My Attempt at a Blueberry Wine

[Brian Feeder Of Fish]

After a good deal of reading various fruit wine logs and recipes, I'm planning to start a batch of blueberry sometime in the next few weeks depending on when I see a good price on blueberries. I've developed a plan (outlined below), based on what I've compiled from other blueberry discussions on the forum. I'd appreciate if those more experienced than me could chime in with anything I might have missed or if I'm planning to do something foolish. As I go through the process of making the wine, I intend to share my progress and observations in case I end up doing something foolish I didn't plan and so others can ask questions to nudge me toward the things I haven't been paying enough attention to.

Based on what I've read, the biggest potential problem I see right now is managing the often low pH of blueberries. Since I'm still new to the hobby I haven't accumulated too many toys yet and don't have anything more sophisticated for measuring pH or acid content than pH paper. From my experience with a batch of Skeeter Pee, the paper seems to give at least enough resolution to determine if I'm in the generally accepted 3.0-3.5 range. My thinking is that as long as I can keep within that range to ensure yeast effectivity and preservation capability, any other adjustments can be made by taste. Does that logic make sense, or is blueberry troublesome enough in this regard that I'm being too optimistic? (If I'm really lucky what I'd like to happen is the somewhat hard and alkaline leaning water I have be just right to offset the acidity of the berries and bring the whole batch in to a good range, but what are the odds of that?)

The other thing that I'm concerned about is how much volume loss from gross lees I'm anticipating. My expectation is to go from around 7 gallons in primary fermentation down to 5 during bulk aging, hopefully with at least a few extra 750mL bottles for top up/surplus. Once again, has optimism got the best of me?


Intended Procedure:

1. Prepare yeast starter with 1 cup warm water, 1 packet 71B-1122 yeast, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp GoFerm.
2. Crush 45-50 lbs of blueberries and put them in a mesh bag(s?) in must bucket.
3. Add ~5lbs sugar to must bucket, top up with water to ~7 gallons, add sugar to SG 1.070.
4. Add 1 1/2 tsp FT blanc soft tannin, 4 1/2 tsp Fermaid-O, 4 Tbsp pectinase, 1/4 tsp K-meta.
5. Stir vigorously, let set overnight.
6. Add sugar to reach SG 1.090. If necessary, adjust (approximate, measured by paper) pH to between 3.0-3.5 up using calcium carbonate or down using lemon juice.
7. Stir vigorously, add yeast starter.
8. Stir daily.
9. At SG 1.060 add 4 tsp Fermaid-O.
10. Stir daily.
11. At SG <1.030 transfer into a carboy (aiming for ~6 gal) with airlock; squeeze mesh bags to extract as much liquid as possible. Stop daily stirring.
12. At dry rack into a carboy (aiming for ~5 gal) with airlock; agitate during racking to aid degassing.
13. Add 1/4 tsp K-meta, 1 tsp K-sorbate.
14. Wait patiently. Rack again if necessary to remove gross lees.
15. After 4-6 months and wine is clear, rack, 1/4 tsp K-meta, backsweeten to taste.
16. Wait 2 weeks add 1/4 tsp K-meta and bottle.

 

[Ohio Bob]

I’ve not done blueberries but here are a few thoughts.

Freeze the berries first, after thawing you will get much more juice extracted.
Step 8, stir twice daily, getting oxygen into the must.
Step 9, if your pH was good before, then the extra lemon juice will really lower it. I would not do it unless a pH check says to.
Step 11, put under airlock, but keep the skins in the must. Step 12 should now read... after 2 weeks press the skins/pulp. Do step 13 at this point too.

 

[Brian Feeder Of Fish]

I’ve not done blueberries but here are a few thoughts.

Freeze the berries first, after thawing you will get much more juice extracted.
Step 8, stir twice daily, getting oxygen into the must.
Step 9, if your pH was good before, then the extra lemon juice will really lower it. I would not do it unless a pH check says to.
Step 11, put under airlock, but keep the skins in the must. Step 12 should now read... after 2 weeks press the skins/pulp. Do step 13 at this point too.

