blueberry wine slow

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Russ

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blueberry wine seems slow to ferment , started at 1.115 sg7 days ago , now 1.080 is this fine or should i add a yeast mixture , if so what? Here's the recipe I used:
20 lbs blueberries

3 lb can of oregon blueberry puree

10 lbs sugar

2 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme

7 1/2 tsp acid blend

2 1/2 tsp yeast energizer

1/4 tsp metabisulfate

waited one day added red star champagne yeast been stiring daily

thanks
 
holy cow that is a high starting sg. Blueberry is a hard berry to ferment. as long as it is still going have patents.
 
Did you add any yeast nutrient or just the energizer? What temperature is the must? A warmer temp. will help it ferment faster.
 
Blueberries have small amounts of naturally occurring benzoate. a chemical used to inhibit yeast growth. Sugar is also a preservative in large amounts and will inhibit growth, that is why it is so essential in canned jellies.

I think I would hydrate another package of yeast in a mix of 50% must and 50% sugar water (with SG of 1.080) and let that go a couple hours or more till its rolling and dump it in the primary.

If you are after a sweet wine or a high alcohol wine it is always to add sugar in batches, never letting SG get too high. This will ensure quick and efficient fermentation. Stressed out yeast make bad wine.

This isn't the first time ive seen a post about blueberries on the forum, perhaps we could come up with a definitive strategy for getting this wine to work.
 
I agree with Kegmeister. Blueberry wine is notoriously slow. Do a starter as he has said. I had to add Raisens to mine in the starter and slowly add some of the must to a warm water and sugar mixture for 2-3 hours until it was boiling. That is very high SG. It will be very strong and you may want to consider a flavor pak. I did the same SG for mine last year and it was undrinkable. I added simple syrup but that didn't even help. I eventually turned the whole batch into Blueberry port and that is very good.
Good luck.
 
Blueberry update

cooking away in the carboy sg is now 1.040 , could I add potasium sorbate at 1.028 to get a 11% wine ? Or should I let it ferment all the way to dry?
 
Be patient and try to let it go dry. As I understand, sorbate will not kill off the yeast. If you did not use a strong yeast it will kill off the yeast before it can consume all of the sugars.
Brad
 
blueberry wine

S. G. 1.030 tonight Still bubbling along might have squeesed the straining bag to much as it looks like there is alot of sediment on the bottom .
 
cooking away in the carboy sg is now 1.040 , could I add potasium sorbate at 1.028 to get a 11% wine ? Or should I let it ferment all the way to dry?

Stopping a ferment in mid stream is basically almost impossible. Adding enough sulfite to kill all the yeast will render the wine undrinkable. Adding proper amounts isn't enough and will dissipate quickly.

Sorbate adds a layer around the yeasts and prevents them from budding. It doesn't kill them so although they can't breed they can still consume sugar.

Only rackings and chilling has a slight potential to stop a ferment. You may have enough alcohol to stop the yeast though.

Best to let it ferment dry. Rack and clear. Add sorbate and sweeten to your taste. This was the only wine that I sweetened a lot. 1.020 was my final gravity.
 
blueberry wine

Thats what I am planning on doing , just giving an update on the activity .

Thanks
 
I would add pure berries(frozen,pectic enzymed and mashed up) to this puppy and let it keep going. That will lower alcohol levels in finally product and add flavor. With this high SG and fermenting dry you will loose a ton of flavor and it will be the famous blue rocket fuel. It will end up ok if you have patience and care.
 
If can get more cans of puree I would add 2, if not I would add about 10 pounds and a teaspoon of PE. PE has fudge room
 
blue berry wine

When should I add the berries and PE ? After its done working 1.000 or lower sg ? Going to a grape juice farm shortly all kinds of hot and cold pressed juices going to get 5 gallons of blueberry juice and try this again ( first time was with berries and puree) also getting blackberry and cranberry juice can't wait yum yum
 

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