Blackberry wine - tannins and acid?

Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum

Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Jun 11, 2021
Messages
59
Reaction score
103
I am starting a batch of blackberry wine. I was just having a look at some recipes and I'm wondering, do I actually need to add tannin? I'm adding a small amount of red grape concentrate to the primary fermentation and blackberries do have natural tannins. I'm worried about it becoming too much....
 
You don't really need it. Brewing can be really easy or complicated depending on your final goal really. Most of these things are about dialing in on the quality, clarity, taste or providing a better fermentation. But truth be told you can make a really good brew with the very basics. Obviously the more love and precision you put into it the less likely your going to be suprised with the end result or have something nasty happen. Sometimes it's just fun to knock something up and see what happens.

In all honesty I don't get to fancy with it unless I'm making something special. 90% of the time I just throw fruit and yeast in a bucket and let it do its thing. I would be heavily criticised by this community if they saw the lack of care I put into my avarge brew. Most the time I don't even bother taking a reading since I kinda know where the % will fall.
 
I agree with @DarrenUK , wine is an ancient beverage which has lots of variations, ,,, and most of my fruit wines do not have tannin.
one would add tannin to:
* improve the resistance to oxidation
* modify the flavor to provide long flavor notes
* modify flavor to add complexity
* as an accident because it was present in one of the tools as an oak barrel or ingredients as red grape skins
 
@Cherry Puffling, A more pertinent question is "why do we add tannin to fruit wines?"

Among the reasons are increased structure, increased mouthfeel, better taste, and longer shelf life. The first 3 points run together -- the tannin gives the wine a "backbone" that improves flavor. The last point is that tannin is an anti-oxidant the protects the wine and gives it a longer lifespan.

Some fruit wines taste like Kool-Aid to me, having sugar, flavor, and alcohol, but lacking in that "oomph" that grape wines have. Look at a lot of fruit wine recipes -- they call for adding tea, a source of tannin.

Elderberries have tannin levels pretty close to red grapes. Blackberries and blueberries are supposed to be close to red grape levels.

To answer your question -- I don't expect that adding 250 ml grape concentrate to a 6 liter batch of blackberry is going to be a problem. In your other thread I suggested doing 1 batch with and 1 without -- that will provide you with an answer that may apply to all future batches.

Obviously the more love and precision you put into it the less likely your going to be suprised with the end result or have something nasty happen.
Exactly. Some of the guys that taught me pulled lugs of grapes off the train (I was in northern New York state, grapes came from California by train), crushed them, threw them in the barrel, and let nature take its course. Some years this wine was the best -- unfortunately, just as often the wine was mediocre and sometimes poor. OTOH, the guys that put more structure into winemaking consistently produced good wines, often exceptional ones.

A professional winemaker commented that, "Wine makes itself. We merely guide it along." Or words to that effect. I've found that to be very true.
 
For a datapoint, Vintner's Harvest blackberry fruit base has a 5 gallon recipe that calls for 1/2 tsp wine tannin. But, the 3 gallon recipe does not include tannin.

That would lead me to think that the tannin is there to improve mouthfeel and structure for a thin wine.
 
* it is easy to do too much tannin, then what? other view web order a soft tannin as FT Rouge which will not kill the flavor and use as much as you want
* yesterday I added glycerin to northern grapes to modify tannin/ aggressive/ bitter front notes
* tannin is an anti oxidants so always useful
* I am using a lot of crab apple tannin to provide long lasting flavor notes to make the wine “memorable” when judged in contest, ,,,, it also hides early acetaldehyde notes

For a datapoint, Vintner's Harvest blackberry fruit base has a 5 gallon recipe that calls for 1/2 tsp wine tannin. But, the 3 gallon recipe does not include tannin.

That would lead me to think that the tannin is there to improve mouthfeel and structure for a thin wine.
 
Back
Top