Popping my cherry with a blueberry wine

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Ambugaton

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Hello Everyone,

I'm new to this forum and to wine making, but just wanting to track my first attempt and ask a few questions as they come up.

My first wine will be a blueberry wine. Keeping it very simple and following a recipe I found online. I live in AK and I had a backyard full of blueberries so I decided to take the plunge.

So far this is what I have:

15 lbs blueberries
2 lbs raisins
9 lbs sugar in about 2 gallons of water
Topped off with more water to equal 5 gallons

I let that mixture sit at 72°F for about 48 hrs. Then I added the following:

1 tsp tannin
3 tsp yeast nutrient
2.5 tsp acid blend
2.5 tsp pectic enzyme

The SG at this point was 1.100 (slightly higher than expected, but I'm ok with that, higher ABV right?)

Temp fell a little low at this point so I put it in a hot water bath for a few minutes to get the temp. above 72°F. Then added my yeast - Lalvin EC1118. I did not make a slurry and did not stir it into the must (which is now called wine?)

Let the yeast sit on top and start doing its magic for about 18 hrs before stirring it in.

Currently on day two of primary fermentation and everything looks like it is supposed to. Floating cap that seems to form minutes after stirring, nice deep purple color, and a lot of fizz developing on the surface.

Now a couple of questions:

1) The smells coming off of the wine at this point are very strong. A good direct whiff burns quite a bit. I would assume this is due to the large amount of CO2 that is being emitted by the yeast? Does that sound right?

2) I took an SG reading last night after 24 hours in primary ferm. and it still remained at 1.100. Is that typical?

3) I was planning on ordering some stuff in bulk on Amazon (K-Meta, Cleaner... any other common items) Should I worry about quality between different manufacturers?

Thanks in advance and I will keep updating this as I make progress. My next wine might be some type of rhubarb (have a lot of that available as well) if anyone has any recipes or ideas I would appreciate it.
 
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Forgot to add that about 3 grams of K-Meta was added to the must about 48 hours prior to preparing it for the yeast.
 
I will throw in my observations and what I do when making blueberry.

A. I use 4-5lbs. blueberries per gal. of wine.
B. I put my blueberries in a nylon paint strainer bag. This makes it easy to squeeze the fruit daily and when racking to secondary, much easier.
C. I use Lalvin 71B or Red Star Cote des Blanc for yeast.
D. Leave a loose lid on primary to allow oxygen in and to make stirring it twice daily easier.

On to your questions.
1) It is normal when fermentation is rolling along to get a little burn when sneaking a "whiff".
2) Yes, it will probably take a day or two to start dropping.
3) No, in my opinion brand doesn't matter.
 
Thank you for the info! I just got done taking another SG reading and it's sitting at 1.080 so that's good.

I did just find out that I will need to go out of town in two days... I will be gone for four days. Is there anything I can do to either speed up primary fermentation, or to keep it safe and healthy while I'm away?

I'm afraid of what might happen if it doesn't get a good stir while I'm gone. I could have a friend come by... but I've been obsessive with cleaning and sanitizing and want to keep variables to a minimum. Any suggestions?
 
Thank you for the info! I just got done taking another SG reading and it's sitting at 1.080 so that's good.

I did just find out that I will need to go out of town in two days... I will be gone for four days. Is there anything I can do to either speed up primary fermentation, or to keep it safe and healthy while I'm away?

I'm afraid of what might happen if it doesn't get a good stir while I'm gone. I could have a friend come by... but I've been obsessive with cleaning and sanitizing and want to keep variables to a minimum. Any suggestions?

If in two days it's below 1.030, I'd probably take the fruit out, press it, and return the press juice to the fermenter and either snap the lid down tight and airlock it, or put it into a carboy with an airlock.

If it's not down low enough, I've done thie following: bought a glass pie plate that's fairly heavy and fits snugly in my fermenter, sanitized it, and put it down on top of the cap to weight it down and keep it in the liquid. Snap the lid down and airlock it til your return. In my case, when I returned, fermentation was over and the plate was down in the bucket. That was a bit of a mess to get out, but it kept the cap down until AF was over.........I think.
 
