Loganberry seems HOT!!

[Ceegar]

My 3 gal batch of Loganberry finished on the 10th of June. I calculate the abv is around 13% and it fermented out dry at 990 or thereabouts. I followed the instructions to a T. I just finished degassing it, then I added a can of Raspberry Apple concentrate along with the addition of some simple syrup to backsweeten. There was enough for a glass left over after siphoning some out to make room for the backsweetening then topping up, so I added some sugar to it to sweeten it up a bit and man does this stuff taste hot, and also acidic.

Is it because it is still very young and do you think this will mellow out over a few months, or should I be adjusting the acid levels in this? I thought the more you sweeten the more it can flatten a wine out, or is it the less acidic, the flatter the wine?

 

[Wade E]

Fruit wine like any other wine needs time to smooth out, Ive never made Loganberry but am guessing hat 13% is a little high for this type of fruit as it is for many types of fruit wines. If you are looking for early drinkers then you really should keep the starting sg down. If by flattening you mean smooth out a wine then yes sweetening will make it an earlyer drinker. If you mean take down the acidity though then without knowing what the actual acidity of the wine.

 

[Madriver Wines]

The vinters harvest recipe calls for sugar to 1.090. Both batches we have bottled ended with 13.3%. My Logan berry is still a few weeks from bottling but the acid level is what I would call normal?? Do you remember how much acid blend was added at the beginning?

 

[Ceegar]

Fruit wine like any other wine needs time to smooth out, Ive never made Loganberry but am guessing hat 13% is a little high for this type of fruit as it is for many types of fruit wines. If you are looking for early drinkers then you really should keep the starting sg down. If by flattening you mean smooth out a wine then yes sweetening will make it an earlyer drinker. If you mean take down the acidity though then without knowing what the actual acidity of the wine.

No, I'm not looking for early drinkers. It's the first time I tasted it since it has stopped fermenting and I wanted to get it backsweetened and add my clearing agent so I can let it set for a couple of months in the carboy.

I had to sweeten it again because I took an SG reading and the first attempt at sweetening only brought it up to 1.010, which is too dry for my liking so I added some more simple syrup this morning and got it up to about 1.023. It took 5 cups of sugar mixed w/ 2.5 cups of water to get it there.

I didn't want to stray from the directions - this was a Vintners Harvest Fruit base and I followed the recipe to a T. (3 tsp acid blend)

Originally I thought by sweetening it it would flatten the wine out but I guess what I was thinking of is when the acid is too low in a wine it can make it taste flat. This just seems hot from the alcohol. Does a high alcohol content intensify the acidity in a wine?

 

[Ceegar]

I just want to add you guys are great here and thanks for all the help you've given me. I've been on a lot of different types of forums for various topics and you guys are the friendliest people and are always willing to help. It's not easy being the new guy/gal on the block. Sometimes I feel really stupid asking questions but I know I'm a beginner and I'm learning. What makes it a breeze is having people like you folks around to help us newbies out when we need it and make us feel welcome. Kudos to all of you - you guys are a class act in my book.

 

[Ceegar]

I tried to use my acid tester this morning - I just don't know. Maybe if I saw someone use it once who knows what they're doing I would know what to expect but I'm just not seeing what the directions are saying I SHOULD be seeing.

I'm using a simple Wine Acid Test Kit. It came with a syringe - test tube, sodium hydroxide solution and acid indicator solution. My wine is a rose colored wine. As I add the SHS drop by drop, all it does is eventually just thin out the rose color and eventually becomes clear. The change from drop to drop is so minor I can't tell when I eventually see a color change in the solution as suggested in the directions. I really would like to know what the acid levels are in this wine.

 

[Manimal]

Have you tried diluting your test sample by 50% with distilled water? The lighter the colour of the wine/must when starting acid titration, the easier it is to detect the colour change. I've found acid titration for red wines using the acid test kit is almost pointless as it is so hard to detect the end point, however it's really easy for whites. For a rose, diluting the sample to lighten the colour might make a big difference in being able to see the colour change.

In order to do this, you simply follow the test instructions as you normally would, except if it calls for a 15ml sample of wine, you ADD to that 15ml sample an equal amount of distilled water. (ie. you want 30ml total, not a 15ml sample of diluted wine.) You continue to perform the acid titration as normal. The extra water will not change the results, it just makes it easier to see the change. Make sure you're in a well lit area and that you have a bright white background to compare the colour to (a sheet of paper is good.) Add one ml at a time of Sodium Hydroxide solution and swirl. Then examine the colour. As soon as you see even the slightest colour change that is permanent and doesn't disappear after you swirl it, the titration end point has been reached. You might consider preparing a control sample with which to compare the test sample after each addition. Also, make sure you degas your test sample... dissolved CO2 can throw the reading off.

 

[Ceegar]

Have you tried diluting your test sample by 50% with distilled water? The lighter the colour of the wine/must when starting acid titration, the easier it is to detect the colour change. I've found acid titration for red wines using the acid test kit is almost pointless as it is so hard to detect the end point, however it's really easy for whites. For a rose, diluting the sample to lighten the colour might make a big difference in being able to see the colour change.

