AAA’s Blueberry wine ( READ ONLY PLEASE)

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AAASTINKIE

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This is my April contest winning entry, PLEASE DO NOT POST HERE,
this will be for my pictures and comments, you can help me by answering
my questions under blueberry wine. I picked up 15 pounds of frozen
blueberrys today from the bottle redemtion man "Ezzy" he gave them to
me for free, just wants a bottle of wine when it's done, can't beat
that price! I will probably use a recipe rather than test acid, but we
will see together, I have an acid test kit so maybe we will try it out.
The first thing I need to do is get some acid blend I don't have any,
if I get up in time tomorrow I might go get some but it's quite a trip
(might as well get an Italian corker while I'm there). Here's a picture
of my berries, I know I have to pick all the stems and leafs out.


2005-04-01_152526_blueberrys.JPG
Edited by: AAASTINKIE
 
2005-04-03_104700_resize_sugar.jpg




First I boiled two pots of water with 1 gallon water and 6lbs sugar
each because I'm going to use two primary's. I set them aside to cool
overnight, I did this April 2.



2005-04-03_104954_resize_waterapril_3_05_blueberry_006.jpg




I used top quality bottled water just to be safe.



2005-04-03_105057_resize_cleanedapril_3_05_blueberry_001.jpg




I picked the blueberry's clean yesterday and left them in a cool place
to thaw out with covers on them, I was going to rinse them off but
decided not to the juice seemed too rich to wash out.
2005-04-03_105339_resize_hydrometer.jpg




I have a SG of 1.097, I didn't want to add anymore water, I have 8 gallons already!!
2005-04-03_105539_resize_acid_testapril_3_05_blueberry_007.jpg




Here's where I ran into trouble, the must was a light color so that
wasn't an issue, but I was getting all kinds of readings, the first
showed 2% Tartaric acid, I had added 2 tablespoons acid blend instead
of 3 called for in the recipe, I took 3 tests and one was lower and one
was higher, my PH paper shows 4PH. I am going to try to take a sample
to the local wine shop (local being 50 miles away) to have them test
it, I called today but they are flooded out, big time rains here in
Maine.
 
My recipe so far:
15lbs wild blueberry's (frozen)
12lbs sugar
5 gallons water
8 campden tablets
2 TBS yeast nutrient
2 TBS acid blend (recipe called for 3) used 8 TBS
1/2 tsp pectic enzyme (liquid)
2 packets Red Star, Montrachet yeastEdited by: AAASTINKIE
 
2005-04-03_163522_resize_chemicals_april_3_05_blueberry_009.jpg




OK, a rainy day so lets keep working on the wine, I now know how to use
the acid test kit, just keep trying. I now have a .45% Tartaric acid
level, I had to use the entire 3 oz bottle of acid blend, almost double
the acid called for in the recipe and I'm still on the low side, but I
think I'm OK now.



2005-04-03_163608_resize_wort_april_3_05_blueberry_010.jpg




Tomorrow I pitch the yeast, Red Star, Montrachet.
 
2005-04-04_194114_resize_acidapril_4_blueberry_001.jpg




YES, the acid test kit again, put 3 more teaspoons of acid blend in
today and brought the Tartaric acid level up to .55% (right on the
money) of course I had to drive 100 miles round trip to get the $2.29
acid!! The good part is I feel totally confident in doing acid tests
now, a real good learning expierience, now if I just knew how to spell.
You can see how I was concerned as a new wine maker going into new
territory, the recipe called for 3 TBS. acid blend and I used a total
of 8TBS. acid blend to get the recipe right, I guess this shows the
importance of testing as oppossed to following a recipe, however I'm
sure it would have been fine following the recipe, but maybe testing
helps to make a wine that could win an award some day.



2005-04-04_194630_resize_pailapril_4_blueberry_002.jpg




The must is really starting to get some color!



2005-04-04_195352_resize_yeastapril_4_blueberry_006.jpg




I tried to jump start my yeast, this is the start, it started to bubble
then stopped, I had about 1 cup water and 1 TBS. sugar to feed the
yeast, hope I didn't think I was baking bread...lol it's in the must
anyway, I picked up two more packs today in the city for spares.



