critique/inputs for blackberry wine

[vernsgal]

Welcome back.

Let me give you a little heads up on using a large amount of frozen fruit. It can take a couple days for a large amount to thaw and warm to room temp so the yeast will take off. Be sure to use the right amount of sulfite on it and layering it in to the frozen fruit is a good idea. Toss a couple pints of water on it to be sure it's somewhat dissolved.

You don't want to get any biological growth going, or your ferment will become stuck because the growth overwhelms the yeast.

If I'm thawing 30lbs of blackberries to make 3 gal., is 1/4 tsp of k-meta right?

 

[spaniel]

I think what Turock was trying to say was that using large amounts of those specific fruits doesn't improve the flavor and that its better to stick with recipes that add water in those instances.

Ah, yes, it makes a lot more sense to me that way.

 

[vernsgal]

On a different note, have you visited BosaGrape winery supplies in Burnaby?

http://ecom.bosagrape.com/home.php

I had no idea they were there and I lived practically next door. Went for a visit today.Stocked up on some items and got to wander through the whole warehouse (fork lift was down so they let me through).
Their site isn't bad either. I can order and just go in and pick up to save shipping costs.
Thanks

 

[LoveTheWine]

On a different note, have you visited BosaGrape winery supplies in Burnaby?

http://ecom.bosagrape.com/home.php

I had no idea they were there and I lived practically next door. Went for a visit today.Stocked up on some items and got to wander through the whole warehouse (fork lift was down so they let me through).
Their site isn't bad either. I can order and just go in and pick up to save shipping costs.
Thanks

Your welcome.
I can't wait until I can actually go the the store.
I will be paying a visit this summer to stock up as well!

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

Dragons blood makes you a folower of the great danger Dave, a follower dude.

I have never been one to follow others, I like my own direction better.
I agree with all you said .
I recieved my supplies today for 2 5 gallon batches.
5 gallons of dragon blood, I had a chemist come and do the measurements for 5 gallon, vs 6 gallon from whole fruit.
I am also starting 5 gallons of strawberry/blackberry from juice.
Now that I have a few weeks of questions answered here, and 2 weeks of reading...Im ready to try my own hand.
Thing is....I want more buckets and carboys and fruit.
This maybe a hobby after all.
Thanks for the info.

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

For a 3 gal batchs its easy to add 1/4 tsp KM to 5 tsp water, mix ,then add 3 of those teaspoons to the mix, you dont want to add to much KMs WVMJ

 

[vernsgal]

Yay! my PH meter showed up today. Starting the thaw on blackberries.I split the berries in to 2 primary pails(figured they'd thaw faster) ,sprinkled with1/8 tsp each with k-meta and poured a pint of water on each.

 

[Turock]

On frozen fruit, we use 1 campden tab per gallon. Splitting the batch is a good idea--stir it up once in a while to help it thaw better. Get a dose of pectic enzyme in there to start breaking down the fruit.

 

[vernsgal]

Well it's all thawed but still real cold. Stirred regularly.Should be set tomorrow for testing PH and setting brix. Do I test the PH before I set brix? What about the TA?

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

I might have missed it, but did you add pectinase yet? WVMJ

 

[vernsgal]

I might have missed it, but did you add pectinase yet? WVMJ

Yes I did. Thanks, I don't feel quite so worried having all of the help from this forum

 

[photoactivist]

What about the TA?

I'm currently making a blackberry wine, myself. And I ended up needing to add quite a bit of acid blend to get to the 0.55% tartaric measurement I was trying to reach.

 

[Deezil]

I'm currently making a blackberry wine, myself. And I ended up needing to add quite a bit of acid blend to get to the 0.55% tartaric measurement I was trying to reach.

Did you add a bunch of water? Adding acid blend to Blackberry wine isn't really common practice unless you added a bunch of water & used a lesser amount of fruit; blackberries are packed with acids.

If thats the case, I would double-check that you have adequate flavor & body in the wine, they could both fall a bit short.

 

[Turock]

vernsgal--you can ignore TA. We never consider it on fruit wines.

Use acid blend on blackberry and you'll be mighty sorry! What do you mean by "tartaric measurement?" I think you're trying to say TA---total acids. Who cares about total acids on blackberry--most of it is malic, a very harsh acid. You'll be lucky if you can drink that blackberry wine.

 

[Turock]

We PH test first--then set the brix

 

[wineon4]

I made 6 gallon of blackberry, 6 gallon of blackberry apple and 6 gallon of blackberry blueberry and I indeed did need to add some acid. I have a TA of .65 in each and they are a terrific tasting wine very fruity and well balanced. one just received a Double Gold at a local AWS event. As said before, with experience better wines are made off recipe and it is my opinion that each batch is unique. In the 18 gallons I made each 6 gallon has 40lb of blackberries liquidfied in a blender and 6 cans of white grape concentrate, the apple has 3 gallon of wallyworld apple juice and the blueberry has an additional 20 lb of blueberries. After stabilizing I added 2 bottles of Glycrine as a finisher to each 6 gallon. It was the Blackberry/Apple that won the DoubleGold.

 

[vernsgal]

Sorry guys, I fell a day behind. My mom was hit by a car last night and being that she's pushing 80 it was pretty traumatic .Good news is aside from some broken bones I think she'll be ok.Tough old bird.

Anyhow,back to wine- must temp. this morning was 72F. I set the PH to 3.45 ,brought my SG to 1.082 and added some nutrient. I pitched the yeast tonight because I wasn't sure how chaotic my day would be tomorrow and didn't want to forget. Tomorrow night add bentonite?

 

[Deezil]

Hope she pulls through okay!

Bentonite tomorrow night should work out alright

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

I'm currently making a blackberry wine, myself. And I ended up needing to add quite a bit of acid blend to get to the 0.55% tartaric measurement I was trying to reach.

Post your recipe, either you didnt add many berries, your acid measurement is off or the calcs are off? Sometimes our straight blackberry juice gives a TA of 1.2% vs the typical 0.65% most people desire in a fruit wine. We almost always make this sweet anyway on purpose, espcially with honey. WVMJ

 

[vernsgal]

Just peeked under towel, must has a great foam cap happening.Will add bentonite tonight