First Try at Blueberry - Suggestions?

[phat]

I have about a kilo of frozen blueberries, I've been contemplating making about a gallon of Blueberry wine based on Jack Keller's recipe, to give just a gallon of fruit wine a try:

2 1/2 lb. blueberries
1 cup red grape concentrate
1 lb. 6 oz. granulated sugar
3/4 tsp. pectic enzyme
1 1/2 tsp. acid blend
1 tsp. yeast nutrient
1/4 tsp. yeast energizer
water to 1 gallon
wine yeast

This claims to be "full bodied" - I tend to be a "full bodied" reds kind of guy - so, a few questions:

1) any of you made this? if so how did you find it?

2) How would you tweak it? any suggestions on changes I should make?

3) I have a two cup bottle of concentrate -should I simply use the whole thing and adjust the sugar for the SG I want?

4) LV 1118 or LV 1116?

 

[Wade E]

That will not be a full bodied wine! You will really want between 6-8lbs of fruit per gallon and also never go by a recpie with sugar and use your hydromter to get your starting sg instead! Start by adding about 2/3rds of the sugar and adjust from there. For fruit wines you really want a starting sg of around 1.085. Also with fruit wine a little extra light dried malt extract can boost the body up nice as can a few bananas and yeast love both of these!

 

[phat]

That will not be a full bodied wine! You will really want between 6-8lbs of fruit per gallon and also never go by a recpie with sugar and use your hydromter to get your starting sg instead! Start by adding about 2/3rds of the sugar and adjust from there. For fruit wines you really want a starting sg of around 1.085. Also with fruit wine a little extra light dried malt extract can boost the body up nice as can a few bananas and yeast love both of these!

Hmm.. yeah, I was kind of wondering about this - my main reason for trying it was I didn't have a lot of fruit, and the recipe seemed to claim this would work. On the other hand I've seen similar berry + red grape recipes (such as chokecherry) which call for something similar with 6 lb of fruit per gallon - So I was kind of suspecting this might not be what I want to make. Perhaps best to wait till fruit season when I can pick a bunch for free/cheap as opposed to trying something now I may not be happy with.. ( or throwing so much red grape in it I might as well be making a cheapo 50 dollar 4 week red kit )

 

[bob1]

Wade have you made blue berry with that much fruit. I dont know how much is to much but blueberry has sorbate in it. People tend to end up with stuck ferments with blueberry.

 

[russfink]

I've made that approximate recipe before. I substituted 2/3lb raisins per gallon of must in place of the red (read: concord) grape concentrate, and used 1116 yeast. It was delicious. I served it to a party crowd and had to hide the last case of it from the rabble.

I'll do it over again later this year, substituting 12oz white grape concentrate in place of the raisins, and increasing the fruit per gallon to 3lb.

 

[stujol]

I have made blueberry wine using 10 lbs blueberrys and 4 lbs raisins for a 5 gallon batch that turned out excellent with good body. I left one batch dry and oaked it. Even dry it has excellent body. I have made two batches so far and have a third in a carboy right now. I thought I got the recipe from Jack keelers site but I couldn't find it.

 

[stujol]

this one is close

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/request108.asp

 

[Buckmaster40]

I have made blueberry wine using 10 lbs blueberrys and 4 lbs raisins for a 5 gallon batch that turned out excellent with good body. I left one batch dry and oaked it. Even dry it has excellent body. I have made two batches so far and have a third in a carboy right now. I thought I got the recipe from Jack keelers site but I couldn't find it.

When did you add the raisins and what kind?

 

[phat]

Blueberry experiment - it's a go...

So in spite of my potential misgivings - I have two one gallon carboys
that I swore I would use for experiments, so it's time to start trying..

My actual recipe - inspired by St. Keller, and you folks:

1 1 kilo bag "Safeway" brand frozen blueberries
1 375 gram package Sun-Maid Raisins
1 cup red grape concentrate (half a 500ml bottle from the wine store)
3/4 tsp. pectic enzyme
1 1/2 tsp. acid blend
1 tsp. yeast nutrient
1/4 tsp. yeast energizer
water to 1 gallon
sugar to starting SG of 1.090

Starting with a clean sanitized primary marked at 1 US gallon, with a sanitized spoon and hydrometer, I added the (thawed) bag of blueberries to the fermenter and crushed the berries with a sanitized potato masher. I chopped up the raisins in the food processor and added, crushing and mixing up well. I added the rest of the ingredients except for the yeast and sugar along with hot water to a gallon. I then added the sugar slowly, stirring the must until a starting hydrometer reading of 1.090. I then have let it sit in my fermenting room for a while to get to temperature, and have given it one more stir, and checked the hydrometer reading again (still 1.090)

Just pitched LV K1-1116 onto it. My intention with this, based on my usual tastes, is to ferment it to dry, and then oak it during bulk age.

 

[mmadmikes1]

Blueberries do not ferment easy. Make sure you have a GOOD yeast starter, GOOD temp, Good ph, proper nutrients. Make everything right or chance "STUCK"

 

[bob1]

thats about 2 lb blueberries should be ok but listen to the above and pitch a starter I think you can run up to 3.5 lb before getting into trouble. Now thats for a gallon not a gallon of water.

 

[yabbadew]

I have about a kilo of frozen blueberries, I've been contemplating making about a gallon of Blueberry wine based on Jack Keller's recipe, to give just a gallon of fruit wine a try:

2 1/2 lb. blueberries
1 cup red grape concentrate
1 lb. 6 oz. granulated sugar
3/4 tsp. pectic enzyme
1 1/2 tsp. acid blend
1 tsp. yeast nutrient
1/4 tsp. yeast energizer
water to 1 gallon
wine yeast

This claims to be "full bodied" - I tend to be a "full bodied" reds kind of guy - so, a few questions:

1) any of you made this? if so how did you find it?

