Blueberry Wine

[EddyBhai]

Last weekend went to a blueberry farm and picked 45#s of blueberries. 42#s are in the freezer of my friends store in a straining bag in the primary. Next weekend, I plan on starting this wine. Couple of questions.
1. After thawing, how do I go about crushing the berries.
2. I added K-Meta to the primary the day I got it to prevent wild yeast fermentation. Do I need to add more after thawing?
3. I plan to use 5# to make an F-Pac. Is it enough?
4. Which yeast should I use? Do I add sliced bananas to aid fermentation?
5. My goal is 5 gallons of blueberry wine. Seem reasonable?

Thanks
Ed

 

[saramc]

Ed,
Let the berries thaw on their own to see what type of juice yield you will get, you can gently squeeze the berries by hand as that will help also. GENTLY is keyword. Try to go all fruit and avoid adding water. If you must add additional liquid to hit the volume mark you want, consider adding 2-3 cans Welch's White Grape Juice for 1 gallon yield, or you can find 100% Blueberry juice in stores (Northland brand I believe). If you dosed with k-meta already there is no reason to dose again at the start of fermentation, doing so would likely inhibit the yeast from taking off. The fermentation process should break the blueberries down on its own, don't forget to use pectic enzyme as this will help break the fruit down even more, freezing was a great idea! I have never made an f-pac, but there is a "sticky" on one of the sections that will walk you thru making one. Adding banana is optional, I would perhaps consider Zante currants or raisins--but any of those will help with body as well as additional nutrients...but you want to be prepared and make sure you have yeast nutrient and yeast energizer on hand (if you are going to be making wine, you will use these at times). Yeast: Montrachet works well with blueberry....just be sure to get a good starter going as blueberries can be trickly little berries to get going & that particular yeast tends to get foamy, so make sure you have enough headspace in your primary fermenatation container.

Keep us posted!

 

[EddyBhai]

Thanks. Very helpful. I plan on starting the wine this weekend. I bought a ph meter (MW102). What is a good ph value for this wine?

 

[EddyBhai]

Started this wine last night

Got the primary from the freezer couple days back. 2 days back when they were kind of thawed, gently crushed the berries and added pectic enzyme.
Yesterday added
Yeast Nutrient - 5 tsp
Yeast Energizer - 2.5 tsp
Acid Blend - 2 tsp
7 cups of sugar syrup to bring the S.G to 1.085
2 bottles Welch Red grape juice
1 bottle Welch White grape juice
Sliced 2 bananas with skin and simmered
Prepared a starter using Montrachet yeast

The goal is 5 gallons using 42lbs of Blueberry.
This morning the yeast looks very happy and bubbling away. The temp in the house is 73, however the primary shows 79. So I moved the primary to an air vent to keep it cooler.

 

[winodude]

I've been doing some reading on making BB wine...How's is yours goin? Any updates/ good news?

 

[wood1954]

Where did you find a blueberry farm?

I hope i haven't missed the boat. Last year i made some blueberry wine 3 lbs per gallon. the farm i went to was just north of me. The wine turned out really nice.

 

[EddyBhai]

The farm I went to was Blueberry Haven. I think it is just north west of Appleton, so maybe the same one that you went last year. Call them up, you might still be in luck.

 

[UBB]

I bought 65lbs of blueberries this summer from a local fruit stand. I just made 5 gallons using 32lbs and am planning on making another 5 gallons in the next week.

I used Montrachet with a yeast starter and had no issues. I will add that I thawed the berries loose in two fermenters and used an industrial potato masher. I will NOT do that again. I will use straining bags next time as racking was a huge PIA. I used maybe 1/2 gal of water to invert the sugar I used. Notes thus far as it's only in secondary right now. The color is amazing! The yield filled my 5gal carboy all the way into the neck. I plan on oaking this wine with some American oak.

 

[marie79]

Just started my blueberry wine! I went out and picked Alaskan Wild Blueberries they very small and concentrated. I used twelve pounds of them, and four pounds of store bought blueberries. I added two quarts of red grape juice. Hope it doesn't turn out too thin the must is beautiful, and smells yummy

 

[the_rayway]

My blueberry looks close to finishing, I used 15 Lbs of frozen wild Canadian berries in a 5 Gal. It was tasting awesome, but now there is a very dominant 'earthy' taste. Has anyone else experienced this? Will it go away? Also, how did the F-pack turn out with 5Lbs? Thinking of adding one to ours as well.