Blackberry Welch's Farmers Pick Juice Recipe

[MarkTX]

Today I started a 6 gallon batch of Welch's Blackberry Juice wine because I found it as a clearance product at Aldi Foods. The bottle label is called "Farmer's Pick Blackberry". The label boasts nothing artificial, no preservatives, unfiltered 100% juice & no sugar added. Contents are: 1 grape juice; 2 pear juice; 3 blackberry juice & puree; 4 citric acid for tartness.

I want to figure out a decent recipe. Looking for your thoughts.

16 bottles of juice was around 5 gallons in primary bucket w SG of 1.055 (7.2% potential alcohol). I added in sugar to get to a SG of 1.100 (13.4% potential alcohol) & added water to get to 6 gallons.

Because it's first ingredient is grape juice followed by pear & blackberry, I am adding 1/2 tsp tannin per gallon.

Then I stirred in 1 tsp pectic enzyme per gallon & put a loose lid on it.

The 4th / last ingredient listed is "citric acid for tartness" so how much acid blend is needed? I used ph test strips & it was 3.6 although I wonder if the dark purple juice modifies the test strip color. 3.6 tells me I don't need to add acid but am I correct?

Tomorrow night, after the pectic enzyme has had time to work, I will add yeast nutrient & yeast - red star montrachet.

I sanitized the primary beforehand. Do I need to add any K-meta before it goes into secondary?

Thoughts?

 

[dorfie]

Ok so on the acid front I am not sure, i have always measured in Total Acid percent (TA) so i am not sure about your Ph. all i know is that wine Ph can vary quite a bit from 2.9 to 3.9, so not sure what the Ph of 3.6 means for that.
K-meta wise, i would have added some before or when you added the pectic enzyme, that way the juice would have been sterilized and protected from oxidation while the enzyme worked. i wouldn't add any until the wine is transferred to secondary and is finished fermenting otherwise you rise making your ferment stick, or not start at all.
Oh! just looked at your post again and noticed that you are using montrachet yeast. i do really like this yeast, but you might want to consider adding your nutrients in two. so add half at the beginning and half at around 1.05 or so. your S.G. is in the upper range of the culture, so i am not sure if that yeast will take it all the way dry. come to think of it you probably want to up the nutrient since it already requires a fair amount, and it is a higher gravity must.
Have Fun!

 

[Stressbaby]

I wouldn't add any acid preferment. You can add it later if needed.

 

[MarkTX]

Ok so on the acid front I am not sure, i have always measured in Total Acid percent (TA) so i am not sure about your Ph. all i know is that wine Ph can vary quite a bit from 2.9 to 3.9, so not sure what the Ph of 3.6 means for that.
K-meta wise, i would have added some before or when you added the pectic enzyme, that way the juice would have been sterilized and protected from oxidation while the enzyme worked. i wouldn't add any until the wine is transferred to secondary and is finished fermenting otherwise you rise making your ferment stick, or not start at all.
Oh! just looked at your post again and noticed that you are using montrachet yeast. i do really like this yeast, but you might want to consider adding your nutrients in two. so add half at the beginning and half at around 1.05 or so. your S.G. is in the upper range of the culture, so i am not sure if that yeast will take it all the way dry. come to think of it you probably want to up the nutrient since it already requires a fair amount, and it is a higher gravity must.
Have Fun!

Thanks for the input. I will add the nutrient in stages. This yeast has a 13 - 15% alcohol range so if it ferments semisweet and dies, so be it. I didn't add K-meta up front because I am assuming the bottled juice is pasteurized / all equipment is sanitized and wanted the pectic enzyme to work to it's best. I have read in a couple places that K-meta has a negative effect on the pectic enzyme. http://winemakersacademy.com/pectic-enzymes-wine/