2) How would you tweak it? any suggestions on changes I should make?

3) I have a two cup bottle of concentrate -should I simply use the whole thing and adjust the sugar for the SG I want?

4) LV 1118 or LV 1116?

I've made two 2 gallon batches from this recipe that IMO turned out great. I used LV 71B-1122 the first time and Red Star Montrachet the second. After tasting both, I think I prefer the LV. The only change I made was with regards to sugar - I adjusted it to get the SG I wanted.

 

[stujol]

When did you add the raisins and what kind?

I added them at the beginning, used the blender to chop them up a bit.
same with the blueberries. Threw them in a sanitized mesh bag and added the campdens and pectic enzyme. Wait 24 hours and pitched the yeast. I used montrachet.

 

[wood1954]

good luck

When i made my blueberry wine from fresh fruit it took 3 days to start fermenting. So be patient. It turned out really good.

 

[phat]

Well, mine had started fairly quicky, and now after 24 hours I'm punching down cap with lots of good foamy action going on, so I don't think I'll have any sticking problems here.

 

[stujol]

Found some frozen blueberries at Gordon foods this weekend so I am going to start another batch. Next summer I'm going to get more berries in the freezer.

 

[Buckmaster40]

Just finished racking my first batch of blueberry after about 3 weeks in a secondary. It finished at .995. I took about a half cup sample and backsweetened with honey. It was pretty tasty. Has anyone ever tried backsweetening a Bb wine with honey? I've heard of Bb melomels but that is fermenting with honey. Correct?

 

[phat]

Soo.. I fermented this to 1.015 in the primary, then splash racked into my secondary (gallon jug) through a funnel and strainer leaving the lees behind. I pressed out the fruit and topped it up last thursday.. it seemed to slow down fermentation slooooowly.. Today it appeared to have finished and the hydrometer was at 0.994 - so I have now racked it gently off the lees onto 1/10 tsp of kmeta and a handful of french oak chunks. Taste today is promising - definately some nice hints of blueberry and nice "wine like" tannins there but also a lot of young wine taste. I'm sure the oak will change it some and this one will have to sit for a while before judgement is passed. I'm going to let it sit and clear naturally, probably racking one or two more times while aging, but for now the plan is to let it sit on the oak for 4-6 weeks before racking again.

 

[jswordy]

Soo.. I fermented this to 1.015 in the primary, then splash racked into my secondary (gallon jug) through a funnel and strainer leaving the lees behind. I pressed out the fruit and topped it up last thursday.. it seemed to slow down fermentation slooooowly.. Today it appeared to have finished and the hydrometer was at 0.994 - so I have now racked it gently off the lees onto 1/10 tsp of kmeta and a handful of french oak chunks. Taste today is promising - definately some nice hints of blueberry and nice "wine like" tannins there but also a lot of young wine taste. I'm sure the oak will change it some and this one will have to sit for a while before judgement is passed. I'm going to let it sit and clear naturally, probably racking one or two more times while aging, but for now the plan is to let it sit on the oak for 4-6 weeks before racking again.

If it's like mine, it will take at least 3 months from primary to clear out all the way. I wouldn't rush it at all, it is worth the wait. If you get anxious, you could use a fining agent, but I just let time do its thing. It is quite beautiful when fully settled.

On Keller's recipe, I have made that many times with 3 lbs/gallon BB and it has turned out excellent. Being lazy, I always keep a couple bottles of BB concentrate around brought by the brown truck, which works out perfectly for f-pac and back-sweetening day. I let it fall again for ~ 14 days to make sure it is clear of any sediment in the concentrate before bottling.

BTW, I have had some say BB is a hard wine to make because the "blueberry flavor goes away when it ferments," but never fear if you are new to it and a taste-tester. Adding a 2:1 ratio sugar syrup at the end will revive it to whatever level you want. If you also use the BB concentrate you can add back brilliance.

It benefits from 3 months of aging but is in my case far too approachable right out of secondary.

Seems to me at 6 months it is at max and does not benefit much more through a year. Probably should be all gone by 2 years, though at my house having a bottle around for a year is a major achievement.

BB is one of the pricier wines I make, at about $3 a bottle, but the stuff would easily sell for $19.95. Mmmm, I can never have enough. I wish you much success, cuz then you too will be hooked!

 

[phat]

Well Gawwwwly..

With the mixed thoughts on the recepie, I wasn't so sure..

This recepie (the one I posted I made in this thread) has been aging in a one gallon jug with a small handful of french oak for the last few months.

I just racked it off the oak, and snuck a tiny taster in the process. I am actually impressed, I didn't think I would be.

This wine is currently head and shoulders above a "cheap kit" red. It has nice vinosity (probably thanks to the grape concentrate and rasins) with a nice medium body and a nice hint of blueberry. The blueberry is definately not lost on it, and yet it's definately a nice drinkable red at this stage.

to put that in perspective, this is no super tuscan, it's different. it's not lacking in flavour or tannins, and is frankly very nice.

I've now hid the jug back in the cellar, and may wait a few months and bottle. Hopefully I can enjoy a glass with a nice roast of the elk that I have a tag for in the fall, and a saskatoon pie for dessert.

So for the doubters, I would say medium->fullish body, but pretty darn good. I will probably make a 6 gallon batch.