Blueberry wine

[petey]

Finally got all my blueberries together .75#. I'm looking at around 8 gallon batch.
Ph. 3.4
TA .60
Sugar to SG 1.090
5# ripe bananas
8tsp acid blend
31/2 tsp peptic enzyme
31/2 tsp yeast energizer
7 tsp yeast nutrient
Don't know if I need to add water, and not really sure how much juice ill get out of my berries, they are still frozen
I'll probably pitch. 71b 1122 or Pasteur red, although I have a large selection in my fridge to choose from
That's where I am now...frozen berries look like they'll take a day to thaw. All this I've gotten from reading Many threads
Am I close?

 

[BernardSmith]

Hi Petey, I have two questions. If I read your post correctly you will be adding slightly more than 1 tablespoon of pectic enzyme to 75 lbs of fruit. I don't know what a reasonable amount of the enzyme might be to break down that amount of fruit so my question would be what is your basis for thinking that 1 T would be sufficient. The other question is this, and again, I am not asking because I have an answer. I don't. I am simply curious. Your recipe does not include any added tannin. I understand that blueberries do contain tannins but are they likely to be sufficiently rich in tannins?

 

[wood1954]

sounds good, i checked my notes from last years batch and i indicated i had added too much acid, it was equivalent to your recipe. you might want to check your ph before you add the acid. also i don't add acid blend anymore, because the yeast metabolize the citric acid and the malic acid will be partially consumed by the yeast as well and from what i've read malic acid creates unstable wine over time. however tartaric acid remains stable. also if you are using a yeast strain that eats up the excess malic acid in blueberries why add more? If I'm wrong someone correct me please.

 

[Thig]

I don't know either so just asking: I thought most blueberry recipes called for some water, wouldn't just straight blueberry juice be very strong.

 

[cedarswamp]

You have plans on crushing those berries? That's gonna be a ton of work unless you have a crusher. But man that stuff smells awesome when you get 'em all crushed up. It took around 18 hrs for me to completely thaw 30 lbs in a 7.9 gallon bucket, that's a large mass of frozen berries you have there, gonna take a while.

 

[Runningwolf]

I never add water to Blueberries. Why would you water it down? If acid is too high balance it out with sugar before cold stabilizing. You could also blend it with a very low acid grape that is not strong in flavor.
If you have a crusher, adjust the rollers to accommodate the berries. I have a friend that runs them through a meat grinder that has a plate with larger holes.

 

[petey]

B Smith, recipes I've found say 1/2 tsp per gal, so I thought 31/2 tsp would be in the ballpark. Not sure bout added tannis tho.

I plan on using a big potato masher,pouring it into straining bags.once I get my juice ill attempt to get my #s and make additions.im hoping to get 7-8 gal of juice we'll see in a couple hours. I probably Not add any water. Thanx all

 

[Duster]

I agree with Dan, sorta. don't add any more water than necessary. Blueberry concord is really good but quite high in acid. I would dump about 4 gallons of welch's concord with them to fill up 2 carboys and cut your acid back by about 1/2. it is always best to test your acid levels and adjust from there. Enzyme is one of those things that a bit too much won't hurt anything but not enough may lead to cloudy wine. 3 1/2 seems a little on the lite side to me. I know there have been some controversy on here as of late about bananas but if I was doing it they would be sliced peel and all then added to about 1 1/2 qt water and slow boiled for about 30 to 45 min, then add the "banana tea" to the frozen berries
Lastly I would add about 8 to 12oz of med toast oak to the secondary but that just me.

 

[petey]

Almost 2hrs into this fun. I've tested my juice and so far:
.50% tartaric
4.0 ph
Sg1.040
That's with no adjustment ..now back to smoosing

 

[Sammyk]

If you freeze them and pectic enzyme added to each bag, they will greatly break down. Then you could put the rest in paint straining bags and mash them with your hands. I did that with sweet black cherries and it worked like a charm.

 

[cedarswamp]

..now back to smoosing

I feel your pain Petey, I crushed 30 lbs, and bought a crusher a week later so I'd be ready for next time.

 

[petey]

So with 75# of blueberries I ended up with 6 gal of juice. And my skins and pulp just about filled my 5 gal paint straining bag.think ill add:

5 tsp peptic enzyme
6 tsp acid blend
1/4 tsp k-meta
Let r sit for a day then add my energizer, nutrient, sugar to SG 1.090
Pitch my yeast?? 71B 1122 or red star Pasteur Red ??

 

[Duster]

let her sit for 24 hours after adding enzyme before adding K-Meta, then another day before pitching the yeast

 

[jamesngalveston]

man all the ways to make wine..i would double the pectin enzyme, cut the acid blend in half, and increse yeast nutrient to 10.
what yeast will you be using

 

[petey]

man all the ways to make wine..i would double the pectin enzyme, cut the acid blend in half, and increse yeast nutrient to 10.
what yeast will you be using

As stated earlier, probably either71b1122 or Pasteur Red. But I do have others to choose from just not sure which would be best. I'll increase enzyme as you suggested ,
Thinking of yeast starter today cause my 10 gal primary is almost full with the amount of juice and the skins/pulp in the straining bag.. Maybe hafta pitch 2 envelopes of yeast

 

[petey]

Well.. This is my quad berry dragon blood getting ready to bottle.
But this is about my blueberry wine. It's down to SG 1.020. Time to rack and airlock, my question is:
Can I freeze my stringer bag full of pulp/ skins so I can make some blueberry bliss at a later date?

 

[petey]

Just racked my blueberry wine,a little later than I wanted but all good @SG1.010.
In 1gal carboy with 21/2 cups blueberry infused Everclear w/1oz med toast fr oak, racked with little head room.thats my port.im expecting
Fermentation to stop( that's why I pitched 71b 1122. The rest of my 7 gal is in the large carboy with lots of headspace cause its still really going to town.
I refrigerated my slurry and froze my straining bag to try a second pressing?? That's where I am with my 75# of $30 blueberries

 

[petey]

Another pix.. 8 gal of active ferment on chair..in front of it is my 5 gal straining bag reduced to 2 gal.
To the right is my 1 gal carboy with the goodies in it and my bigger carboy, both waiting to be racked into.
And the mess is all clean before SWMBO GETS HOME

 

[Boatboy24]

You're really making me want to try my hand at blueberry. Sadly, I can't find them for less than $3/lb.

 

[jamesngalveston]

im with you boat boy, there like 2.99 here for 8 oz.