BlackBerry wine

[silverbullet07]

I’m new to wine making and researching for my first couple of wines to start with.
I would like to do a blackberry. I like mine real dark and blackberry. Most recipes call for 4lb to a gal. Is that enough to make real dark And blackberry? Would double or triple be better? wondering how much to buy.

another question is the recipe says it make 1 gal. 4lb blackberry and 7 pints of water. So if we are right at 1 gal juice when we rack to secondary will we be short and have to much space in the top of a 1 gal jug?

 

[hounddawg]

I’m new to wine making and researching for my first couple of wines to start with.
I would like to do a blackberry. I like mine real dark and blackberry. Most recipes call for 4lb to a gal. Is that enough to make real dark And blackberry? Would double or triple be better? wondering how much to buy.

another question is the recipe says it make 1 gal. 4lb blackberry and 7 pints of water. So if we are right at 1 gal juice when we rack to secondary will we be short and have to much space in the top of a 1 gal jug?

check out homewinery.com they make 55 different concentrates but unlike normal concentrates it is also reduced, they say each concentrate is good for 5 gallons, nope each is good for 4 gallon, i buy 3 concentrates, in my ferment barrel i add 12 gallons of water plus the 3 half gallon concentrates, that gives you 13.5 gallon in ferment barrel, now i keep 16oz, 32oz, 64oz, and 1 gallon jugs with 38-400 threads, these i use for topping off at each rocking, all use the same size drilled bung 6.5 so once your ferment is over then you put your must into carboys and the extra in your top off jugs all of which will be airlocked, now if you only wish to do i 6 gallon carboy you can call them and order 1 concentrate plus 2 pints, or if you want to do a 5 gallon buy 1 concentrate plus 1 pint of same concentrate, online they only sell in half gal concentrates, you must make your entire order on the phone to get pints, when i have homegrown blackberries i go at least 6 lb per gallon, mine are all but black in color even when held up to the brite sun, you pick the ABV you want, ferment dry, .996ish, then rack every couple 3 months till all gasses are gone and all lees ,sediment gone, then backsweeten to your desired sweetness, on country wines the sweeter the ore like the taste to berry of fruit, mine at bottling time has a SG of 1.040
BTW i use small universel bungs for my glass carboys, that bung you can turn upside down and it will fit a clear wine bottle to airlock,
Dawg

 

[hounddawg]

if you are doing smaller batches then order 1 concentrate use 1 pint to one gallon water that's 1 gallon must plus 1 pint of top off must, so when you rack you'll have that extra for topping off with. BTW welcome to WMT,,,
Dawg

 

[user 36973]

Most recipes call for 4lb to a gal

If you plan to use fruit, more is better in most cases. In other words, only add water if needed to intentionally reduce the flavor.

When I make blackberry, I don't add water and that means it takes about 10lbs or so of fruit per gallon. Even then, the flavor is rich, delicious and not overwhelming. Same for blueberry, strawberry, etc.

The only problem with fruit wines is that the pH, acid and sugar are not necessarily where they should be for wine. So you will need the equipment to measure your acid and sugar (and pH if you can) so you can make the corrections.

Fruit wines can be more challenging but are wonderful when are done.

 

[silverbullet07]

check out homewinery.com they make 55 different concentrates but unlike normal concentrates it is also reduced, they say each concentrate is good for 5 gallons, nope each is good for 4 gallon, i buy 3 concentrates, in my ferment barrel i add 12 gallons of water plus the 3 half gallon concentrates, that gives you 13.5 gallon in ferment barrel, now i keep 16oz, 32oz, 64oz, and 1 gallon jugs with 38-400 threads, these i use for topping off at each rocking, all use the same size drilled bung 6.5 so once your ferment is over then you put your must into carboys and the extra in your top off jugs all of which will be airlocked, now if you only wish to do i 6 gallon carboy you can call them and order 1 concentrate plus 2 pints, or if you want to do a 5 gallon buy 1 concentrate plus 1 pint of same concentrate, online they only sell in half gal concentrates, you must make your entire order on the phone to get pints, when i have homegrown blackberries i go at least 6 lb per gallon, mine are all but black in color even when held up to the brite sun, you pick the ABV you want, ferment dry, .996ish, then rack every couple 3 months till all gasses are gone and all lees ,sediment gone, then backsweeten to your desired sweetness, on country wines the sweeter the ore like the taste to berry of fruit, mine at bottling time has a SG of 1.040
BTW i use small universel bungs for my glass carboys, that bung you can turn upside down and it will fit a clear wine bottle to airlock,
Dawg

Thanks Dawg. Lots of good information to think about. My local wine brew store carries the Vintner's Harvest Fruit Puree. Not sure how that compares to what you stated above.

