critique/inputs for blackberry wine

[Turock]

Sounds great.

Hope your mom will be OK--send her our best wishes.

 

[vernsgal]

Thanks guys! Mom's doing better.

I made a slurry with the bentonite earlier and then stirred it in well last night. At what stage do I remove the fruit and do 1st racking? SG ?

 

[Turock]

We let the fruit in the vat the whole way. Usually takes 5 days or so. Rack to secondary when you get to 0.99 or so--totally dry. Then you know all the sugar has been converted to alcohol. You CAN rack around 1.000 or so, and it'll finish up in the secondary. The only thing to think about is that if you have little activity, the airlock will stay in place. But some cultures are agressive foamers and have high activity and once racked, they get more active and will blow the airlock off for 24 hours or so. So it's always good to let your wines go to dry before getting them in a carboy.

Because you used bentonite, your wine will be very ugly for a few months. Rack when the lees get heavy. You have to rack once or twice more when using bentonite, than you would on a wine where it's not used. Just be patient with it---you want this to age at least 9 months, and have all the bentonite cleared off of it before tasting.

Glad your mom is doing better. My mother had abdominal surgery twice when she was 89----then had a total knee---then fell and broke her hip and had THAT partially replaced at age 90. It was a tough 2 years for her. But she's 91 now and doing very well, living on her own. The woman is the Energizer Bunny. Hope your mom does as well as she did.

 

[vernsgal]

want to just threadjack my own post here for a moment to say "Thanks Turock" for your post :

Glad your mom is doing better. My mother had abdominal surgery twice when she was 89----then had a total knee---then fell and broke her hip and had THAT partially replaced at age 90. It was a tough 2 years for her. But she's 91 now and doing very well, living on her own. The woman is the Energizer Bunny. Hope your mom does as well as she did.

It's amazing how many people actually think telling me horror stories of things that happened to their parents/ or friends would make me feel better.It was nice for something positive. I hope your mom has many healthy, active years left!

 

[Turock]

You're welcome. Some people just have a real determination and when they do, they always do better after these kinds of challenges. I was trained in the medical field---and saw this time after time. My mom is an extreme example of the most determined of all of us.

She's now out working in her roses and planting flowers, mulching, and even using a PUSH MOWER to do some trimming where the riding mower can't get to. What an inspiration to all of us!

 

[vernsgal]

should be racking to secondary in the next day or 2, SG is at 1.003. Thinking on oaking .Any suggestions on what type?
I have med. toast french,med.toast american,heavy french, heavy american and light american.

 

[Turock]

I think medium french would be a good choice. Have you ever made this wine before? If not, you might want to leave some unoaked so you get the full flavor of a good blackberry wine. Then you can decide which way you like it best. As an option, you could just age it for about 9 months--taste it and if you choose to oak, you can do it then.

 

[wineon4]

I prefer blackberry unoaked as Turock says the true flavor of a good blackberry wine is something to admire.

 

[vernsgal]

will it be bad of me to say " I have never tried any fruit" wine. I have made close to 50 kits, if not more,but I have never made nor tasted a fruit wine. So when I say Noob I mean total Noob

 

[wineon4]

I make fruit wines only, no kits, all made from scratch with fresh fruit and juice. Had a bottle of Blackberry last evening with a salad for dinner it was great. Currently have a Rhubarb and a Cherry in carboys. Plan to make another 20 gallon of Rhubarb this weekend.

 

[Turock]

Well then Vernsgal, I would suggest you don't oak it at this time so you can see how good it is on its own. Our blackberry wine tastes like you are eating a blackberry pie---the flavor of yours should be around this intensity. Once you get to enjoy it in its full-blown glory, then you can play around with it. We make a nice blend of 1 part blackberry, 2 parts elderberry, and 2 parts oaked concord. Everyone thinks they're drinking some complex red grape wine--they're shocked when they find out it's, basically, a blended fruit wine.

Oh, cherry wine is one of my big favorites. Using sour cherries and doing it with no water gives a nice tart cherry that is quite similar to cherry pie. In fact, we're getting close to cherry time. There is an orchard here who gets cherries shipped in from Michigan. Last year they all got frozen out, so this year we ordered 200 pounds of cherries to make about 20 gallons to make up for having NONE last year.