I do want to freeze at least some portion of the berries; my freezer doesn't have too much room so I would probably have to freeze them in batches and then move them from freezer to fridge while the next batch is freezing.

Good catch on the lemon juice; I copy/pasted some of the procedure text from my previous Skeeter Pee and I guess I didn't clean it up as well as I thought. Edited original post.

As far as airlocking with the fruit still included, my reason for removing the fruit was that my only airlockable vessels are carboys; I don't think that I could easily get fruit in/out through their narrow necks.
(My primary fermentation vessel is a 10 gallon Brute bucket without a lid; I just covered it with a towel during my previous fermentation)
I guess another option would be to delay transferring to a carboy until closer to the end of fermentation if that extra bit of fruit exposure time is worthwhile/the risk of oxidation isn't too great. I suppose I could also drill a hole in a lid for the Brute to fit an airlock and leave the wine in the bucket until it's completely finished fermenting, although I was under the impression that the lids don't tend to seal to the buckets very well.

 

[Ohio Bob]

Ok, so now I understand some equipment limitations.

I would suggest using your bigger Brute to do the main ferment, then press and transfer to a carboy when the SG gets to about 1.020. At this stage CO2 is still being given off so the wine is protected, there is little risk for oxidation. Lots of people use towels to cover the lid as long as the SG is about 1.020 or higher. The downside is the extra time of skin contact will be lost. Not sure if this is ok for blueberries or not. Tannins can always be added later.

I’ve used Fermonsters with good success, easy to get a good airlock seal, yet wide mouthed enough to get cheesecloth bags in and out. Just don’t use really big bags, otherwise it may be difficult to get it out. I use multiple small bags for skins/fruit. With these you can go 2 weeks or more past SG 1.020.

You’re right about bucket lids not being reliable. I have multiple types of 7.9g buckets and no idea what lid goes with which bucket. I’m not willing to trust any of my buckets to seal.

 

[Raptor99]

It sounds like you are off to a great start! Blueberry wine is one of my family's favorites.

Based on what I've read, the biggest potential problem I see right now is managing the often low pH of blueberries.

The pH of the berries depends very much on the variety and how ripe they were when picked. Berries picked before peak ripeness will be more acidic. The pH of the must also depends on how many lbs. of blueberries you are using per gallon.

In your recipe you are using about 7 lbs. of blueberries per gallon. that is similar to what I use. In my last batch I started with fully ripe fresh blueberries, using 5 lbs./gallon (but next time I will use more). My initial pH was 3.84, so I had to add some acid to get to the desired 3.4-3.5 range. It is very difficult to adjust the pH without a pH meter, so you might want to put that on your wish list. Without an accurate measurement, I suggest that you do not try to adjust the pH at all.

Freeze the berries first, after thawing you will get much more juice extracted

This helps a lot with any fruit wine. Freeze as many as you can, and try to leave them in the freezer for 1-2 days.

In step 14, it is better to wait to add the Potassium Sorbate right before you backsweeten and bottle. It is not necessary to add it before aging.

In step 16, I don't think it is necessary to add more Kmeta before bottling, since you plan to add some 2 weeks earlier. Many us bottle immediately after backsweetening, but it is helpful to wait a few days to be sure that fermentation does not restart.

 

[Brian Feeder Of Fish]

Well, I got some blueberries, 54 lbs for $42 at the discount/salvage grocery store. I'm rinsing, sorting, and freezing as many as I can. It looks like I'll be able to fit about 2/3 of them in the freezer before I run out of space. My initial plan had been to take some out of the freezer after a few days to make room and then freeze the rest. I'm a bit concerned though that the ones I remove from the freezer may start to spoil in the fridge since I imagine they'll be pretty broken down by that time. Is my concern justified, or should a few days in the freezer be enough to delay spoilage (at least until the others have been frozen) after they thaw as long as they remain in an airtight container?

Thanks for all the feedback so far and that I'm sure is yet to come.

 

[wood1954]

They’ll probably freeze faster than they will thaw. Start fermenting the first batch while the second batch thaws out.

 

[Brian Feeder Of Fish]

...Well, as it turns out I was wrong. They all fit, barely.