Update: 4/5/05 opened to stir and the stink of yeast is clearly there, I say we are doing fine!








Edited by: AAASTINKIE
 
OH, NO, my berries are all a flotin'



2005-04-05_170511_resize_mustapril_5_must_002.jpg




HAHA...smells good, looks good, gave it a stir tonight, this is so exilirating..um exilleratting...this is so cool!!
smiley16.gif
I didn't realize what a rush it is to make a wine from scratch!!
smiley31.gif
 
Today was very busy, I started by racking the blueberry wine, actually
I filtered the wine in my maple syrup filter rig, stainless steel holds
a 8qt. filter, the blueberrys plugged the filter right away, had to
wait a while for it to get through, had a second filter and had to
swap, tried using a strainer first but plugged that as well.



2005-04-10_170507_1st_rack_bluebery_003.jpg


2005-04-10_170612_1st_rack_bluebery_005.jpg




2005-04-10_170803_rotate_1st_rack_bluebery_008.jpg




Unfortunatly I didn't check the SG till after and it was 1.074



2005-04-10_171247_1st_rack_bluebery_004.jpg




I pitched one packet of yeast (see how I learned to do close ups with my camera) just to be safe





Smells great and nice red color.

2005-04-10_172023_1st_rack_bluebery_007.jpg
 
April 12, update.



2005-04-12_101130_resize_temp_025.jpg




I moved the secondary (yes it's a primary) closer to the radiator to try to bring the temp up.



2005-04-12_101257_resize_airlock_027.jpg




She's bubbling, but slow, trying to learn to slow down.
 
Acid test.



2005-04-12_105022_gallon_syringe_002.jpg




This is where I had problems testing, if you used this whole syringe
full you would have 3.0 not 30 (that will throw your numbers off).
 
I checked my must tonight, 1.060 SG, 72 degrees



2005-04-18_192924_resize_stir_blueberry_001.jpg




I tasted it and it was good tasting, I think I have a dynamite wine started here, here's a look at the color, deep red!!



2005-04-18_193100_hydrometer_blueberry_002.jpg




I gave it a stir with my fizz-x when it was open, I just hope no one
yells at me or says not to listen to the voices in my head...lol
 
This is the slowest ferment ever, I racked it to glass Saturday the
23rd. it's been 19 days since I pitched the yeast, it now has a SG of
1.055



2005-04-25_105101_resize_rack_1_001.jpg




I left some headspace in the 6 gallon carboy, I have about 6.5 gallons total, it is still percolating slowly.



2005-04-25_105248_resize_rack_1_002.jpg




My new glass airlock goes blup, blurp, blurp...wine music.
 
Blueberry wine is just slowly percolating along, helping me to learn
patience, I'm not touching it now that it's in glass till it slows down
a lot.



2005-04-29_034214_resize_april29_05_blueberry.jpg
 
9 days and my SG went from 1.055 to 1.050, sorry time to get things
going, got my air pump out gave a good shot of O2, with a full dose of
nutrients and energizer plus a packet of Lavin 116. gassing off a
little faster now.



2005-05-03_185648_may2_05_blueberry_airate_002.jpg
 
I had a SG of 1.006 today, Sunday May 8, so I racked to a clean carboy and topped up real tight (keep masta proud of me)


2005-05-08_144524_blueberry_SG.JPG



2005-05-08_144709_rack_blueberry.JPG



2005-05-08_144732_blueberry_rack.JPG



It tastes like alcohol and CO2 but will be great some day, I learned here to airate your must well and use yeast energizerfor fruit wines. I'm going to let it sit for a few weeks now, then stablize and fine. I now have 6 gallons plus 1.5 ltr wine bottle full with a airlock on it.Edited by: AAASTINKIE
 
Stablized and fined my blueberry wine today, SG .992, 6 campden tablets, 1TBS sorbate, and Superkleer.

This is what CO2 foam looks like:

2005-05-22_141900_blueberry_may_22_004.jpg




2005-05-22_142024_blueberry_may_22_005.jpg




I tasted it and it tastes like CRAP...must need aging..lol
 
I used 4 cups simple sugar (4 cups sugar disolved in water) to sweeten (forgot final SG!!)



2005-08-25_152619_filter_bottle_blueberry_005.jpg
 

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