First Try at Blueberry

[Dend78]

okay she has finally stopped im gonna give it a few weeks and add more k-meta and sorbate

 

[Dend78]

okay she has finally stopped im gonna give it a few weeks and add more k-meta and sorbate

guess i lied, looked at it last night and it seems to be going strong again, this is very strange, i would assume this is fermentation and not the wine degassing how would i know the difference?

I will do my best to explain what im seeing, slight foam at the top, in between the berries I see trails of bubbles climbing up the sides of the carboy in steady line, what i dont see is a lot of airlock action which confuses me because I was expecting more with the steady streams of bubbles

 

[fatbloke]

Hydrometer readings......

Sample with a turkey baster, into test jar etc. Just sanitise the kit first and it should be fine to put the sample back in after testing......

 

[Dend78]

well i racked it at 1.014 27 days ago, it was at 0.095 21 days ago, but i have nothing since, i will get it tested tonight though

 

[fatbloke]

Just had a look at your front end post....

If you did use the dry mead yeast, I understood that its tolerant to 18% ABV. So given the honey ratio etc I'd have thought its likely still fermenting.

 

[Dend78]

okay, i checked it out last night i believe it was degassing, SG was at .098ish, i couldn't get my hydrometer to stay off the side of my test tube no matter how much turning it still wanted to lean. while i had it open i got out "the spoon" and gave it a good stir, gas was escaping like crazy and it settled in nicely. I took a look this morning and no bubbles so im thinking it was just degassing but i could be wrong. I also took the liberty of having a taste and its not bad at all. alcohol is very strong and forward but blueberry is there. i will leave this alone for a while then check it again in a couple of weeks and see where its sitting at and rerack it.

 

[Dend78]

well shes been sitting quietly for almost 2 weeks now i believe tonight will be the rerack night.

one question i have should i add k-meta and sorbate again after racking or will the initial shot I gave it do the trick? reason I ask I would like to start back sweetening so im not reracking five million times.

 

[btom2004]

Just read this thread. I bet the difference in this liquid mead yeast over others, is that it takes a licking and keeps on thicking. Since you had had issues of it refermenting. I would add the additional K-meta and sorbate after racking and then backsweeten.

 

[Dend78]

kinda what i was thinkin, plus this stuff is good up to 18% which is a lot hotter than i was lookin for, not sayin i wont drink it just not what i was aiming for here

tonight i will probably transfer it and give it another shot of k-meta and sorbate and let it sit for a while then back sweeten.

 

[rhythmsteve]

I would put the extra fruit in prior to back-sweetening, i tried this myself and it came out too watery tasting at the end eventhough i did back-sweeten with more fresh fruit, but it wasn't the same

 

[Dend78]

this was my thought, transfer and add k-meat & sorbate now, wait a week to 10 days, then add in honey up to roughly 1.010ish then add in more fruit.

you would add in the fruit again and let it sit then backsweeten?



Okay last night i did transfer, i kicked in more sorbate and k-meta, im going to let it sit for a week to 10 days so hopefully i can add fruit again and back sweeten. took a taste its still a dry red so it for sure needs some sweetening to be brought back to life.

 

[fatbloke]

this was my thought, transfer and add k-meat & sorbate now, wait a week to 10 days, then add in honey up to roughly 1.010ish then add in more fruit.

you would add in the fruit again and let it sit then backsweeten?

Sounds like a plan......

If you do the extra fruit first its a bit more controllable as you're increasing the fruit flavours first, then taste so you know whether you want or need to back sweeten......

 

[Dend78]

as it sits right now it has a beer taste to it, you get a hint of fruit but the alcohol and beer like flavor kills it right away

 

[Dend78]

kicked in what i had left as far as blueberries goes, someone used most of what I had left leaving me with 12oz so i tossed those in and i also tossed in a bottle of blueberry nectar. I will let this sit and age for a while another month or so and then rerack and start adding honey. one thing to note about this batch it was already almost clear, color is good im really excited about this one.

 

[Dend78]

i did give this a taste last night to see where its at color is good, its clearing really nicely, berry flavor is there but i want more, gonna give this more time to mellow out then i plan to make a nice f-pak of honey and more of that blueberry nectar.

aside from taste though its got mouth feel like nothing else ive made very happy with that

 

[saramc]

i did give this a taste last night to see where its at color is good, its clearing really nicely, berry flavor is there but i want more, gonna give this more time to mellow out then i plan to make a nice f-pak of honey and more of that blueberry nectar.

aside from taste though its got mouth feel like nothing else ive made very happy with that

You may find that backsweetening brings the berries back, you may not need the blueberry nectar (where did you find blueberry nectar?); and do not forget that adding honey for backsweetening typically causes the wine to cloud up, so you will need to allow more time for that to clear up.

 

[Dend78]

You may find that backsweetening brings the berries back, you may not need the blueberry nectar (where did you find blueberry nectar?); and do not forget that adding honey for backsweetening typically causes the wine to cloud up, so you will need to allow more time for that to clear up.

the nectar i found is in the organic section at my local kroger, its about 4.00 for 32oz but it tastes amazing. if i could pull some of that flavor into blueberry wine i wouldn't make any different wines ever just blueberry

the blueberry flavor is for sure there just the bitterness and alcohol are masking it mainly hence give it more time oh well once i pull the blueberries back out i will taste it again and start back sweetening from there with the honey and then like you said wait some more for it to clear again


3/23/2014

I kicked in some of that blueberry artificial flavoring i bought the other day, i have a 1 gal batch that I am working with first then if i find a sweet spot I will do the same to the big batch.

 

[Dend78]

well i must say this has been a fun batch to make i am very pleased with the outcome i plan to bottle this tonight and let it finish out in the bottle a bit longer but it tastes great now time will only make it better as there is still a bit of alcohol bite.

 

[TommBomb]

Awesome notes dend. Just like the pear wine buddy. Very helpful. I lovd the idea of back sweetening with that fruit base.