How much must is needed to end with 10 gal.?

[Chilled]

This is my first batch of wine from fruit.
Maybe I need to rephrase this question.

I am trying to figure out how much must I need to start with (including 80 lbs. of berries) to end up with 10 gallons of wine.
In other words, approximately how much volume in gallons will I lose when I remove the berry residue (bag)?

This seems important in order to set the ph and SG because adding water later would change both.

Any guesstimate based on your experience would be helpful.
Dave

 

[Turock]

Well,what you're talking about here is going "off recipe" and this can be a little difficult when you first do it because you aren't using water to get to a specific gallon amount and you're not quite sure how to make the chemistry additions. I think that's what you're asking.

We make fruit wines with no water and here's how we figure it out. We always consider that 10# of fruit will make one gallon. But when we make the chemistry additions we underdose just a tad because you won't come out with 1 gallon of wine per 10# of fruit because it depends on how much juice comes out of the fruit and the debris you will rack off. So if you have 80# of fruit, consider that you will end up with 7 gallons or so of wine.

Before you begin the ferment, take a PH reading and adjust if needed and set the brix. This doesn't depend on volume--it just is what it is. You might want to get the brix adjusted first so that you can taste the juice when you're PH testing to see where the acid tastes the best to you.

Be sure to freeze your fruit first--this yields alot of juice for testing. Don't use water on most fruits--it only dilutes the flavor. Use calcium carbonate to raise the PH instead of using water to adjust the PH. I presume these are blackberries--is that right? If so, use 71B culture so you get some of that harsh malic metabolized, making a smoother wine.

 

[BernardSmith]

Hi Chilled, I have not taken mechanics or physics since high school but I believe that a mass of 80 lbs of anything will displace 80 lbs of water and I think 1 lb of water weighs about 8.3 lbs (or 83 lbs) , so your fruit is going to displace pretty much all your water. In other words, you might need a bucket that holds about 20 gallons. Of course, I may be totally wrong. High school was a long time ago. But that said, the "loss" of volume - IMO - after you remove the fruit will likely be negative . In other words, you will end up with FAR more than 10 gallons, not less - because the fruit itself contains liquid which will end up in the water... but hey! , I am a social scientist and not a physical scientist

 

[Chilled]

Thanks Turok

Yes, Blackberries.

That gives me a good idea of how much water to add to make 10 gallons of wine. I know you don't add water at all. But for this time, we will try and make 10 gallons from about 80 pounds of berries.

Yes, the Berries are frozen and I have 71b yeast.

Will probably start it Friday evening.

Again. Thanks
Dave

 

[Turock]

If you don't like the intensity of a full blackberry with no water, it's OK to add some water. It seems the amount of water you intend to add is OK. We do alot of blending with blackberry and found the more intense it is, the better the blend.