blackberry wine questions

[croakersoaker]

Hi guys i started some blackberry wine back in june made from smuckers blackberry jam.its been a little over three months and i checked sg today and it was at 1.001. shouldnt it be done by now.i used red star cote de blanc yeast. i tasted it and it was pretty good at its current sg.off dry i guess.I would like to keep it right where it is and im pretty sure its done fermenting after all this time. i gues the yeast petered out a little early. anyway. what now? do i just stabilize with k-sorbate and k-meta? is the sorbate neccesary?
since im not going to back sweeten. this is only my second batch of wine my first was the apfelwein so it was pretty easy. thanks in advance for your help

 

[Turock]

If you're not going to sweeten it, sorbate is not needed.

 

[saramc]

The end point S.G. for your BB jam wine is right on target. Many have experienced the same thing you documented. And if you have no plan to backsweeten there is no need for sorbate. Have you considered oaking your BB jam wine? Awesome if I may say so!!

 

[croakersoaker]

thanks for the replys. just want to be clear. even if there is residual sugar i do not need to sorbate?only K-mete and thats it?also how do i oak ive never done that before?

 

[Poormanfarm]

The end point S.G. for your BB jam wine is right on target. Many have experienced the same thing you documented. And if you have no plan to backsweeten there is no need for sorbate. Have you considered oaking your BB jam wine? Awesome if I may say so!!

I don't know anything about "oaking" but I have 5 gal of Blackberry in a carboy. What would you recommend as a starting point for "oaking" it? Where do you get your oak? How much do you use? At what point do you introduce it? How long do you leave it in the carboy? Any help here would be appreciated.

 

[Turock]

Any wine supply shop has bags of oak. You can use chips or cubes--chips are fully extracted in about 7 days, cubes much longer. So you have to take some care with cubes as to how many you use and how long to leave them in the carboy. I've read where cubes aren't fully extracted for about 1 year. You don't want to over-oak. Under-oaking is better than too much.

You can put the oak in the carboy once you are racked off any gross lees. If using chips, add about 1/2 cup. If you find 1/2 cup didn't give you enough oak flavor, you can add some more. On cubes, you can add a small handful and taste as the months go by--remove them when you are satisfied with the taste. There are American oak, French, and Hungarian. French medium toast can give you hints of vanilla or chocolate----Hungarian oak can give hints of caramel.