 

[wineon4]

Turock, we love Cherry with a wisp of Chocolate. I use pure Cherry Fruit juice from R.W. Knudsen, 100% fresh juice. This juice is 100% juice no additives, ingredients list is Just "Sour Cherry Juice". I then use fresh cherries from the produce section of Wallyworld. I also use Lindts 90% cocoa chocolate. I take 3 bars and break up then put in the primary. This gives the wine a nice Cherry on the front with a slight wisp of bitter chocolate on the finish. Give it a try if you like Chocolate covered cherries this wine is great.

 

[vernsgal]

Cherry wine with chocolate sounds awesome (new one to try) I had read a posting from Julie on using the Lindts chocolate bars ( 1 bar per gallon I believe ) have it in my notes somewhere...

Is it normal for my SG to be stuck at 1.002 ? It's been there for 3 days now. I'm stirring the must daily then I test the SG. It was consistently going down until it hit 1.002 then it just stopped.

 

[Turock]

Well, I think it's time to get it over in carboy if it's not moving. You'll begin to lose the protection of the CO2.

Once you rack it over and get the airlock in place, check it to be sure the airlock doesn't blow off. Racking can get the ferment excited for a time and the airlock may not stay in place. If that happens, just leave the airlock off an hour or so until it clams down and reinsert the airlock. Keep an eye on it until you're sure it will stay in place.

 

[vernsgal]

I racked the wine over 4 days ago to a 3 gal carboy SG was reading 1.000. It's still reading the same. Do I just leave it and wait? Should I add something? I have to leave for a week on Friday and I just want to make sure it's ok.

 

[TommBomb]

So turock, when you have the fruit thawed and in the primary, do you do a ph test before adjusting the brix? Do you aim for certain ph levels for specific fruits or is there a number that you specifically target. TA testing isnt something you focus on?

 

[Turock]

Vernsgal----Nope, don't do a thing to it. Just leave it alone. Have a safe trip. See ya when you return.

Tomm----No, we don't even measure TA on our fruit wines. We strictly work with PH because we came to the realization, thru some experiments, how critical PH is to the flavor. Some people may disagree with this, but it is what we discovered.

Here's what we do. Once the fruit is thawed we take a PH reading and adjust as needed--then we set the brix.

Yes, we DO shoot for a certain PH. After 24 years, and many experiments, we have found the PH level we desire for each wine we make. Typically on red style wines--even when made from fruit--we shoot for a 3.4 PH On some whites, like a pear or apple, we shoot for 3.3 to 3.4 On Niagara, which is a white grape--we shoot for 3.2 Higher than that, it's like dishwater.

Strawberry, we like to get above 3.4 or else it's too tart and you have to use more sugar to get it balanced to the acid.

You know, this also depends on HOW you make your wines. We are usually using no water---so the acids are very concentrated and PH control is real important. But if you're making a wine with water addition and the resulting delicate flavor, you might shoot for a bit higher PH because the water dilutes and lowers the acids. So you see, one size doesn't fit all. You have to consider HOW you're gonna make this wine. Your whole goal is to have balance between the acids and the sweetness. Tasting the juice as you set the PH does help you to find a range that YOU like. Keep good records on the PH level you like for each of your wines once you decide the style in which you like making them. Makes it much easier when you're standing at the primary, trying to duplicate that great wine you made 2 years ago.

Don't forget that you can also use malic metabolizing cultures like 71B to help manage the harsh bite of malic fruits. Makes the wine --especially blackberry and pear--nice and smooth.

 

[vernsgal]

Well I'm home from the Okanagan. Weather was not as sunny and warm as usual for this time of year, but I can't complain considering what Calgary was given (my youngest daughter lives there so I was following their weather closely)
I checked my SG today on my blackberry and it's still sitting at 1.000. I pitched the yeast back on May 31. Is it ok that it's still sitting at the same? I made a Cherry/berry in which I pitched the yeast on June 6, and it's SG today was .990
Do different fruits and/or wines take longer to reach dry?

 

[wineon4]

I have had wines not go completely dry to .990 some stop anywhere between 1.00 and .990.

 

[Turock]

1.00 IS essentially dry----no problem with this SG.