Blackberry Jam & MLF

[Flame145]

My blackberry jam wine just started to bubble with the onset of warm weather. The thing I find strange it is looks like a MLF. I have a small ring of bubbles in the neck of my carboy and I have small bubbles rising up the side of the carboy and my air lock is just bubbling along. Now I know grape wine can start a MLF when spring arrives and the old time Italian would say, "Your wine is waking up." I just didn't think this was normal for fruit wines.

 

[grapeman]

Blackberry has a lot of malic acid in it, so yes it can also do an mlf if the sulfite levels are a bit low.

 

[Wayne1]

Sounds interesting - I don't know if you have already posted this but I am curious about the recipe if you can share

 

[Flame145]

Sounds interesting - I don't know if you have already posted this but I am curious about the recipe if you can share

Blackberry Jam Wine :
3-16 oz jars walmart seedless blackberry jam (I used Smuckers) It was on sale
3/4 lb of sugar or until SG is 1.090
6-7 pints of water
2 tsp Acid Blend
1/8 tsp tannin
1 tsp nutrient
1 tsp pectic enzyme
1 premier cuvee, or K1V-1116 wine yeast

This is for 1 gallon. I multiplied by 5 and made 5 gallons.
Tastes good. I started it Jan. 2011

You also can substitute any flavor jam you want. But I would not use jelly. Either use jam or preserves
I was also told that this particular wine takes real good to oak, although I haven't tried it any yet. Maybe next batch

 

[Rocky]

That looks interesting, Bryan. Have you made this in the past? If so, starting out at SG 1.090 would give you an ABV of about 11.8%. Do you back sweeten the wine after fermentation or leave it dry? A dry blackberry wine is intriguing. Thanks.

 

[Wayne1]

Yes, very interesting. Blackberries are relatively expensive - if you can even find enough. Maybe this would be an alternative - thanks for sharing!

 

[Flame145]

Its a great alternative, as there is no berry picking, bugs, thorns, so on and so forth. Just empty the jars and get started.
I ferment till dry, then back sweeten to 1.018 to 1.020. I usually start at 1.015 then start giving it the taste test from there, but even dry it tastes excellent. I only back sweeten because my other half likes sweet / sweeter type wines. I can forget about her ever drinking a dry red. It only took my 20 years to break her from white Zinfandel, and now she graduated to Riesling. Go figure.
But anyway I really like the jam wine too. I typically only make wine from grapes and last year I began experimenting with fruit wines. I also have 5 gallons of pumpkin pie spice that i will be bottling very shortly. I will also be bottling 53 gallons of Brunello that I made. That came out real good. I couldn't be happier with it. Now I just have to concentrate on not screwing anything between now and then.

 

[Rocky]

53 GALLONS of Brunello?! Are you in Italy? How did you come by the grapes to make that much Brunello? That is without a doubt my favorite wine and I drank a lot of it in Montalcino. I just can't afford it over ingli Stati Uniti.

 

[Rocky]

Bryan,


Thanks for the info on the Blackberry wine. I think I will make it and leave it dry (fewer calories and my doctor has told me my body is retaining pasta).

Our Sam's has the jam in 18 oz. jars from Windstone Farms. It is all natural so I think I am safe in using it.

 

[Flame145]

53 GALLONS of Brunello?! Are you in Italy? How did you come by the grapes to make that much Brunello? That is without a doubt my favorite wine and I drank a lot of it in Montalcino. I just can't afford it over in gli Stati Uniti.

Brunello is made from the sangiovese grape. I live in Northern New Jersey and Corrado's in Clifton had Sangiovese Grapes.
Brunello is also one of my favorites. Questo e' mio preferito per il vino rosso. Salute. I spent alot of time in Tuscana, citta' di Grosetto. Montalcino , Siena, Firenze is all right there only a couple of minute drive away.
I was also lucky enough to spend a day at the Banfi Vineyard, my cousin's girlfriend works there and we got our own private tour and spent a beautiful stress free day drinking great wine all day.
As far as the Brunello goes I bulk age in a 53 gallon barrel. In my opinion you just can't beat bulk aging in a barrel.
Like I said in the previous post the Blackberry Jam wine is supposed to take very well the oak, I was told it definitely bring the wine to another level. I am going to oak my next batch of it.

 

[Rocky]

Bryan,


We stay just outside of Pienza in a little village called Castelmuzio. Had a great apartment for a little over a month last time we were there. It is right in the area of southern Tuscay that we love, in between Montalcino (Brunello) and Montepulciano (Vino Nobile). We were doing about 3 or 4 bottles a day and never had a headache (unless we topped the evening off with either Vin Santo or Grappa!) Good luck with your wine.

 

[Flame145]

Thanks, I actually just topped off the barrel this morning and checked all my numbers. Everything seems right where they should be.
Ph=3.41
TA= .72
Free SO2= 42 ppm ( a tad high, but I can live with that)

More importantly the wine tasted great. I could pick up like a hint of chocolate in the background. Either from the barrel toasting or the wine itself. Either way I don't care because I very pleased with the way it tastes, and it is still young. It will be one year come this september. I will bottle at one year, even though I know it should sit another year, but I need to free up my barrel and start a new batch of something this October.