Recent content by pip

Hi Northwoods, Blueberry is most definitely not the fruit wine you want to start on. Blueberry is highly acidic so you'll be needing to keep a close track of the ph. I've also read that there is a specific chemical in blueberries that hinders fermentation. It's a bugger of a wine to make from...

Pioneer, if you could post a photo that would help. Otherwise I'd say just stir it all back in and cover it with a cloth.

That's so interesting. I'd be curious to know why some blueberries are so problematic and others aren't. Are there different types? Climate variation perhaps?

Hi, I'm from Australia, summer is nigh here, big season coming up. I imagine you might have temperature issues in autumnal Alaska?

Blueberry has got to be the trickiest fruit wine of all. Not only the acidity but a chemical that retards fermentation that seems variable in relation to the region and perhaps ripeness of the fruit. If you search this forum alone you'll find multiple threads asking questions about blueberry...

Lots of great advice above, all i'd add is that it sounds like you have a nice batch of homemade wine to drink. Does it really need to be perfect? If so, maybe concentrate on the next one being perfect? If its drinkable, its not a failure. I get we all want to make great wine, but, its silly to...

Walking passed a local grocer knocking off big unripe eating pears for 80cents a kg. Spontaneously bought 15 kgs. Ripened them up for 3-4 days, chopped them into pieces and tipped them into a big bucket. Added 8 liters of water, pectin enzyme, yeast nutrient, 3 kg sugar and k-meta. Next day...

Good for you Bodenski. I've enjoyed your posts, learned some stuff from them. Keep it going. You know all that delicious drink you've now made will soon enough be gone. Back to the boiler for you, mate.

Dont suppose you could upload a photo?

I've made, maybe a hundred, batches from freshly picked wild blackberries, as the OP questioned, and i reckon its good to gently mash the fruit and add boiling, or near boiling, water and also k-meta once its cooled a bit. (i dont use a fruit bag for fresh blackberries) The big question is...

Yeah, for short turn arounds plastic is fine but you have to degass properly thoroughly and use the chems and clearing additives in carefully measured quantities otherwise you can get stuck with a batch that either doesnt clear or is fizzy and bottling is not at all desirable when a batch is...

Yep, Dragons Blood is the go mate. One month if everything is done right. Although going from bucket to bottle would be a challenge in my opinion. For me its roughly 2 weeks in bucket then two weeks in carboy(s), then bottle. You have to degas, at the very least.

I love Blackberry wine, i reckon it makes the best red wine style grapeless beverage out there. Sounds to me like the OP process is ok but you need that hydrometer. Dont know about you Nth American folk but down here in southern Australia we go out into the mountains pick bucket loads of wild...

If you keep everything clean and drink the wine within a few months of making i think its highly unlikely you'll have a problem. I made a batch of DB without additives and it was fine but also entirely consumed 6-7 weeks after pitching yeast. (1g batch) Having said that, i normally always use...

The activity is probably c02. You might consider some serious degassing if you want to bottle in the next month or two. It'll also help it to clear. Did you add bentonite?