Stressbaby
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This was probably a big mistake, because I likely don't have enough experience to make this successful, and Keller says it can't be done. However, my wife's favorite plant in our yard is the Beautyberry (not C. americana, but Callicarpa dichotoma 'Issai'). And I'm still collecting persimmons, so I thought I'd give this wine a 1 gallon shot.
These berries are not astringent at all. They are very faintly sweet, and they appear to oxidize very quickly (see below). I wonder if C americana behaves differently than this cultivar. Anyway...
I found a recipe in this thread. I'm following it very loosely. Basically, so far:
4# berries
8 pints water
2# sugar
Frozen berries were thawed, squeezed to break them down a bit; poured boiling water over the berries. These berries seem to oxidize very quickly, even while thawing in the bag, and the berries and must quickly turned a dark tea color. Is that expected? OK?
I checked the SG and added another 6oz sugar (total 2# 6oz) to get to 1.090. The pH was high and TA low, so I added 4t acid blend to get TA to 7 and pH to 3.4. Now I have 1t yeast nutrient and 1/2t pectic and will pitch yeast shortly.
Any suggestions from more experienced folks on how to proceed from here?
These berries are not astringent at all. They are very faintly sweet, and they appear to oxidize very quickly (see below). I wonder if C americana behaves differently than this cultivar. Anyway...
I found a recipe in this thread. I'm following it very loosely. Basically, so far:
4# berries
8 pints water
2# sugar
Frozen berries were thawed, squeezed to break them down a bit; poured boiling water over the berries. These berries seem to oxidize very quickly, even while thawing in the bag, and the berries and must quickly turned a dark tea color. Is that expected? OK?
I checked the SG and added another 6oz sugar (total 2# 6oz) to get to 1.090. The pH was high and TA low, so I added 4t acid blend to get TA to 7 and pH to 3.4. Now I have 1t yeast nutrient and 1/2t pectic and will pitch yeast shortly.
Any suggestions from more experienced folks on how to proceed from here?