Blackberry Wine

[univity]

I started some blackberry wine around early Jan with a bunch of frozen blackberries I picked over the summer. I am not sure if it is good to use frozen ones that are then thawed and mashed into juicy - got a lot more juice than I expected from them, which is a good thing. I have made a bunch of kits but thisis my first from-scratch wine. I just racked it again and gave it a taste - it seems pretty harsh right now - is that normal? Should I do anything to induce malolactic fermentation (sp?) - from what I am tasting and reading that is what needs to happen - that and time.


Here is basically what I did - loosely followed a recipe


1. I let the juice and the berries (in straining bag) hang out in primary fermenter with crushed campden for a day
2. Put in yeast, nutrient, some acid blend, sugar til it was about 1.08sg - stirred a little every day - took about 3 days to get all bubbly
3. Once it hit 1.04 I racked it to carboy with some stabilizer - after about a week-ish it stopped bubbling and was at .998sg - I just let it chil
4. I just racked it to basically siphon off the stuff on the bottom and taste it - its a bit dry and harsh (kinda burns a little as it goes down) - I want it to be a semi sweet wine
5. I added about 3/4 cup sugar (to sweeten a bit)and stabilizer and degassed it a bit - how long should I let it sit?




I also have a Pumkin Spice wine in pretty much the same situation (my base 'fruit' was pumkin pie filling, cinnamon sticks, raising, fresh ginger root - found the recipe online)


I used corn sugar as the sugar - what kind of sugar should I use?

 

[Wade E]

Corn sugar is OK but I usually use plain old table sugar. If the Blackberry wine is just harsh then it just needs time which typically 6 months to a year will make quite a difference. If it tastes really tart then that would be acid in which you could do 1 of a few things. If you have added k-meta or campden after starting fermentation then that will rule out Malo-lactic fermentation. What you can do is submit your wine to very cool temps for a few months to cold stabilize the wine, this will make your wine drop wine diamonds to the bottom of the carboy. You could also try using Calcium Bi Carbonate to lower the acidity of your wine but before you do this get an acid test kit and see if this really needs doing.
At SG 1.04, what exactly did you add to this wine as adding k-meta or sorbate before a wine is done fermenting will not stop a fermentation. These chemicals are designed to stop re fermentation and would only work to stop a fermentation in very excessive doses which we would not encourage you adding to your wine.

 

[touchtoomuch]

part of the harshness is probably because you added acid. Blackberries generally are acidic enough that no acid additions are needed. Some recipes may call for it, but one should really test the must and see first...The other part is the fact that it is a young wine. Blackberry generally starts getting better at about 5 months and keeps getting better for approx a year...... Mine always tastes like rocket fuel at first and then all of the sudden after a few months, BAM it starts to change! AS far as Malolactic fermentation goes,,,, My understanding is that is for grape wines and shouldn't be done on fruit/country wines.....Edited by: touchtoomuch

 

[Wade E]

Actually, Blackberry is 1 of the only country wines that can sometimes benefit from MLF due to its high concentration of malic acid but should not be done if any S02 has been added since fermentation.

 

[NorthernWinos]

All this chatter about Blackberry Wine the resident Sommelier [me] went to the cellar and chose a Blackberry Wine to compliment tonight's dinner of tacos [what can I say, that's what's for dinner]

This wine had a Birthday in the bottle in March...It was a Vintners Harvest Blackberry Fruit Base and 2 bottles of WinExpert Red Grape Concentrate per 5 gallons....added were the 'Usual Cast of Characters' that we all add to our wines....this one was different. Upon completion of fermentation it had a distinct Sulfur smell...it was hard to get it past your nose for a few months....If you would decant it for a couple hours it was fine.

Now...it is a very nice wine, smells fruity, tastes fine...Going down real nice with dessert of chocolate [what can I say...haven't had time to go to the store lately...so it's chocolate for dessert]

Give your Blackberry wine some time...I thought this one was a 'dumper' for awhile....Now, it is very nice.

Have a friend from Hayward Wisconsin...he has a freezer with some Blackberries in it and wants to go shares on some wine....What would be an appropriate split????

 

[Wade E]

If hes got enough to do a full batch then 1/2 would be my answer as Blackberries are expensive around my area. My friend has 27 new black currant bushes going and 12 more that are a year old already and wants me to ferment them after trying my Black currant wine. Probably wont have enough to do a batch next year but the following year should be promising and Ill be splitting whatever I make out of it in half with him..

 

[NorthernWinos]

I was thinking half too....will run that by him and see what he thinks.

He always brings maple syrup and wild rice....So it's all good.....a little Blackberry wine will be nice too.

