How long to leave Blackberries in must?

[Chilled]

Another question about my Blackberry wine.

How long do you leave the berries in the must after you add the yeast?
And why?

The value of this forum to new winemakers or, winemakers trying new things, is invaluable. (priceless)

Thanks for any help.
Dave

 

[Turock]

Leave the berries in thru the entire ferment. Between the pectic enzyme and the ferment itself, the berries will entirely break down and incorporate into the wine. Getting all that pulp into the wine is where the flavor is at. If you bagged the fruit, all you'll end up with at the end of the ferment is a bag of seeds.

 

[Chilled]

Thanks Turok

That is what I wanted to know.

Dave

 

[joeswine]

Blackberry

THIS IS WHAT I DO ,BLACKBERRIES// TILL FERMENTATION IS COMPLETED, THEN LET IT SIT, SQUEEZE THE JUICES OUT THEN TAKE A PH READING THAT'S IMPORTANT WITH BLACKBERRIES THEIR HIGH ACIDITY IF YOU NEED TO ADJUST THAT'S THE TIME,IF NOT THEN THAT'S THE TIME TO ADD TANNINS TO THE MIX ,STIR WELL ,LET IT SIT FOR TWO WEEKS THEN TAKE A SG AND PH READING IF THE WINE IS STILL,THEN RACK AND LET IT SET ,THIS WILL GIVE IT TIME TO BALANCE OUT,THEN IT'S UP TO YOU ... A GOOD BLACKBERRY WINE TAKES AT LEAST A YEAR TO BECOME DECENT.

 

[mmadmikes1]

I take them out when I move to secondary other wise, Me's thinks Joe Is dead on

 

[user 31015]

Joe, using fresh fruit? Awesome. Jealous, they would be a few dollars a punnet here and trying to get enough to make a decent wine would break the bank!

 

[Turock]

Very important to adjust that acid pre-ferment on blackberries because you may never be able to get it under control in the post ferment because you can't use that much potassium carb. Especially on wild blackberries grown in acidic soil. Our blackberries come in at a 2.9 PH and we use calcium carb to bring it all the way to 3.4 without any chalky taste. Always make acid adjustments pre-ferment as everything incorporates better and you avoid having to put in so much more time working on the secondary.

We have gotten so good at pre-ferment adjustment on everything we do that it's an easy cruise to bottling time. The only work we do with the secondary is to blend and/or do oaking. I hate trying to fix wines post ferment. Design your wines--do all your work--at the primary. It pays to take an hour or so to do all your work there as it will save time later. And you'll have better results with nicely balanced wines from the get-go.