I found this recipe which calls for 6 lbs of blackberries. They call it a full body blackberry wine Which sounds more what I like.

Could I follow this recipe below for my first try? I will triple it for a 3 gal batch. I purchased 18lbs of frozen blackberries last night. For the yeast, I have Red star primer classique Montrachet

Blackberry Wine – Full-Bodied
One Gallon
• 6 lb. Blackberries
• 2.5 lb. Sugar (5 cups)
• 1⁄2 tsp. Pectic Enzyme
• 1⁄2 tsp. Acid Blend
• 1 tsp. Yeast Nutrient
• One Campden Tablet
• One Gallon of Water
• One Package of Yeast


Sanitize all equipment.
Put 1⁄2 gallon of water in a pan on the stove to boil. Stir 2 cups of the sugar into the water until well dissolved. When water begins to boil, remove from heat and set aside. Crush the fruit well and place it in a nylon fruit bag. Tie bag closed. Place juice and fruit in the primary fermentation vessel. Pour hot sugar water over the fruit bag. Add remaining water to approximately one gallon of liquid in primary fermentation vessel. Stir well. Check Specific Gravity. It should be around 1.084 to provide a wine of about 11% alcohol when fermented to dryness. If necessary or desired, add the remaining sugar to increase the SG. Add Pectic Enzyme, Acid Blend and Yeast Nutrient. Crush the Campden Tablet and add to the liquid. Stir well. Cover with a cloth and set aside for 24 hours. After 24 hours, add Yeast. (Your Yeast will be working vigorously and will need oxygen at this stage. Do not deprive them of the necessary oxygen by closing off the fermentation vessel.)
Keep in primary fermentation and covered with a cloth for about five days (SG is around 1.040), punching down the fruit every day. After five days, drain the fruit bag (do not squeeze it) and rack the wine into the secondary fermentation vessel with an air lock.

Rack at one month. Wine should be dry or near dry. Rack again at two months. At three months, rack wine again. If wine does not appear clear enough, wait an additional month and rack again. When wine appears satisfactorily clear, at racking add one campden tablet, sweeten to taste and stabilize with Sorbistat K. After two or three weeks (and ensuring that wine does not begin to re- ferment), bottle the wine. Let the wine bottles stand up for at least three days. After three days, lay bottles on their sides in a dark place for at least six months (light, sweet Blackberry wine can be drunk immediately).

 

[silverbullet07]

If you plan to use fruit, more is better in most cases. In other words, only add water if needed to intentionally reduce the flavor.

When I make blackberry, I don't add water and that means it takes about 10lbs or so of fruit per gallon. Even then, the flavor is rich, delicious and not overwhelming. Same for blueberry, strawberry, etc.

The only problem with fruit wines is that the pH, acid and sugar are not necessarily where they should be for wine. So you will need the equipment to measure your acid and sugar (and pH if you can) so you can make the corrections.

Fruit wines can be more challenging but are wonderful when are done.

Thanks for your reply
I found a Blackberry wine - Full Body I posted above. It is 6lbs Blackberry per gal. I may try it as a starter Wine and then make adjustments on the next batch based on my likes or dislikes. It may be a good starting point.

I have a ph meter coming. I have a triple scale wine hydroMeter to measure sugar. I have not been able to find clear instructions on measuring acid yet. I still need more information on that. I am thinking the PH meter will give me the information I need to make adjustments to the acid content.

The recipe I posted calls for acid blend. Blackberries are high in acid and adding more acid worries me. Maybe the water addition is lowering it enough to not worry about the additions. But if I can find more detail on measure acid I may be able to figure that out.

