Blueberry Wine: Possibly too acidic? And other questions.

[MSIMSON]

I currently have a little over 4.5 gallons of 3 week old blueberry wine in my carboy. I just finished racking it for the first time since I added it to the secondary fermenter 10 days ago. This rack removed about an inch of sediment from the bottom of my 5 gallon carboy (WOW!)

I removed a small amount to taste before resealing the carboy and here were my findings: the taste is magnificent! I doesn't really taste like blueberries, but it does taste like a very good wine (could be a little sweeter but I worry about that much later I think, correct?)

The part that had me worried was that I felt an odd sensation after I swallowed the wine. It was almost like a very mild burning feeling as it went down my throat. I asked a worker at my LHBS and she told me that this was normal since the alcohol is so young, it is expected to have a sort of 'hot' feeling to it. I haven't payed any attention to acid levels other than the 7.5 teaspoons of Acid Blend that I added to the must (which was ~6 gallons at the time) 3 weeks ago. Is this 'hot' taste correct? Should it be this way? And will it go away as the wine ages?

Now for other miscellaneous questions I hoped you incredibly helpful people could answer for me:

Firstly, is it normal that I removed an inch of sludge/sediment/lees from the bottom of my carboy after 10 days into the secondary fermentation? An inch seems like A TON of lees to be removing.

Next, I had a lot of head space left when I sealed it today. I assumed since I haven't degassed the wine yet and since it is only 3 weeks old that I don't have to worry about bacteria because it will form a layer of CO2 as the gas slowly leaves the wine. Am I correct in making this assumption? Or should I add K-Meta to kill any possible bacteria?

Also, I didn't add anything when I racked today. This is 10 days after I first added it to the carboy for secondary fermentation. The SG is at .994 and I don't think it will go any lower.

Is this when I should be adding K-Meta to the wine?
Then how long do I wait before adding Sorbate?
Then how long do I wait before adding Sparklloid?
And when should I degas the wine? I think I am going to use a wine bottle resealer/pump to create a vacuum to do the degassing.
And WHEN/HOW do I re-sweeten the wine?

So many questions!

 

[dralarms]

I currently have a little over 4.5 gallons of 3 week old blueberry wine in my carboy. I just finished racking it for the first time since I added it to the secondary fermenter 10 days ago. This rack removed about an inch of sediment from the bottom of my 5 gallon carboy (WOW!)

I removed a small amount to taste before resealing the carboy and here were my findings: the taste is magnificent! I doesn't really taste like blueberries, but it does taste like a very good wine (could be a little sweeter but I worry about that much later I think, correct?)

The part that had me worried was that I felt an odd sensation after I swallowed the wine. It was almost like a very mild burning feeling as it went down my throat. I asked a worker at my LHBS and she told me that this was normal since the alcohol is so young, it is expected to have a sort of 'hot' feeling to it. I haven't payed any attention to acid levels other than the 7.5 teaspoons of Acid Blend that I added to the must (which was ~6 gallons at the time) 3 weeks ago. Is this 'hot' taste correct? Should it be this way? And will it go away as the wine ages?

Now for other miscellaneous questions I hoped you incredibly helpful people could answer for me:

Firstly, is it normal that I removed an inch of sludge/sediment/lees from the bottom of my carboy after 10 days into the secondary fermentation? An inch seems like A TON of lees to be removing.

Next, I had a lot of head space left when I sealed it today. I assumed since I haven't degassed the wine yet and since it is only 3 weeks old that I don't have to worry about bacteria because it will form a layer of CO2 as the gas slowly leaves the wine. Am I correct in making this assumption? Or should I add K-Meta to kill any possible bacteria?

Also, I didn't add anything when I racked today. This is 10 days after I first added it to the carboy for secondary fermentation. The SG is at .994 and I don't think it will go any lower.

Is this when I should be adding K-Meta to the wine?
Then how long do I wait before adding Sorbate?
Then how long do I wait before adding Sparklloid?
And when should I degas the wine? I think I am going to use a wine bottle resealer/pump to create a vacuum to do the degassing.
And WHEN/HOW do I re-sweeten the wine?

So many questions!

:HOt" taste is normal at this stage.

1 inch of sediment sounds about right.

