Black Raspberry / Malbec Experiment

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BABRU

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I have a recipe that turns out excellent 6 gallon batches of black raspberry wine from berries picked from my own vines after aging for 2-3 years (if it lasts that long). Another family favorite is Malbec made from Chilean 6 gallon buckets of juice. Recently I obtained a Wine Expert Selection Chilean Malbec 16L wine kit. My thought is that this kit might need some tweaking so as not to be disappointing given the success I have had with the juice and berry wines. So I was thinking of starting with a 1/3 batch (2 gallon) of blackberry from my berry supply then making up the balance of the 6 gallon batch with the Malbec kit. This is what I was thinking; any thoughts or comments will be appreciated::
Day 1 -
7-8 pounds of berries in straining bag
7 quarts of water
4.5 pounds of sugar
1 tsp acid blend
1 tsp pectic enzme
1/4 tsp tannin
2 crushed campden tablets
2 tsp yeast nutrient
Smash berries (inside bag) and mix well
Day 2 -
Add Malbec Kit ingredients and enough water to fill just over 6 gallon line in primary
Pitch Kit yeast and ferment until dry SG=0.990 or thereabout
Day 10 or more -
Rack to carboy
Re-rack every 3 months or so
Day 365 or more -
Wine should have cleared and degassed itself and be ready to bottle.
 
caution when you add the malbec kit check your sg,I think you will find it quite high. the kit requires at least 7 liters of water to getto 22 brix, you have close to the water required but you also added another 4.5 lbs of sugar. I would wait until kit is added to berries before adding any sugar, also the kit is balanced, acid blend would also not be required. good luck
 
Good comment on the sugar. I will wait to add sugar until I check SG after adding the kit. Glad I posted here. Thank you! Not sure about the acid blend though. I thought it would be needed due to using the berries.
 
I guess I was really saying is check for the need to add acid, post berry addition. black raspberry will have there own acid notes and they may be sufficient . if not may be best post fermentation once wine is clear and before bottling to adjust acid with bench trials to taste.
 
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