 

[user 36973]

I am thinking the PH meter will give me the information I need to make adjustments to the acid content.

You will also want to get calibration standards for your meter if you haven't already.

The pH meter will also let you titrate and get a measurement of TA. This is how your mouth perceives acidity. Dry wines are 5-6g/L while sweet wines are 8-10g/L, roughly speaking.

The pH of the wine affects the microbes and directs how much sulfites to add. Yeasts like a pH greater than 3.1.

You'll have to see whether you need to add acid or deacidify to achieve the right range of pH and TA.

 

[silverbullet07]

The pH meter will also let you titrate and get a measurement of TA. This is how your mouth perceives acidity. Dry wines are 5-6g/L while sweet wines are 8-10g/L, roughly speaking.

This I need more information on and how to to take the measurement. I can not seem to find that info yet.

 

[silverbullet07]

Found this video that explained the process.

 

[hounddawg]

Thanks Dawg. Lots of good information to think about. My local wine brew store carries the Vintner's Harvest Fruit Puree. Not sure how that compares to what you stated above.

I found this recipe which calls for 6 lbs of blackberries. They call it a full body blackberry wine Which sounds more what I like.

Could I follow this recipe below for my first try? I will triple it for a 3 gal batch. I purchased 18lbs of frozen blackberries last night. For the yeast, I have Red star primer classique Montrachet

Blackberry Wine – Full-Bodied
One Gallon
• 6 lb. Blackberries
• 2.5 lb. Sugar (5 cups)
• 1⁄2 tsp. Pectic Enzyme
• 1⁄2 tsp. Acid Blend
• 1 tsp. Yeast Nutrient
• One Campden Tablet
• One Gallon of Water
• One Package of Yeast


Sanitize all equipment.
Put 1⁄2 gallon of water in a pan on the stove to boil. Stir 2 cups of the sugar into the water until well dissolved. When water begins to boil, remove from heat and set aside. Crush the fruit well and place it in a nylon fruit bag. Tie bag closed. Place juice and fruit in the primary fermentation vessel. Pour hot sugar water over the fruit bag. Add remaining water to approximately one gallon of liquid in primary fermentation vessel. Stir well. Check Specific Gravity. It should be around 1.084 to provide a wine of about 11% alcohol when fermented to dryness. If necessary or desired, add the remaining sugar to increase the SG. Add Pectic Enzyme, Acid Blend and Yeast Nutrient. Crush the Campden Tablet and add to the liquid. Stir well. Cover with a cloth and set aside for 24 hours. After 24 hours, add Yeast. (Your Yeast will be working vigorously and will need oxygen at this stage. Do not deprive them of the necessary oxygen by closing off the fermentation vessel.)
Keep in primary fermentation and covered with a cloth for about five days (SG is around 1.040), punching down the fruit every day. After five days, drain the fruit bag (do not squeeze it) and rack the wine into the secondary fermentation vessel with an air lock.

Rack at one month. Wine should be dry or near dry. Rack again at two months. At three months, rack wine again. If wine does not appear clear enough, wait an additional month and rack again. When wine appears satisfactorily clear, at racking add one campden tablet, sweeten to taste and stabilize with Sorbistat K. After two or three weeks (and ensuring that wine does not begin to re- ferment), bottle the wine. Let the wine bottles stand up for at least three days. After three days, lay bottles on their sides in a dark place for at least six months (light, sweet Blackberry wine can be drunk immediately).

i go pure fruit or berry, but nothing made this year in my area way to dry, and homewinery.com is my fallback, goo\d luck
SKOAL
Dawg

 

[Scooter68]

To get directly to your initial question - With real blackberries (Wild ones at least ) you can use 5-7 lbs and get a good wine. Four (4) pounds is not enough. More is better as long as the acidity doesn't go to high. So if your pH is lower than 3.25, you might have a problem with the fermentation. I don't measure TA but prefer to go by taste. Further once fermentation is over you can adjust the acidity IF needed, but I've never had a problem with that. Houddawg make a good suggestion about concentrates. They are very good IF, and this makes a difference, IF the concentrate is a single fruit variety - Not a mix of Blackberry, Apple, Pear, Grape juice. So if you go looking for concentrates and you really want to make a BLACKBERRY wine, be sure that the concentrate you buy is not a mix of different types of juice. AND as Dawg suggests if they say its enough to make 5 gallons, go no more that 3 or 4 gallons and you will have a much better wine.
One last thing. I've not found many fruit wines that don't benefit from at least a little back-sweetening. Even if you like dry wines, you will find that just a little bit of sweetening brings out a lot of flavor. You can always test it with a 1 cup sample first before you commit to sweetening up the entire batch.

