Adding must/fruit mid primary fermentation

[InfinityOnHigh]

It's blackberry/wineberry season in PA, and I've decided to try my hands at making a wild berry wine. I'm not a complete novice, but I'm still rather new to winemaking. I've attached the recipe I made, in case that matters.

I decided to make 1 gallon, which would require about 3.5 quarts of berries. I miscalculated how many berries I would be able to forage, and instead ended up with only 1 quart. Since blackberries don't last very long after picking, I decided to go ahead with making the wine. Now, 2 days later into primary fermentation, I'm starting to see more blackberries ripen. I want to pick more berries and add them to the batch to make up the missing berries. Does anyone have any advice for this situation? Should there be things I look out for, should I increase the period of fermentation, etc?

Any other info necessary I'll happily give.

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

Waiting for some seasoned veterans to chime in but it can change your SG with the added natural sugars and maybe slow down fermentation a bit. For future reference freezing fruit until you have enough does no harm, and actually often extracts the juice/sugars better

 

[winemaker81]

I miscalculated how many berries I would be able to forage, and instead ended up with only 1 quart

Did you make the recipe with 1 qt berries instead of 3.5? If so, add the berries, as the wine will be thin. Way thin.

If you scaled the recipe to the berry amount, let the wine do it's thing. Freeze the new berries until you get more.

 

[InfinityOnHigh]

If you scaled the recipe to the berry amount, let the wine do it's thing. Freeze the new berries until you get more.

I didn't scale it.

 

[winemaker81]

I didn't scale it.

With 1/4 the fruit, you'll get a very thin wine, so add more fruit. Adding fruit in mid-ferment is not ideal, but you can achieve a good result. Keep us posted with your status.

As @FlamingoEmporium said, in the future, freeze the fruit until you have enough.

 

[BigDaveK]

My blackberry harvest is usually 2-3 weeks long. Freeze like the others said.

Blackberries have less than 10 gr sugar in a cup so there will be very little affect on SG.

I'm wondering about your acid amount, many variables - size of lemon, acid in berries.

I transfer to secondary rather than rack, pouring everything through a mesh bag. Adding water to top up will dilute your wine and you want to minimize that.

Don't treat your 10 day in primary as a rule but a guideline - watch the SG. I seem to have very active ferments and usually transfer to secondary after 4 days.

I'm really curious how the late addition of berries will affect the flavor!!!! I may have to try this out of curiosity. Keep us posted!!