If it's at .994 it's pretty much finished, check it for 3 days in a row to make sure

If it is finished, yes at your k-meta and your sorbate

I would add the clearing agent in about 2 to 3 weeks. Degass first.

Go ahead after adding k-meta and sorbate and degass, I use a brake bleeder kit from Auto zone for wine I'm just degassing, but most of the time I vacuum rack using the All in One pump, it's a back saver and makes degassing while transferring and bottling very easy.

Sweeten the wine after it's degassed completely. I would do it before sweetening.

As far as topping off, depending on how much space you have, you may want to rack to a smaller container, add a similar wine, of make a f-pac (concentrated juice flavor pack) to bring the wine up to the neck of the carboy. However, I think I would sweeten first that way your filling up some of the space with your sweetener before you add something to bring it to the neck. If you don't then you will have to remove some to sweeten.

Hope this helps.

 

[jswordy]

Yep, everything's in dralarms post but the kitchen sink. Oh, and the one thing I would add:

AGE IT. In one year, you will be utterly amazed at what it tastes like. Blueberry is very agreeable to getting older.

 

[dralarms]

As usual Jim has hit the most important thing. AGE, young wine is not very agreeable.

 

[MSIMSON]

Ok, so the reading for today was again .994, I'll check it again tomorrow, and assuming that it also will be .994, I will add the K-Meta AND Potassium Sorbate to a small sample of the wine to dissolve them, then re-add that sample to the carboy.

Is it necessary to stir in the wine that I re-add to the carboy? Or will that just risk introducing oxygen?

Next I will degas the wine immediately after adding the K-Meta and Potassium Sorbate? Or should I wait? If I should wait, how long?

After I degas, I will sweeten the wine by dissolving sugar in water at a ratio of 2 parts sugar to 1 part water. I may end up changing this ratio by adding more water just to bring the wine to the neck of the carboy.

I will wait about 2-3 weeks to ensure that the wine is not refermenting, then add Sparklloid to clear the wine.

After about 8 weeks, I will rack the wine to remove the Sparklloid. After I finish racking, am I ready to bottle?

If I can bottle at this point, is it okay to let it age for up to a year in the bottle? I think that I've read somewhere that you need to re add K-Meta every 6 months to keep bacteria away, is this true?

 

[dralarms]

Ok, so the reading for today was again .994, I'll check it again tomorrow, and assuming that it also will be .994, I will add the K-Meta AND Potassium Sorbate to a small sample of the wine to dissolve them, then re-add that sample to the carboy.

Is it necessary to stir in the wine that I re-add to the carboy? Or will that just risk introducing oxygen?

Next I will degas the wine immediately after adding the K-Meta and Potassium Sorbate? Or should I wait? If I should wait, how long?

After I degas, I will sweeten the wine by dissolving sugar in water at a ratio of 2 parts sugar to 1 part water. I may end up changing this ratio by adding more water just to bring the wine to the neck of the carboy.

I will wait about 2-3 weeks to ensure that the wine is not refermenting, then add Sparklloid to clear the wine.

After about 8 weeks, I will rack the wine to remove the Sparklloid. After I finish racking, am I ready to bottle?

If I can bottle at this point, is it okay to let it age for up to a year in the bottle? I think that I've read somewhere that you need to re add K-Meta every 6 months to keep bacteria away, is this true?

Yes, you need to stir it in.

Its OK too start degassing right after adding k-meta

I think I'd remove some wine and add sugar to it before I'd use water, I just had a bad trip with apple with too much water added.

You can add sparoliod as soon as its degassed. But if you wait 2 weeks you might see some stuff fall out on its own.

Once its bottled you don't need to add k-meta that's only for bulk aging. Wouldn't make sense to bollte it and open it to add more k-meta. That would be a waste of corks.

 

[MSIMSON]

Yes, you need to stir it in.

Its OK too start degassing right after adding k-meta

I think I'd remove some wine and add sugar to it before I'd use water, I just had a bad trip with apple with too much water added.

You can add sparoliod as soon as its degassed. But if you wait 2 weeks you might see some stuff fall out on its own.

Once its bottled you don't need to add k-meta that's only for bulk aging. Wouldn't make sense to bollte it and open it to add more k-meta. That would be a waste of corks.

