[pelican]

I was having trouble sleeping last night - I think it was the empty primary and empty carboys crying out to be filled... so this morning I finally started a batch with the 2 jars of Blackberry Conserve/Juice that NW had left behind in the Magic Pantry of their friend formerly known as The Bachelor. These two must have been hiding behind the several jars of Highbush Cranberry.

Anyway, cleaning out the cupboards I pushed aside the smelly-socks-juice and had found the Blackberry. On inspiration from NW's Raspberry Merlot recipe, I cooked this one up today:

2 quarts Blackberry Juice
1 Can Alexander's Barbera Concentrate
1/2 Liter Red Grape Concentrate
Water to 3 gallon mark
1 tsp Pectic Enzyme (there was a bit of jell'in happening in the juice)
2 tsp Tartaric Acid
2 tsp Acid Blend
1 tsp Tannin
3 tsp Yeast Nutrient
1 tsp Yeast Energizer
1 vanilla bean
1 tsp Bentonite in 1/2 c. warm water - slurry-fied.
1 c. of light toast American Oak

I was very surprised I didn't need to add sugar...but I triple checked with my triple scale hydrometer, and the SG = 1.076 is just fine - hoping to let the fruit flavor through from the blackberry and to have something that "matures early".

Debating now between RC-212 and the 71B-1122 yeast, leaning to the RC-212 except when I flip-flop towards the 71B-1122. I'll have to decide at some point


I did not add campden as the Alexander's "contains sulfites" and -- the blackberry juice jars have stood the test of time, if there was any wild yeast it's long since "expired".

I took a picture of it in the bucket, but the photo turned out quite unappealing. Will try to get a better photo when I pitch the yeast.

Wish me luck! Years and Years and Years ago, I used to quite like Barbera. My mother actually still has a bottle of Barbera which I had bought back in the mid 1980s - when I moved overseas I had left the contents of the wine and liquor cabinet (such as it was) with her. Bless her heart, she's saved my "special wine" all these years. LOL, it will either be awesome or awful, more likely the latter, when I finally get reunited with it...

[grapeman]

Good luck with the batch. It sounds awesome and should be truly nostalgic.

[Wade E]

That does sound very nice, I would go with the 71B as it will help eat up some of the excess Malic acid that Blackberry is high in!

[Waldo]

Should be a good one pelican

[pelican]

Alrighty then, I pitched 71B-1122 last night, and this morning I could detect a bit of heat rising in the bucket, no visible action yet but something is happening.


Here's what it looked like after all the initial foam of mixing it up subsided, and my camera decided to be nice:



It's got a nice "nose" of that light toasted oak as well.

[Scott]

Good luck with the batch, hopefully it will meet your expectations from the years and years and years ago tastings.


Your not that old forthat manyyears ago


"Years and Years and Years ago, I used to quite like Barbera"

[pelican]

Well Scott, if feels like several lifetimes ago - those Barbera days. A lot of water under a lot of bridges! Thanks for the good wishes from you and Waldo with this batch.

Tonight still no visible action in the bucket, but I can hear the snap-crackle-pop hissing sound of a fermentation taking place. Mmmm, music to my ears!

And thanks Wade for the vote on the 71B-1122 and the note about the Malic.

Will keep you all posted on the progress.

[grapeman]

I find something a bit odd here about that yeast choice. It will help preserve the aromas of the delicate blackberry, but I assumed the juice wasn't acidic enough and not too acidic. You are adding in two types of acid, presumably to increase it. If that is needed, why is 71B needed to reduce the malic acid? That is generally used when a juice is too acidic tasting (or testing) and you wish to reduce it. If you were making a straight blackberry wine with 30 pounds or so in it, then it might benefit from it. You may find it is a bit neutral after fermentation now and need to add acid back in.

[pelican]

About the yeast and acid choices -
The note Wade made about reducing Malic, I'm tucking that one away for future reference more than worried about too much malic in this batch.


I used two types of acid to get more tartaric acid into the mix. Although the blurbs about "Acid Blend" sometimes say they are an equal mix of citric, malic and tartaric, I think the packet I have says it's proportions are much heavier on the citric and malic, and only 10% or so on the tartaric. The tartaric acid is the one more dominant in vinifera grapes and since the bulk of the goodness in this must is the barbera concentrate and the "red grape concentrate" I wanted more of the vinifera qualities to come through in the finished product. That and I had recently bought the bottle of tartaric acid and was itching to put it to use.


But tartaric acid can be what throws those wine diamonds and fall out of suspension, so I didn't want to use "just tartaric" - that and it's bloody more expensive than the Acid Blend of which I have like a pound bag of - so I wanted to make use of that too, and round out the fruity flavors of the blackberry.


No, the must originally was not too acidic at all. It's still "not too acidic". Then again, I've made some that were too acidic so now I'm trying to go a little lighter on the acid-hand.


But the yeast. Ah....a number of factors there.
1. I admire Wade's judgement, he's been there done that far more than I have, and so there's a vote for 71B-1122.
2. the 71B is blurbed as resulting in wines that are easier maturing, nouveau styles, and I'm not really into the whole long term aging thing, but working my way towards more patience. this one though, I want to be sharing it around and drinking it the end of this summer if possible, so early maturing is another vote for the 71B.
3. I have 4 packets of RC-212, so there's a vote for that one, and it is good for hearty reds, which is a vote for that one too.
4. The one packet of 71B that I had, expires the soonest of all the yeast I had, so there was a vote for 71B again. (but it doesn't expire for over a year so that's a fake vote I guess).
5. Preserving the fruity flavors with 71B as you mentioned, that too is one of the blurbs about 71B




I'd have to say, it's the "fruitier" aspect that I am really looking for in using the 71B this time.


There was a pair of chokecherry batchesI didlast year as a yeast-choice-test- one with the 71B and one with EC-1118 and the one with 71B was definitely a bit fruitier and easier to drink in the earlier days. Both being one gallon batches, there wasn't much but I did save 1 bottlegoing for the 1 year mark, and drank the EC-1118 bottle on my anniversary recently and it was oh so nice and smoothed out well. I'm holding off for the next 'special occassion' (Honey's birthday next month) to evaluate the last bottle of the 71B choke to see if it held it's own too.

[grapeman]

You certainly did think about the yeast choice a lot. Let us know how it turns out!


After it is done fermenting, I would at least taste it for acid to make sure the yeast didn't deplete too much of it. Testing would be better to make sure the pH is in the right range. Measuring the TA would also ensure it is in the right range.