blackberries... steam-juice or not?

[Ken914]

Let's just say that 25 pounds of BB fell into my lap today. I'm thinking hard about making 5g of wine.

1. Is 25 pounds going to be enough for 5g? JK's full-bodied recipe recommends 6 pounds. If not, I'll use 20 pounds and just make 3g.

2. To steam-juice or just use a fruit bag? These little buggers have such fine seeds that will go right through the holes. I learned that the hard way when I made my 3-berry wine.

 

[Deezil]

I would just put them in a bag and add pectic enzyme.. the seeds will find their way out in time, just don't wanna break too many of them up. Thats how i did it with my blackberry-cherry wine, came out wonderfully.

Were it me, i'd try for 3 gallons with all 25lbs if the TA isnt too high, but thats just me You could save the 5lbs for an f-pack though..

 

[Tom]

I like a f-pac in my Blackberry so, make 3-4 gal and save 5# for a f-pac.

 

[Ken914]

Hi Tom,

Thank you for the answer... but it leads to another question:

Why should I do an f-pac, if I'm using enough fruit up front?

 

[Tom]

AllI can say is TASTE it. If you are happy you need no "flavor" pac. If you like more flavor then I suggest a f-pac.

 

[Tom]

You will find that fermentation will lose alot of berry flavor. Most here will make a f-pac to bring the fruit forward.

 

[Runningwolf]

I agree with Tom and that is why they include them in wine kits also.

 

[SBWs]

Most fruit wines need some sweetness so you might as well add a little flavor at the same time. I use steamed juice most of the time and always keep some pint jars for this purpose. I mix in a cup of sugar and simmer down. Then because I haven't got a full grip on the patience thing yet, I toss in a few ice cubes to cool it and add to the wine a little at a time until I get what I want. Maybe not a real favor pac but it's been working for me. Like I said I use mostly steamed juice so I'd say if you have a juicer go this way. With my juicer I get about a pint per pound of fruit. So I use 3 quarts juice (6 lbs berries) to 1 quart water for each gallon of wine I'm making. One last thing, with Blackberries you will find the acid level can sometimes be high, using Lalvin 71B will help.

 

[Ken914]

Thank you, gentlemen... I used an f-pak on all my wines last year.

Then, the idea of front-loading the fruit seemed to make more sense. I'll be sure to get more f-paks made up.

 

[CrashPat]

I think I ended up putting 30# of blackberries in my batch last year. I prefer blackberry wine dry so I don't add any f-pak and it works great for me. If you wanted a sweeter wine I guess you could add an f-pak, but blackberry does very well without it in my experience.

 

[mmadmikes1]

Now the last opionin tonight. I like it dry so I dont stabilize before adding an F-Pak. My F Pak gets no added sugar, just berrys. If you add the berrys late they will not loss their flavor. I would make 5 gallon batch and go pick some more berrys, about 5 pounds and use that for the F-Pak. I think Blackberry is one of the few berry wine that are great dry. What ever you do, don't make it into sweet girl wine. Hell of a waste of Black Berries