 

[silverbullet07]

Should I measure PH and TA before before Adding the 1⁄2 tsp. Acid. Seems all the Fruit recipes call for This.

 

[hounddawg]

Should I measure PH and TA before before Adding the 1⁄2 tsp. Acid. Seems all the Fruit recipes call for This.

only with country wines if you please test before yeast or before bottling check your PH and shoot for 3.6ish depending on if you want bite, 3'6ish is smooth as silk,
Dawg

 

[silverbullet07]

only with country wines if you please test before yeast or before bottling check your PH and shoot for 3.6ish depending on if you want bite, 3'6ish is smooth as silk,
Dawg

So to make sure I’m clear,
after adding berries, water and getting sugar correct shoot for
Specific Gravity 1.084
test PH if < 3.6 add some acid blend to raise PH Shoot for 3.6
Add Pectic Enzyme, Acid Blend and Yeast Nutrient. Crush the Campden Tablets and add to the liquid. Stir well. 24-48 add yeast.
when time to bottle check SG add sugar syrup to back sweet To
1.010 to 1.025 Testing for taste
check PH and TA
make adjusts before bottle.

 

[Fencepost]

Another option.... I have made straight up blackberry, and I have made Danger Dave's Dragon Blood Blackberry (with 12lbs of BBs). I actually prefer the Danger Daves... it's pretty dark when finished. But if you want it darker, I have mixed it with a cabernet I had made... and liked that even better. Do what suits your taste... this forum is great to help out with any questions at all, but always seems to comes back to "Patience" and make it so YOU enjoy it. Danger Dave's Dragon Blood is under Recipes... and it is pretty much a can't miss recipe. Good Luck and Enjoy!

 

[hounddawg]

So to make sure I’m clear,
after adding berries, water and getting sugar correct shoot for
Specific Gravity 1.084
test PH if < 3.6 add some acid blend to raise PH Shoot for 3.6
Add Pectic Enzyme, Acid Blend and Yeast Nutrient. Crush the Campden Tablets and add to the liquid. Stir well. 24-48 add yeast.
when time to bottle check SG add sugar syrup to back sweet To
1.010 to 1.025 Testing for taste
check PH and TA
make adjusts before bottle.

yes, as for TA that's more of a grape thing, i've never tested for TA, and yes before yeast balance/test your PH to 3.6ish, but then you asked about adding acid blend with Pectic enzyme and the rest of your ingredients, no more acid blend till bottling time if you need it, taste at each step so you'll train your mouth to be your second instrestment right behind your all important hydrometer
Dawg

 

[Scooter68]

Always Test the pH before adding any acid blend ! Increasing acidity is easy and relatively quick to do. Reducing acidity is a slower process and its easy to over do it.

 

[hounddawg]

this is a DDDB, made with concentrate from the site mentioned my blackberry is darker than this, this is robust, full flavored wine,
Dawg

 

[silverbullet07]

Thanks. Everyone. I been reading this info and it has help. pHiguring out pH - WineMakerMag.com

 

[silverbullet07]

Another option.... I have made straight up blackberry, and I have made Danger Dave's Dragon Blood Blackberry (with 12lbs of BBs). I actually prefer the Danger Daves... it's pretty dark when finished. But if you want it darker, I have mixed it with a cabernet I had made... and liked that even better. Do what suits your taste... this forum is great to help out with any questions at all, but always seems to comes back to "Patience" and make it so YOU enjoy it. Danger Dave's Dragon Blood is under Recipes... and it is pretty much a can't miss recipe. Good Luck and Enjoy!

Is that this recipe? But just change fruit to the 12 bb

https://www.winemakingtalk.com/threads/dangerdaves-dragon-blood-wine.41825/