In order to do this, you simply follow the test instructions as you normally would, except if it calls for a 15ml sample of wine, you ADD to that 15ml sample an equal amount of distilled water. (ie. you want 30ml total, not a 15ml sample of diluted wine.) You continue to perform the acid titration as normal. The extra water will not change the results, it just makes it easier to see the change. Make sure you're in a well lit area and that you have a bright white background to compare the colour to (a sheet of paper is good.) Add one ml at a time of Sodium Hydroxide solution and swirl. Then examine the colour. As soon as you see even the slightest colour change that is permanent and doesn't disappear after you swirl it, the titration end point has been reached. You might consider preparing a control sample with which to compare the test sample after each addition. Also, make sure you degas your test sample... dissolved CO2 can throw the reading off.

Thanks Manimal - I'll try it again but I don't have distilled water - the only thing I have distilled around here is Everclear

 

[Madriver Wines]

Thanks Manimal - I'll try it again but I don't have distilled water - the only thing I have distilled around here is Everclear

Just drink that slowly and all the troubles will fade away. I can guarantee the results lol.

 

[Ceegar]

Just drink that slowly and all the troubles will fade away. I can guarantee the results lol.

Uhhh, yeah!

I actually use it to make my Limoncello and I also make a pretty decent Goldschlager imposter for shooters while we're entertaining in the hot tub. It's amazing what you can do with a little Everclear, some simple syrup and a couple drops of cinnamon oil.

I need to refinish a dresser - I wonder if that stuff would make a great stripper too

 

[Madriver Wines]

It will cure most problems ha ha.

 

[St Allie]

I did a batch of frozen boysenberry on a pinot gris concentrate base and it came out very similar.. very young and you can taste the alcohol, have put mine away for at least 6 months..there are two half bottles so it can be taste tested along the way. It wasn't mellow at all and it has been bulk stored for 2 months already..thinking that it's the acidity of the berries..loganberry is a hybrid of boysenberry.

Allie

 

[Madriver Wines]

Actually Loganberry is a hybrid of wild blackberry and red raspberry. A Dr. Logan was the one who discovered / invented it. It looks like a black berry with the color of the red raspberry and the taste of the raspberry IMO. I will bottle mine next weekend and am going to try a small f-pac of blackberry syrup and some simple syrup.

 

[Ceegar]

Actually Loganberry is a hybrid of wild blackberry and red raspberry. A Dr. Logan was the one who discovered / invented it. It looks like a black berry with the color of the red raspberry and the taste of the raspberry IMO. I will bottle mine next weekend and am going to try a small f-pac of blackberry syrup and some simple syrup.

Yes, it's a cross of those 2 berries and I think it's mainly grown in Oregon.

Madriver - your blackberry syrup sounds interesting - where will you get this? Or are you just going to press some blackberries on your own?

 

[Madriver Wines]

LOl I keep getting wine stuff at Big Lots ha ha. It was 3 bucks a jar and they had blue berry and black berry. No preservatives, mainly sugar and juice with some fruit that I strain off and eat. I will let ya know how it works. May need 2 for 5 gal. ?? Not sure but will add one next week end and see how it turns out.

 

[Ceegar]

LOl I keep getting wine stuff at Big Lots ha ha. It was 3 bucks a jar and they had blue berry and black berry. No preservatives, mainly sugar and juice with some fruit that I strain off and eat. I will let ya know how it works. May need 2 for 5 gal. ?? Not sure but will add one next week end and see how it turns out.

Yeah, I bought some Wyman's Blueberry Juice from BJ''s that I used in my blueberry mead. Isn't it funny how no matter where we go or where we are we always look for something that we can use to make wine!

I'm at Lowes the other day picking some molding up for our newly installed french doors and instead of taking care of business I'm looking at lumber options and ideas for making some kind of a wine rack. I think I'm obsessed.

 

[Tom]

Not untill you have a good supply of bottles aging in your cellar.
Last count here was 95+ FULL cases not counting on whats on my 5 wine racks or whats fermenting. Fermenting are 19 6-gallon carboys. Now thats OBSESSION !

 

[Ceegar]

Not untill you have a good supply of bottles aging in your cellar.
Last count here was 95+ FULL cases not counting on whats on my 5 wine racks or whats fermenting. Fermenting are 19 6-gallon carboys. Now thats OBSESSION !

Uh yeah, I would say so. I'd be divorced I think at that rate. I highly doubt it will ever get that "bad" with me . You're right, I'll leave the obsession status to guys like yourself!

Damn, that's a lot of wine. How in hell will you possibly come close to drinking anywhere near that amount of wine?

 

[Madriver Wines]

I think an intervention is in order. We come at his cellar from 4 different directions and don't stop until we cant stand long enough to get another bottle!!

 

[WildSeedGrrrl]

THere's also a Marionberry which grows in oregon and washington. which is in the blackberry family. i eat them all the time when I'm at home and i can buy it canned through oregon harvest as a puree. It's definitely better fresh than canned.

WSG