Autopsy on poor raspberry

[WineYooper]

I made 6 gallons of raspberry in August and have racked twice now and sampled along the way. The taste has not improved at all. I followed the recipe and used 18# of berries. The wine is not overly sweet and alcohol seems to be good. I find that the wine has very little taste and no bouquet to it. I don't want to just dump this much and will probably drink it anyhow but am disappointed with my first try. Is it possible the taste will improve at all? I will probably try this again and am thinking maybe I need to use more berries and pay more attention to the ripeness of the berries. Any help here?
I made 6 gallons of blackberry about the same time and this is very good with a nice bouquet and tastes great almost like the cabernet that we buy. This will be made again soon with the frozen berries I still have, around 60#, so many more batches to go.

 

[MN-winer]

I am by no means an expert, but the amount of berries seems low based on what I've read.

Given thats what you have I would suggest to take a sample or two and try to see if adding a sweetener or conditioner helps. It worked for me on my Blueberry wine. I added some simple syrup (1 part water, 2 parts sugar) and it did help bring out the flavor. I've also been told that some fruit may need some time to age. The blueberry I bottled I heard takes 1-2 years to really taste good.

Hope that helps. There are more accomplished wine makers out there so hopefully someone else will chime in.

 

[mmadmikes1]

I would take about 8# of berries and make a flavor pack. That wasnt enough berries to start with. If it is sweet enough dont add sugar to F-Pack. A little sugar will bring out taste also, doesnt need much to acommplish this.

 

[Tom]

Yes make a f-pac. Next time I would bump up the fruit to 5-6# per gallon. Lower # per gallon will produce a "thin body" wine. I would also back sweeten to bring the flavor out.

 

[WineYooper]

Thanks for the replies. The recipe I used was from the winemaker's recipe handbook I got with the kit as a gift and it said 3#/gal. Looking at past postings I found Wade's recipe used 36# so I will use more next time and for now I will try the other recommended fixes.

 

[WineYooper]

Researched in the books I have and not much is mentioned about f-packs. If I use 8# of berries how much water do I add to this? From reading other threads from the past it looks like I simmer this for awhile then let cool before adding. Will I see any fermenting in the carboy after adding? As you can tell I am not familiar with this and need help. If you can direct me to any info on this it would be a big help. I have frozen blackberries I could use but no raspberries, I realize this would not help the raspberry flavour and would hope the combo might help. My other option is to buy the raspberries, pretty pricey.

 

[koda_ky]

Hi
I made a Raspberry and used 8# per gallon and it turned out really good, I would say what everyone else has said not enough fruit. just guessing here but a little simple syrup and some aging might help bring out some flavor.

 

[mmadmikes1]

dont use any water in the F-pac, mash berriesand put in a pulp bag. in Put a pan add some pectic enzyime amount depends on kind you buy but if it gives a gallon amount, go with it. allow to sit for 24 hours then add sulfit, about a 1/4 teaspoon should do, put on stove on low heat without a cover and allow it to reduse to about half. strain and add to wine after it cools. The wine may cloud up again and you will need it to settle out again. Into wine sweeten to taste. Remember it will sweeten up a little on its own with age so dont add to much. to little is better than to much

 

[mmadmikes1]

See Wade I learned from you!

 

[arcticsid]

I was kinda wondering if someone could use the juice concentrate bases in the can for backsweetiening. The stuff you use for wine, not frozen concentrate stuff.

Actually, WOULD undiluted frozen concentrate juices work for backsweetening?

 

[whine4wine]

I was kinda wondering if someone could use the juice concentrate bases in the can for backsweetiening. The stuff you use for wine, not frozen concentrate stuff.

Actually, WOULD undiluted frozen concentrate juices work for backsweetening?

I just bought some frozen concentrates that I was thinking of using. I mean, why not?

 

[medicman427]

I have used good ol Welch's white and red grape conentrate depending on what I making and it works out great. Adding cane sugar or make a syrup and you will also find that the taste of the berry will return most of the time

 

[NSwiner]

If that worked you could use the type of fruit juice that your wine was made of like raspberry juice .

 

[mmadmikes1]

I have used frozen concentrate and it works, being said you may not need the amount of sugar in the concentrate.