Blueberry

[chris400]

Started my must for blueberry wine last night . I'm using the dragons blood recipe and just as a added step I chopped the frozen blueberries lightly in a blender . I'm going to be adding ec-1118 tonight and starting this thing up . My sg is at 1.085 . Anything about blueberries I need to know during this?

 

[theTheme]

just as a added step I chopped the frozen blueberries lightly in a blender

I am still waiting for my first batch of blueberry to age (so take this with a grain of salt), but I skipped this step and my berries more or less dissolved to nothing but skins by the time it fermented dry in the primary.

 

[chris400]

I understand....i pitched my yeast today after letting them sit in the mix with petic enzyme in it and i have a bag of mush after just 24 hours. the color is great i just hope it holds the flavor and color it has now

 

[Hunt]

Are you just using blueberries for this and keeping everything else the same for DB? I'm wanting to try this myself

 

[AKsarben]

Started my must for blueberry wine last night . I'm using the dragons blood recipe and just as a added step I chopped the frozen blueberries lightly in a blender . I'm going to be adding ec-1118 tonight and starting this thing up . My sg is at 1.085 . Anything about blueberries I need to know during this?

Yes. Don't ferment blueberries on the skin if you can help it. Press out the blueberries after they have had some skin contacts 12-24 hrs and process as a white wine. Bring the brix to 22.5- 23.0 Brix. Ferment dry. Rack and add 0.2 ppm Cu++ and SO2 to 30ppm at the first racking.

We have been making blueberry wine for a few years at the winery and I have researched the technique and we have won awards on the blueberry wine. Fermenting on the skins may lead to off flavors and unfavorable tannin or other extracts. The above works well.

 

[wineforfun]

How many lbs. of blueberries did you use? Blueberries can be light on flavor so hopefully you upped the amount or you may need to add a f-pac after fermentation is done, depending on your flavor preference.

 

[chris400]

I used the dragons blood recipe so it was 6 lbs I'll check the flavor when it's done and add a f-pac if needed

 

[fabrictodyefor]

Yes. Don't ferment blueberries on the skin if you can help it. Press out the blueberries after they have had some skin contacts 12-24 hrs and process as a white wine. Bring the brix to 22.5- 23.0 Brix. Ferment dry. Rack and add 0.2 ppm Cu++ and SO2 to 30ppm at the first racking.

We have been making blueberry wine for a few years at the winery and I have researched the technique and we have won awards on the blueberry wine. Fermenting on the skins may lead to off flavors and unfavorable tannin or other extracts. The above works well.

I started a blueberry DB on 3/2/14, using 6 qts. Knudson blueberry juice and 9 lbs of frozen blueberries for a 6 gallon batch. It was a slow ferment, which was fine with me. I tasted it on 4/7 and my notes say that it has an "off" scent and flavor. Just left it alone. My sis came over and we tasted it again on 4/26, no "off" scent or flavor! Yeah! Even though this should be a "fast" wine, ie, Dragon's Blood, I am planning on leaving this bulk ferment for at least 6 months. However if I make it again I'll think about fermenting without the skins. Thanks for the tip, AKsarben

 

[AKsarben]

Blueberry is very hard to ferement. We have had to use the strongest fermenting yeast we have, Uvaferm 43 aka U-43 at Scott Labs. Even then it needs nutrients, and time. I have seen it take weeks for a ferment to dry.

I would not let the stuff ferment on the skins and old yeast. Yeast will autolysis (https://byo.com/stories/item/1266-preventing-yeast-off-flavors-tips-from-the-pros ) and create a sort of odd flavor and smell, similar to hydrogen sulfide and some fungi smells like mushrooms. It can contribute to formation of aldehydes and mercaptans and end up with much volatile acidity.

 

[Hunt]

Im loading up on blueberries now but im gonna double the lbs to 12 lbs of blueberries. and maybe even add an F-pack

 

[theTheme]

I am so confused after reading everyone's comments. I fermented mine with the skins dry in the primary to 14.8% (it was a mistake of measuring, didn't mean for it to be that high) and it tasted delicious. I have read that blueberry takes a long time to age, but this has been the first fruit wine I though, ok yeah, I could drink this now, before being bottled.

 

[Runningwolf]

I make over 500 gallons a year of Blueberry. I crush them in a regular grape crusher with the destemmer removed and rollers adjusted closer. I add the enzme the day of the crush and start the fermentation the next day. I never have any problems with fermentation except when the tank is too full and the cap wants to push over the top. I ferment to dry and then press off any skins that are left. The last picture is the free run being drained from one of the fermentation tanks.

 

[fabrictodyefor]

I am so confused after reading everyone's comments. I fermented mine with the skins dry in the primary to 14.8% (it was a mistake of measuring, didn't mean for it to be that high) and it tasted delicious. I have read that blueberry takes a long time to age, but this has been the first fruit wine I though, ok yeah, I could drink this now, before being bottled.

Hey it worked!!! WTG I had never read before about not fermenting with the skins. I was concerned about my "off" scent for a while, but it tastes ok now... it will probably need back sweetening and I'm thinking about a flavor pak, but I am going to wait a while. I don't have time to bottle it right now, so just leaving it sit. There are many on the Dragon's Blood Thread that have made the blueberry version and only one other had an "off" scent. But at no time did I read on that thread the recommendation to ferment without the skins??

 

[Runningwolf]

Depending on the acid level it may take a lot of sugar. Why a flavor pack if you used 100% blueberries? The blueberry will blend well with many white wines or even concord.

 

[AKsarben]

At the winery, we ferment about 3,000 to 5,000 gallons of blueberry wine per year. UV43 yeast, Superfood at 4lb /M sometimes an additional 1 lb/M D.A.P. and ferment the "juice" to dry. We have bought 3rds from a local blueberry grower (small and some mixed) and as a rule they collect them in a bin box and add about 100 ppm SO2 and keep them chilled or frozen until they get enough to send us a batch. We thaw them, crush them and add the enzyme and let it cold soak for about 24-36 hours and then press it with lots of rice hulls. The juice is clarified by a strainer basket through our centrifuge. Sugar is adjusted to 22.5 brix and I add the U-43 yeast after the other additives (food). It ferments along pretty good in the beginning, and then sort of slows down toward the end. When it is dry enough, or when the EtOH is decent we centrifuge it off the gross lees into a tank along with 50ppm SO2. Settles 14 days, and then racked into another tank. Get it clarified, taste trials to match sugar/acid ratios, and then we bottle it.

Some years back when they decided to start making blueberry wine again I sourced out other wineries in the Wine East magazine that were getting Gold and Silver awards for their blueberry and asked them what they did. All of them said they do not ferment on the skins. We have done that and our process of making blueberry wine from 3rd rate blueberries has gone over well for customers and for awards.

 

[Runningwolf]

Good point Vern, I also freeze ours before crushing.

 

[fabrictodyefor]

Depending on the acid level it may take a lot of sugar. Why a flavor pack if you used 100% blueberries? The blueberry will blend well with many white wines or even concord.

I was thinking of a flavor pack as I think it could use a little more....something. I don't have any wine I could blend it with, I'd have to buy something. That is why at this point I am just going to let it sit for a while....taste again in a couple of months. It may get better on it's own.

 

[user 31015]

Contemplating making some blueberry wine. Did folks add lemon to the DB recipe? I would be aiming for a LOT of fruit per gallon, at least twice the DB recipe, maybe three times. Might not need additional acid because of that, right?

 

[Jericurl]

Following.

 

[StoneCreek]

following too.