BLACKBERRY WINE

[Guest]

09 January 2008 at 010:34am: (Day 34)<?amespace prefix = o ns = "urnchemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />
The must temp is 76° today. The cellar temp today is 55°. The outdoor temp is 66°. Racked the wine again from a light deposit.
I cooked down the berries slowly today. Setting was 1 because #1.5 was boiling the mix. Man do they smell wonderful.
I did not mash, but stirred them and allowed the heat to breakdown the fruit.
I added 9 oz of the must to the 3 oz of essence i had45 minutes later and set it off to cool.
I gently squeezed the straining bag out and added the potassium sorbate it to the F/Pac and then poured it into the carboy.
S.G.= 1.000 now.
Still a bit less sweet than I’d like but smoother and fruitier. Added 1 cup sugar in equal amount of must.
S.G.= 1.002 Brix = 0.5now.
Added another 1 cup sugar in equal amount of must.
S.G.= 1.006 Brix = 1.5now.
Fantastic aroma! Very smooth and just the right sweetness!
FRAKIN PERFECT!!! Tastes Fantastic! Absolutely exactly what I was looking for and possibly better.
Topped off with ½ cup of purified water &amp; bunged again.
Thanks to all who contributed to the advice.


Next is 6 gals of Raspberry, currently waiting paitently on the shelf for opening and mixing end of the month.
After that....
Sooo many fruits, so little time.

 

[JWMINNESOTA]

Its always great when they turn out like you want / planed!

 

[Wade E]

That just sounds goooooooooooood!

 

[joeswine]

HOW TRUE ,HOW TRUE,

 

[Guest]

So many fruits, so little time. I may not touch a grape till next year.<?amespace prefix = o ns = "urnchemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />

Hey guys… Where are you all storing your bulk ageing wines prior to bottling, 76° in the house, or cellaring at 55° ?

My next venture, will be a cianti style, raspberry.
A conversation sipping wine like the Blackberry, semi-sweet, semi dry.

I'll be starting that towards the end of the month.

I think after that, I'll try the BlackCurrrent that everyone's raving about.

After that, I'm going to try a pear wine. Marcy wants to try that oneand as we guys allknow, what Mama wants is what Mama gets so Daddy canget what he wants too.
I’m looking forward to season this year. I now have picking access to several grape and fruit vineyards. That should be exciting (purple feet and all). I’ll be asking more questions about the types of grapes and wine results soon folks.

 

[joeswine]

WELL&lt;in my case they already set for a minim of 6/8 moths.finished,then I bottle everything ,if you take into account how many different times of the year that I can make I need to keep my fermenters open ,thats why I go right to bottles,which in between time gives me time to dislable or fine the funds to buy the bottles and sanatize them,so that I can keep moving on,bottles always' this way you can enjoy your effort or have someone else enjoy your work when ever you wish to hand out a bottle or two and as you progress you'll find out you will give it out,for sure

 

[Guest]

ZOWIE!!!


I bottled 30 bottles of my blackberry tonight and came out with 1/2 bottle extra which I am delightfully, sipping away as I write.
Of the three batches I've made to date, This batch is by far, the best I have ever tasted.
It represents everything I've ever thought a Blackberry wine should taste like and possibly a smidge more.
But I'm bragging

.
Anyway.
On to the darkness of cellaring for another 6 months and then we'll see again.


Thanks once again to all who contributed to this effort. Especially Joe.


On to Raspberry!!!

 

[joeswine]

THANKS HANDYMAN454,it was my pleasure

 

[Guest]

Well...
I left them babies sit upright for a day to dry out the cork and seat it good then retired them to their horizontalbeds for the next 6 months.


Funny. It's much easier to resist the alure of the wine when they're sleeping beneath the house than when it's sitting 8 feet away from you in an open carboy.


Raspberry this weekend!!!

 

[Waldo]

Sneak down there while ther asleep and get us a picture of them babies handyman

 

[Guest]

Northern:


Went down below quietly this evening and snapped a couple shots.
That's them in the box (running outa room in my rack), the right rack and part of the left rack. There's 30 all total.

While I was down there though, one of the little guys woke up and sat up groggilly...

But I cood him right back to laying down and going back tosleep!


Sweet dreams my little darlings. See you this fall.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Shhhhh!!!! They are resting.


How cold is it down under there????

 

[Guest]

At the moment we have snow outside (31 deg), about an inch and a bit more expected through the night.
Down under though, it's a nice crisp 55 deg.


How are you guys faring out?

 

[NorthernWinos]

-19.5*F at this hour...Warm and toasty inside.....


Warding off Cabin Fever watching the Barret Jackson Car Auction.....Wealth is not distributed evenly in this country!

 

[Guest]

[chuckling considerably]


Yea. Perhaps.


But...


Wealth is likewine.
Not enough and your life sucks.
Enough and youdesire more.
More than enough and you're life is fulfilling.
Too much and your life sucks again.


The trouble is in either stopping at "enough" orgetting to"more than enough" without crossing over into "too much."


Happiness and excitement is found in the journey. The destination is just an anti-climax.


Keep your ears warm and send out lots of emails. Company is just a couple keystrokes away.

 

[grapeman]

We are doing better here. It's a brisk -2* presently with a high of 12 expected. We still have adequate insulating snow cover at about 12 inches after the thaw a week or ten days ago. The snows come in quick little 1-4 inch bursts now. We are down to about 3 months of winter left- maybe more maybe less.

 

[joeswine]

HANDYMAN 454//HI GUY haven't forgot their packed and ready to go ,but I started ripping out my masterbath for rehab and getting ready for the tile people and low and behold at the top of the steps waiting to come to you one blackberry and a razz,to the post office this week for sure my friend,glad to see you first born are doing alwright jp

 

[Miss Rocky]

Handyman....do you have a label designed for those sweet babies yet?

 

[Guest]

As a matter of fact Miss Rocky, I do indeedy have a lable for them!

I took the idea from several wine labels that I'd seen in the grocery store and used Paint Shop Pro 3 to make it.


I copiedthe pic and the backgroundfromdiferent Websites, cut and pasted them to a new image, added the text and...


Taaaa Daaaa!


Here it is.


The back label was done the same way.

I'm in the process now of putting together my Raspberry Wine label which will have a similar format.

 

[grapeman]

Nice label handyman. It looks great and I love your back label. I only say the following because I want it to be perfect. Check the spelling of the word discobveries. I do that all the time-hit tewo keys at once(like that).Discoveries......