Blueberry Wine is Fine!

[WineNewbie]

I started a one-gallon batch of blueberry backin February. It still needs to be racked another time and stabalized, but I was forced to sample some last night. You see....I was transferring a batch of apple from primary to glass, and realized that I had no available airlocks! Then I saw this lonely little 375ml bottle of the blueberry (with airlock)I have been using for topping offwhen racking. I checked the bottom of the jug of blueberry and saw there is very little, if any, sediment on the bottom.
So I made the executive decision that it was okay to consume the 375ml bottle of blueberry to free-up the airlock.


I poured a glass for my wife and I and was surprised at how clear and brilliantly colored this wine was. Then I swirled the glass and took a sniff...hmmm nice fruity aroma. Then I tasted and was shocked at how good this tastes already. We both enjoyed our glasses and my wife was laughing at me as I kept swirling and holding it up to the light before every sip, feeling so proud of my creation.


Looking forward to this one, and boy am I kicking myself for only making one gallon!

 

[grapeman]

Sounds great John.

It's always the one gallon batches that turn out really great. So we try to recreate it in 6 gallons, but never get it quite the same. Oh well, better keep trying........

 

[Wade E]

I hope my 6 gallon batch of Blueberry melomel comes out as good or
better than the 1 gallon batch I made. I dbled the amount of
Blueberries hoping to make this awesome as it needed just a little more
flavor but was excellent. Im glad you liked it so much John. Was this a
scratch batch or Vintners and what was the recipe.

 

[Trigham]

way to go John, I would love to know the recipe as well

 

[PolishWineP]

Way to go, John! Congratulations on turning out a product which you and yours enjoy!

 

[WineNewbie]

I used the recipe from Terry Garey's book, The Joy of Home Winemaking:


3 3/4 quarts water
2 1/2 lbs. sugar
2-3 lbs. fresh or frozen blueberries (I used 3 lbs. frozen berries)
2 tsp. acid blend
1/8 tsp. tannin
1 tsp. yeast nutrient
1 Campden tablet crushed
1/2 tsp Pectic Enzyme
1 packet Montrachet yeast


Same basic steps as usual (paraphrased): Dissolve sugar in boiling water. Crush fruit in primary in straining bag. Pour hot sugar water onto berries. Once temp comes down, add acid, tannin and yeast nutirent and campden. Cover for 12 hours, then add pectic enzyme. After another24 hours pitch yeast. Then the same basic racking schedule you'd use for any wine.


Mine started with an SG of 1.099, which was a little higher than I wanted, but I think it finished out well with an SG of 1.004. Fairly dry, but it still retained abit of sweetness. Should be right arounf 12-13% abv.


I will be looking to make a bigger (6 gallon)batch of this one soon. It really has a lot of the characteristics of a grape wine, but has that unmistakable nose of blueberries.Edited by: WineNewbie

 

[Wade E]

Looks good there, plenty of blueberries in that batch.

 

[Waldo]

Looks like a recipe that would produce nothing but a good wine. Great job Edited by: Waldo

 

[jsmahoney]

WineNewbie, thanks for the wine recipe, I'm not one who likes blueberries much, but think I will try this one, simple, and never have enough variety in your wine cellar.

 

[rgecaprock]

Since you all are on the Blueberry Wine subject....


I have two gallons each in 1 gallon glass jugs that I started over 6 months ago. They are perfectly clear, nice rich blueberry color but behind the intial blueberry taste is a musty taste. Have any of you experienced this? And do you think it is going bad. It's not brown...just the aftertaste is "musty".



Ramona

 

[Wade E]

This is only my 2nd batch and the first 1 barely made it out of the
gallon jug before it was consumed by my wife but no and sorry to hear
about it!

 

[Trigham]

I will be looking to make a bigger (6 gallon)batch of this one soon. It really has a lot of the characteristics of a grape wine, but has that unmistakable nose of blueberries.

So if i may ask, to make a 6 gallon batch you would just times everything by 6, 18 lb of berries,6 campden etc etc..
oh and is there a lavlin yeast similar to montrachet that u used, I dont think i have seen anything but lavlin around here?


Thanks

 

[Wade E]

Trig, I think these 2 would be the best for this.

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Bourgovin RC 212 5 grams


Is only good up to 14% alcohol levels and is used in red varieties where full tannin and color stabilization</td></tr></t>
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71B-1122 5 grams


Used for country (fruit) wines from concentrates. Works well for rose' and sweet white wines. Alcohol levels up to 18%.</td></tr></t>
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[Danny]

Never had blueberry wine before, but was intrigued by it and started a one gallon batch about 6 months ago. I'll probably be bottling in a few weeks.


Question for all -- how do you prefer this type wine, sweet or dry? I normally like grape-based wines dry, but like blackberry sweet. Don't know which direction to go with the blueberry.

 

[Trigham]

Oh ya that reminds me wade you never did answer the question about multiplying everything by 6!!

 

[Wade E]

Everything but the yeast Trig, but remember that sugars will vary so
What i added may be a little different but will be very close, but
thats why we have hydrometers and acid test kits.

 

[AAASTINKIE]

I've made 24 gallons of blueberry wine this year, 2 months on GEOS medium toast oak cubes and 2 cups sugar in a syrup (for 6 gallons) seem to make it just fine for my taste. I have 15% ABV in long term storage, the 9% and 10% batch are all gone!! One batch left on oak right now, will be fined with super klear soon, bottled a few weeks later. I use 18lbs blueberries per 6 gallon batch.

Edited by: AAASTINKIE

 

[paubin]

Ive always loved the recipes in Garey's book. They always come out very nice. Although my abv is usually a little higher than normal comercial wines. Iv'e learned it is smarter to work up to the desired abv than to trust recipes cut back on the sugar and you can always add a little later.


Pete