But of course why not wine? ;-)

Cheers,

Joe

 

[Lampy]

Resurrecting this thread from 15 years ago because it provided the inspiration for my wild wineberry wine! Also, I plan on providing a follow up on how it turns out.

Combined 1.25lb wineberries, 0.75lb honey, ⅓ crushed Campden tablet, ½tsp yeast nutrient, and one black tea bag in a pot, poured in 1.5L boiling water, covered and let cool. OG 1.047/11.8% Brix. Pitched dry Cider House Select yeast.

 

[Lampy]

I strained the seeds/pulp today and was able to retrieve about 0.5gal of ruby red (cloudy) liquid. The few unsquished berries I saw looked odd because they had turned yellow due to the pigments diffusing. Tasted a few drops out of curiosity: very tart and yeasty.

 

[BufferDog]

Resurrecting this thread from 15 years ago because it provided the inspiration for my wild wineberry wine! Also, I plan on providing a follow up on how it turns out.

Combined 1.25lb wineberries, 0.75lb honey, ⅓ crushed Campden tablet, ½tsp yeast nutrient, and one black tea bag in a pot, poured in 1.5L boiling water, covered and let cool. OG 1.047/11.8% Brix. Pitched dry Cider House Select yeast.

Please do! I have a patch (30' x 15') in my back yard that I've been "nurturing" (and corraling) over the years and this year it's just EXPLODING! I tossed a scant amount of 10/10/10 granular fertilizer in before some heavy rains early in the season - once in early April and once in early May - and the yield this year is just gangbusters! Have never made wine before - I'm looking for a pre-fab kit (for a first-timer) or will go to my local Agway for the supplies. Any references or instructions that you feel like sharing for a first-timer would be greatly appreciated! BufferDog (Aquebogue NY)

 

[Lampy]

Any references or instructions that you feel like sharing for a first-timer would be greatly appreciated! BufferDog (Aquebogue NY)

This is my first wine (technically a mead maybe) of this kind, so I can't add much more to what I already posted. Starting with a simple kit/recipe is probably the best route of entry for getting used to the processes and equipment. Good luck!

 

[Lampy]

July 25: cold crash starts.
July 31: Racked about 1.7L into small fermenter jar and added ⅓ Campden tablet + ¼tsp K sorbate dissolved in boiled water. FG 1.019/4.9% Brix. 5.9%ABV.
Oct 5: Bottled. Got two 750mL bottles and a few oz to spare. Tastes nice, though fairly light. Might be good to sweeten at serving.

 

[Lampy]

Opened a bottle today. Nice and clear, bright pink-red. Dry and reminiscent of a light, tart red wine. When sweetened it is a bit more fruity, but not distinctly "raspberry". I'll probably do this again! I still have another bottle aging to try later.

 

[Lampy]

Wild berry season has started! Today I harvested nearly 5lbs with my young assistant (who ended up eating more than he picked) and froze them so I can pick more when additional berries ripen. I managed to get a few blackberries in the mix this time.

 

[charlbarl]

Wow! I picked about 2.5 lbs the other day exactly for this reason. Gonna head out again today. I want to go for 12lb berries in 5 gallons of wine. Flavoring with some foraged sassafras root too!

 

[Lampy]

Yesterday I split my 10lb frozen wineberries (plus a few wild blackberries) into two buckets (bagged the berries and smashed them after thawing). One bucket got 1.25lb honey and 3L water, the other got 3qt apple juice. Both got 1c black tea with yeast nutrient and campden. Today I took the OG reading and pitched QA23 yeast.

 

[Lampy]

Update: removed the berries (basically just a bunch of seeds now) and transferred to new jugs. Color looks great!