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koda_ky

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Hi
I am going to try some wild raspberries and where I am at ( eastern Ky) they tend to come on at different times and I want to know if freezing them and waiting until I get enough to start is ok? I have lots of wild fruit that grow here on my farm( raspberries, gooseberries, blackberries. etc) and want to try and make wine out of but I would need to freeze them as I they are picked to get enough. and should I wash them before putting in the freezer?:)
 
I make fruit wines. ALL of my fruit I freeze. Reason is it helps break down the cell walls. Most here i'm sure freeze the fruit.
If freezing fruit that has a stem (crown) I destem 1st (strawberry).
Unless youjust sprayed the fruit with chemicals I would not wash before freezing.
Don't forget to add Pectic Emzyme before adding your yeast.
If you have such a variety why not make a "Mixed Berry" wine?
 
Wow a mixed berry wine from your own property! I envy you. The closest I will get is when I sneak over to my sister's and pick her concord grapes this summer lol. I am going to take the advise as well and freeze the fresh fruit I use on the next batch (apple)
 
By all means, freeze them !!!!

Freezing fruit makes the cells to be ripped by the forming ice-crystals. This releases a lot of juice immediately when thawing.
So it is easy to press the fruit by hand when thawed.

Any fruit you mentioned can be frozen and will gain you good results.

Even apples benefit from freezing and can be processed by hand when thawed. I did an experiment with apples last year wanting to test which method was best when you did not own a press:
http://wijnmaker.blogspot.com/2008/09/appeltje-voor-de-dorst-apple-day.html

Now washing the fruit is not always recommended.
First think about it: do you think the big wineries will wash the fruit before pressing ??? Of course they do not.

Hard fruit can be washed (apples, pears etc.)

Soft fruit (blackberries etc) will bruise when you wash it and that way you will loose too much juice. So just freeze the fruit and use sulphites to kill all nasties when fermenting.

Luc
 
Luc,
Very interesting aricle. Just proves one thing. FREEZE all your fruit as I and others do. The benifits speak for themselves.
Thanks for the info LUC..
:)
 
I've been doing the same with raspberries from my farm and almost have enough in the freezer to start a one gallon wine..

If you have any interesting recipes for berry wine, can you post them in the recipes forum?

cheers

Allie
 
Allie, how many raspberries do you start with for a 1 gallon batch?
Troy
 
I've got two recipes Troy

one calls for 12 cups of raspberries and the other for 6 cups raspberries and 3 oranges. Both make 1 gallon of wine each.

I've got a good 2 kilos in the freezer now.. I might make both recipes and see how they come out.

Allie
 
I'd like to take a look at each, come summer, I have the avaiabilty to lots of em, gotta pick em and fight off the bears but want to try some. I also have lots of low bush cranberries and blueberries on the property, but no kidding last year I went to pick and gave up when I seen all the bear tracks and the blue skat, they won last year, not next, I wasn't making wine last fall, now I will fight for the right!!:)
Troy
 
Bears has BLUE scat? from Blueberries?

I'd like to take a look at each, come summer, I have the avaiabilty to lots of em, gotta pick em and fight off the bears but want to try some. I also have lots of low bush cranberries and blueberries on the property, but no kidding last year I went to pick and gave up when I seen all the bear tracks and the blue skat, they won last year, not next, I wasn't making wine last fall, now I will fight for the right!!:)
Troy
 
Some things are true

I meant blue. Absolutely!! That ain't no skat. Absolutely true seen it thousands of times.:)
 
Obviously it must be from the the "blue" in blueberry, I am not much of a scientist but it is indeed blue, if the berries are growing like crazy the scat can be very blue. No joke. I wonder what it would look like if the bears were eating amanita mascarae mushrooms.:D
Actually, I'm quessing, unqualified it passes through their system before the natural dyes have a chance to decompose.
I lived almost 3 years in the wilderness and there are alot of questions left with the "WHY". Thats what keeps life interesting Tom.
August makes 30 years here and there are some secrets nature just aint giving up.
 
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Not lying to you man! I really don't care what their business is, I am more worried about how to share the berries with them and not be shreaded or stomped. Ever seen a bear up close? I'll give up the berries!!!!!!!!!
 

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