Looking to start making but going on Holiday for a few days

[CWayman]

Hi All,

This is my first adventure into Wine making. I picked 10Kgs of blackberrys yesterday and I am looking to do the following 5 gallon receipe:

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f2/blackberry-4443/

My quandary is I go away with work from lunchtime Wednesday and I'm not back until very late on the Friday.

I was going to make the must tonight (Sunday), adding the pectin tomorrow night (Monday), then add the yeast on Tuesday night. I then go away the next day so I won't be able to stir it from Wednesday lunchtime until Friday evening. 2 1/2 days.

My questions are:

1) Should I leave making the must until Tuesday? I could then add the pectin Wednesday before I go away, then add the yeast Friday night when I return.

2) Will the fermentation be ok if I don't stir it for a few days?

3) Can I make the must now, add the pectin and then leave adding the yeast until Friday. This would have the benefit of allowing a better OG/SG as more of the sugars will have been released from the blackberries?

What does everyone think?

Thanks and great site,
Craig.

 

[Julie]

the must will be find for a few days, sometimes it takes a couple days to get started.

 

[CWayman]

Thanks Julie, time to get sterilising

 

[jamesngalveston]

10kgs would make a much better 3 gallon batch..but as everyone says here,its your wine.
I have started adding my liguid,fruit,and pectin 1 day before i add my sugar so i can get the fruit breakdown a bit, before taking my og...then i add sugar, and remainder of chemicals...let sit for a day, then add yeast. I do not touch it for 2 days, then i start stirring daily.

 

[CWayman]

Initially I was looking on here (before I found these forums and the 5 gallon receipe I posted above!)

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/blackbr2.asp

It mentions 6lbs (2.7Kg) for a heavy wine and 4lbs (1.8Kg) for a Medium wine per gallon, with my weight it will end up about 4.4lbs of fruit per gallon. More suited towards friends and families tastes. I'm looking forward to the experimentation.

With 10Kgs though I could split it into a heavy and a medium wine? Maybe a 2 gallon 14lbs and a 2 gallon 8lbs? What do you think?

 

[Boatboy24]

With 10Kgs though I could split it into a heavy and a medium wine? Maybe a 2 gallon 14lbs and a 2 gallon 8lbs? What do you think?

I like that approach. You will have two similar batches with varying amounts of fruit and you can decide from there which style you like. That will give you a reasonably good gauge of how to adjust Keller's recipes going forward (if at all).

Welcome to Winemakingtalk.