I was planning on adding the sugar water to sweeten it, and top it off. Is it even necessary that I top if off to the neck of the carboy since I'll be adding the K-Meta which will kill any bacteria?

I thought the purpose of topping off was to minimize the amount exposed to oxygen and thus minimize the possibility of bacteria.

Or is the purpose of topping off to prevent oxidation? I'll only have it in the carboy for about 10 weeks, do I really need to top it off?

The 10 weeks I mentioned comes from waiting 2 weeks after adding K-Meta/Sorbate, then I'll rack and add the Sparklloid and wait 8 weeks, then rack to bottles for aging.

 

[Bacci]

Just curious, what was your starting SG and how many lbs of blueberries and sugar did you add per 6 gal batch? Any grape concentrate added? Did you take a SG reading before vs. after pitching yeast? My batch last year was very hot and starting SG was 1.10 but after waiting 24 hrs to pitch yeast, SG rose considerable to 1.126, finishing around 17.5 alcohol.

 

[dralarms]

Yes, it needs to be topped off regardless of how long its going to be in the carboy.

 

[jswordy]

I would leave the blueberry to clear on its own. It will produce voluminous lees early. Rack when they get an inch deep or more. If you use a clearing agent, that is going to strip out some flavor and maybe some color. You just have to be patient for a good blueberry wine.

 

[jswordy]

Just curious, what was your starting SG and how many lbs of blueberries and sugar did you add per 6 gal batch? Any grape concentrate added? Did you take a SG reading before vs. after pitching yeast? My batch last year was very hot and starting SG was 1.10 but after waiting 24 hrs to pitch yeast, SG rose considerable to 1.126, finishing around 17.5 alcohol.

Start at 1.080-1.085 next time. What yeast? I used 71B1122. It quits at ~ 14% max.

I don't understand SSG rising during the 24-hour wait unless it was an effect of warmer must temp or your sugar that was added was not completely dissolved with the first reading was taken.

Here's the recipe I use. Took third of 162 entries at our county fair in 2012.

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f2/blueberry-bliss-wine-31937/

Some do not wish to use the Welch's concentrate to add vinosity. (Tell you the truth, the best thing I did for vinosity was a batch made along with muscadines.) If you do not use it, then use a minimum of 5 pounds of blueberries per gallon. This makes a medium wine. If you want boldness, use a minimum of 6-8 pounds of blueberries per gallon.

 

[MSIMSON]

Start at 1.080-1.085 next time. What yeast? I used 71B1122. It quits at ~ 14% max.

I don't understand SSG rising during the 24-hour wait unless it was an effect of warmer must temp or your sugar that was added was not completely dissolved with the first reading was taken.

Here's the recipe I use. Took third of 162 entries at our county fair in 2012.

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f2/blueberry-bliss-wine-31937/

Some do not wish to use the Welch's concentrate to add vinosity. (Tell you the truth, the best thing I did for vinosity was a batch made along with muscadines.) If you do not use it, then use a minimum of 5 pounds of blueberries per gallon. This makes a medium wine. If you want boldness, use a minimum of 6-8 pounds of blueberries per gallon.

Good idea to add blueberry concentrate, the current flavor of my wine is good, but not really blueberry flavored despite using 4lbs of blueberries per gallon.

I need to top my wine off tomorrow with about .4 gallons of something. How do you think it would work out if I used that blueberry concentrate to top it off?

Thanks if advance.

 

[dralarms]

Blueberry concentrate would work well to top off with, I would add a little at a time so that you don't get "too much" flavor. I'd go .2 gal. taste, then if it still is "weak" then add the other .2 but if it.s getting close I'd go .1 and taste. That way if it gets too blueberry you could finish topping the last .1 with water.

 

[MSIMSON]

Blueberry concentrate would work well to top off with, I would add a little at a time so that you don't get "too much" flavor. I'd go .2 gal. taste, then if it still is "weak" then add the other .2 but if it.s getting close I'd go .1 and taste. That way if it gets too blueberry you could finish topping the last .1 with water.

I went ahead and bought 32 oz of pure blueberry juice concentrate from Amazon.

My carboy currently is not topped off, am I okay waiting until next Friday when the concentrate will arrive to top off or is it very important that I top off as soon as secondary fermentation finishes? (it finished about 4 days ago)