 

[univity]

Thanks for all the advice - I added acid cuz the recipe called for it but prolly shoulda tested it first (newb error 1) - I added the stabilizer after primary fermentation just because that is what I have done with the kit wine (prolly newb error 2) Thanks for the advice - so i learned something (I think) - sulphites prevent MF? (pls be gentile on my newbness- ive made about 15 kit wines but anyone who can follow instructions and clean/sanitize tools well can do that)

 

[Wade E]

MLF is another fermentation so adding sulfites will hinder that. You stated in your 1st post that you stabilized at 1.04 you racked and stabilized, did you mean 1.004? There are no kits that tell you to add anything at 1.040 with maybe the exception of a port telling you to add some corn sugar to get a higher abv as ports do. Primary fermentation is the whole fermentation that takes place in Primary bucket and carboy until it reaches 1.000 or below. MLF or making a Sparkling wine where you add more yeast and or sugar into bottles and have the wine start fermenting again is considered a secondary fermentation.Hope this helps you. Im thinking you thought that being in the bucket was primary fermentation and being in the carboy was secondary ferm. When making country wines or any wines not from a kit you really should have a test kit as most recipes are adjusted to the fruits they bought and that can vary considerably from region to region and even from the same area. The fruits ripeness alone will require quite an adjustment in your addition to sugar and acid. Recipes are a guideline and not set in stone, you should have all the ingredients ready but may not need all or may need more depending on your test results.

 

[univity]

Yes you are right on both counts - my numbers are off and my grasp of the winemaking vernacular is still a bit off.


Regarding sweetening: is it best to do that over time or wait til everything is aged and then sweeten shortly before bottling time?


I sweetened the blackberry once but I'm afraid that wasnt a good idea to do just yet.


The Pumkin wine recipe I found has you add sugar and stabilizer , wait 90 days, taste, add again (if not yet at desired sweetness). The only problem is since the wine is young it is hard to tell the sweetness over the bite that you get from the young wine. I started it last Nov and just tasted it over the weekend - the flavor is definitely getting much smoother - not sure if I should add some sugar now or wait another 3 months or so. It is very dry and I want it to be a sweeter wine. My goal is to have it bottled for Thanksgiving this year.


Edited by: univity

 

[touchtoomuch]

sweetening it early isn't going to hurt it, however it is best to wait till it has aged 7 or 8 months or longer, and the harshness is gone, mellowed out and tasted good. Then you can sweeten to taste and not have to worry so much about adding too much sugar. It is best to age, then add sugar to almost where you like it and stop. It will mellow out further and could become to sweet for you if you sweeten exaclty how you like it too early. Hope you understand what i am saying since i kind of went around the world in 30 seconds. LOL

 

[Wade E]

Again I agree with Touch. The sweetness of a wine will come through after the harshness has settled out unlike oaking a wine where the oak will fade into a wine, in other words, the fruit takes time to become more noticeable and thats why I would wait a few months minimum before back sweetening a wine.
Edited by: wade

 

[univity]

Thanks - that's exactly what I was thinking.... after I already sweetened once - I will probably wait a while before sweetening again - I am sweetining in small increments so I dont make it too sweet.

 

[univity]

So I just taste-tested the blackberry to see how it is doing. I cannot believe how much better it tastes - it is starting to taste really good! Especially the after taste - it is tart like blakberries - the initial taste is still a tad rough but doesnt have that "diesel fuel" taste that it had last time I tried it! I am starting to get excited about how it will turn out.

 

[Wade E]

I dont think you can go wrong with Blackberries without trying to do so.

 

[univity]

Yeah - I sweetened it once - prolly did it way too early - but it doesnt taste sweet at all - I dont think I am going to sweeten it again tho.


I am definitely going to have to go on a berry picking mission next summer - it is probably too late for this year - these berries were picked over last summer and frozen - then i just dumped the frozen berries in the straining bag and mashed them up with a potato masher - as they melted - VERY juicy

 

[univity]

I just degas'd and filtered it - it is so dark and rich - and definintely goes down warm - I think that is a reminant of the "bite" that u get from young fruit wines? It tastes better each time I try it - Think I am going to let it sit for one more month then bottle it. I just used a coarse filter pad - was thinking i wasnt going to filter again - that coarse filter prolly good enough - any suggestions?

 

[Wade E]

I typically dont even filter my reds unless did I did a really bad job of racking off lees the last time. I usually rack off lees 2-3 times after primary and if on the 3rd there is still lees then I filter but almost every time there isnt anything there after the 2nd racking.

 

[joeswine]

i would never filter a black or raspberry wine just rack softly and allow the richness to come through,some otherdepending on there make up yes-but if you want to keep the integrate of the fruit don,t ..........in my oppion//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ,

 

[Guest]

Univity:


Filtering is usually only done to remove any yeast that might still be in the wine prior to botteling it.
The reason for that, and I'm going to touch on this in a minute, is you don't want the remnent yeast to come alive again after you bottle your wine. Makes a holy mess in your cellar.


When I finally learned the rule of patience in this hobby, I found that after the first rack from the primary, racking again once a month is more than sufficient to "filter" your wines to anything less thanthan amicrobic level.
Neither I, nor any of my vino conspiritorshave any yeast alergiesand as such, I abandoned the filtering considerationsa long time ago.


I usually allow my fruit wines to sit for 2 to 3 months after backsweetening,in their 6 gallon carboys under water bungs before even thinking of botteling just to make sure that all fermentation is complete. It's what I consider part of the aging process.


This process has worked well for me and my wines.


Above all else though. Be patient. Don't rush your wines. They'll reward you better with gentle love than with hasty expectations.


Handyman