apple, blackberry wine.. err I think.

[dribron]

Hey all, just joined your site, but have been lurking around for some time. Anyway I use to brew beer, then got into hard cider for a bit. For a long while I wanted to try my hand at wine making. So over the last few days I went for it. Here's what I did.
I started with one gallon fresh cider, and added three pounds fresh black berrys to it, ( in strainer bag)
After a S.G. test I found the must to be 1.050 so I added about two pound of sugar bringing it to 1.080. An acid test put it about .65-.70%, so I left that. I added one camden tablet that had been crushed and let it go for a day. I also started a yeast starter with some of the must, the yeast, and a touch of yeast starter.
The next day I rechecked the S.G. and added pectic enzime and tossed the yeast.

So does eveerything seem okay so far... or have I messed up somewhere? I can say that it smells pretty good..

 

[JohnT]

Seems to me that you did everything perfectly.

Did you taste the must before fermentation? Did it taste good?

 

[dribron]

It acually tasted great, had to pull a cup for myself...

 

[dribron]

I have about five or six pounds of cheerys that were given to me in the freezer, pitted of course. I hope to do something with them next...

 

[JohnT]

It looks like you are doing everything right. I would only suggest that you toss in some yeast neutriant.

 

[dribron]

Oh I may have forgotten to memtion.. I did, I belive it said in the bottel 1tsp per gallon.

 

[Julie]

Hi Dribron

Welcome to winemamkingtalk. By the sounds of it you are doing pretty good, this sounds like it is going to be pretty good wine. The only thing I would suggest is START ANOTHER ONE, QUICK. Trust me, you really need to.

 

[dribron]

As soon as I can recover my bucket.... lol

 

[mmadmikes1]

With apple and Blackberry you have to use Pectic enzymes if you want it to clear. 3/4 teaspoon per gallon. It is not to late, add it

 

[dribron]

It was added before the yeast starter... Cannot remember how much. I used the liqued type.

 

[SBWs]

Caught My Eye

Something you wrote caught my eye. You said the SG of the must was 1.050 and then you added about 2 pounds of sugar to a SG of 1.080. It would only take about 11 ozs of sugar to raise the SG that far in a 1 gal batch. Is this batch bigger than 1 gallon?

 

[dribron]

I could have been wrong... but close.. fist I added 1 pound, measured it came to ~1.060, I then added more not sure how much exactly to bring it to 1.080. I remeasured it the next morning, it still sets at 1.080. It is 1.5 gallons not 1 gallon.