Thanks for the suggestion! I plan on doing something similar unless anyone else has any other ideas or guidance
 
SG is at 1.070 so I think it's too early to transfer into secondary. If I airlock it in primary until Sunday what would be the outcome? Not being able stir it daily would present a problem? I did not use a bag for the fruit if that changes anything.
 
There's some risk of bacteria in the cap that rises up out of the liquid, you will also lose some extraction since you won't be pushing the cap down regularly. Together, really not big risks since you'll still be in a good CO2 producing environment, and you'll probably still have some fermentation ongoing Sunday.
 
So it seems everything is still in good shape after being gone the last 4 days. I did place a pie plate that was about 1/2 inch smaller in diameter into the bucket. Worked pretty well but some of the cap was able to turn the plate slightly and reach air. No change in smell or temp and the SG is at 1.020 so I gave it a good stir and we'll see how it is in the morning.
 
Update: SG was 0.960 so I decided to transfer into secondary. I realize now that it was kind of late to do this and should have transferred at about 1.010 - 1.030. Is the fermentation process complete at this point? I was still getting a decent amount of CO2 bubbles I believe. I am a little worried about it fermenting so long in the bucket... we shall see.

So the wine is now in a 5 gallon carboy, I had to top this off with distilled water and read that adding a few ounces of vodka would keep the ABV about the same as projected at the start. I don't know if this was a mistake or not as there is an abundance of contradicting information out there. It has been in the carboy for about 45 minutes and no sign of any bubbles yet. How long should I wait to rack the wine? How long between racking? Should I buy something to clear it, use egg whites, or just let it clear slowly on its own?

Using this as a log more or so but if anyone has any answers or suggestions I appreciate it.
 
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I assume you mean .996.
In the future, make extra 6 1/4 gal., 5 1/4 gal. 1 1/4 gal., etc. so you will have extra to top up with.
That is fine and I would check the SG in a week or two and it should either a) still be at .996 if done or b) be closer to .990. At this time, you should have a pretty good buildup of sediment and can then rack, add kmeta and let sit for at least 30-60 days to start clearing, while dropping more sediment.
If in a bigger hurry, add kmeta and superkleer to start the clearing sooner.
 
I make extra as winefiorfun, and top off with the wine you make, I use air locked bottles from 1 gallon down to clear wine bottles, you just need a few extra drilled stoppers and airlocks, any extra left in a top off bottle then cheers,
Dawg



I assume you mean .996.
In the future, make extra 6 1/4 gal., 5 1/4 gal. 1 1/4 gal., etc. so you will have extra to top up with.
That is fine and I would check the SG in a week or two and it should either a) still be at .996 if done or b) be closer to .990. At this time, you should have a pretty good buildup of sediment and can then rack, add kmeta and let sit for at least 30-60 days to start clearing, while dropping more sediment.
If in a bigger hurry, add kmeta and superkleer to start the clearing sooner.
 
Rgr that, will make extra for the next batch. And yes I did mean .996. I will follow your instructions. I did notice the SG stayed ~.996 for a few days so I added K-Meta, Sorbate, and degassed. I started to use the dragon's blood recipe for a guide. This is my very first wine and I am sure it is riddled with mistakes but definitely have learned a ton... and it tastes like wine! Yeasty...kind of harsh... not entirely drinkable wine. But wine nonetheless.
 
Rgr that, will make extra for the next batch. And yes I did mean .996. I will follow your instructions. I did notice the SG stayed ~.996 for a few days so I added K-Meta, Sorbate, and degassed. I started to use the dragon's blood recipe for a guide. This is my very first wine and I am sure it is riddled with mistakes but definitely have learned a ton... and it tastes like wine! Yeasty...kind of harsh... not entirely drinkable wine. But wine nonetheless.

Ok, so if it is still at .996, add some sugar to it to bring it up to say 1.002, taste it, then add more if you want sweeter or more pronounced berry flavor.

Even my dry blueberry wine I will backsweeten to 1.000 - 1.002 to get some flavor in it.
 
Just an update on this batch. It cleared nicely and actually turned out great. Hosted several parties and received a lot of compliments from friends. I only have 2 bottles left and I plan on opening one of them here in about a month or so to taste (Will be around 8 months of aging). I will report. I am actually glad I made this thread as a log because I would like to work on another batch now that berry season is approaching... didn't really keep a lot of notes other than this.

Once again thanks for the help throughout my first attempts.
 

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