My First Batch! BlackBerry!

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SG 1.01

Activity from yesterday has slowed a little but I can still see lots of bubbles and the occasional sediment floating near the glass of the carboy. My wife says it looks like a huge glass jar of Blood. The color really is rich.

BlackBerryWine
 
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I got to rereading the posts here and see that you bought 25lbs at your market. Heck, at our grocery stores they want $3.00 for 12 ounces of fresh blackberries!
I have to wait for them to bring the peaches down below a dollar before I'll buy enough.
 
I got to rereading the posts here and see that you bought 25lbs at your market. Heck, at our grocery stores they want $3.00 for 12 ounces of fresh blackberries!
I have to wait for them to bring the peaches down below a dollar before I'll buy enough.

I think I payed 2.30 for 16oz. it was worth it though to get a batch started.
 
Not sure.. I will guess the final color to be close to a White Zinfandel. Will be real interesting to see the final product! Keep the pictures coming!

:pic
 
Looks like I am way off!! Look at the link below

Blackberry Wine Color?

Interesting, Good read. Guess I have to make sure to do at least 4 rackings. I suppose ill be doing vaccume gas removal with my foodsaver too. Time will tell. In the reading it almost looks like the wine should be drank before 2 years. This sounds like keeping bottles for longer will not be a good thing. HMM.
 
SG 1.00

Activity is pretty slow now. Bubbles at about once every 3-5 seconds. Im thinking that this is when I want to Rack it off to the next carboy and get it off of the Lees. Or should I keep it there for another week and let it gain the flavor from the lees? The color has gone from that creamy red color to a deep red. Will the bubbles keep going for some time and will the SG go below 1.00 with time?

I need a little help here guys. Please. Thank you!
 
The color will change dramatically! It will be dark blackish/purple when it clears. The second one from the left is my Blackberry.

Elderberry Blackberry.jpg
 
Racked Wine off Lees to 6 gallon Carboy. The bubble action is so slow now and the yeasty smell has gone down quite a bit. I moved the Carboy to the basement in my wine Closet so it can be in the dark and nice and stable as far as temps go. Sitting right around 65.
 
So the Blackberry wine has been sitting for 10 days after the first racking of carboys finishing the secondary. I have been keeping it in a dark closet deemed the wine closet in the basement. I think that before we bought the house a month or so someone used it for the same as it is set up just right to hole 4 carboys and has all the racking to hold at least 150 bottles.

When I racked it to the second carboy I only used one Kmeta tab. No sorbate. I am thinking ill rack it again in a couple of weeks as the color has drasticly gone to a deep black purple and I have a little bit of Lees. 1/4 inch maybe. When I rack it again how much Kmeta and Sorbate should I use? I do not open the airlock at all and I have about an inch to the stopper full of juice. SWEET!

Its smelling really good too. Good God.
 
you can never have enough carboys/containers and bungs! get a few for larger bottles (we like our hot sauce, in a gal :p).

we started in the basement closet and then just outside the closet and then in some basement cabnetry..............now moving into a 30x30 garage. lol will it ever end? i hope not.

i will warn you about peach. it's not easy to get good results. we've made it 2 times bad and another was good, but a little light on flavor. we like more full bodied wines, but it can get expensive that way.
 
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Ghost, the recommended dosage is 1 campden tablet per gallon or 1/4 tsp per 5-6 gallons. This would be done about every 3-4 months of aging after the initial dose right after fermentation ended.
 
Ghost, the recommended dosage is 1 campden tablet per gallon or 1/4 tsp per 5-6 gallons. This would be done about every 3-4 months of aging after the initial dose right after fermentation ended.

Thank you Wade, This is exactly what I needed to Hear.
 
Racked after 1 month in the second racking carboy. This time I added 6 cambden tablets and the 3/4 tbs of sorbate per gallon dosage. While I racked it to the new Carboy, I couldnt believe how clear it is already going through the tube. I put some in a glass and did the flashlight test and it is clear as a waterbottle. WOW. Still had a little of a yeast smell but I could deffinatly smell the blackberry. For some reason my drill mount degasser wont fit in the neck of my carboy so I may just hook it up to the foodsaver. That will be for another day though. Maybe next racking or before bottling. I figure Ill let it sit now for a few months as I got very little Lees from this racking. I added a little red wine to top off from what I lost in the racking. Maybe a cup or so.

This smells better than any red wine I have ever had and I cant wait to share the experience of my first home made wine.
 
if there are not bubbles in the wine, i don't usually degas unless there is an off flavor. usually you can pick it out, but maybe not for a first timer. it's not a bad idea to degas, but i don't think it's always necessary either.

i'm glad it's coming out good. for some reason, our first 4-6 batches were excellent. maybe a winemakers beginners luck? lol. i guess you have to make mistakes to learn sometimes too.

my personal first totally by myself (my dad got me into it and we'd co'op quite a few before) was watermelon. it spoiled before it got into the secondary....it was reallllly bad.
 
I actually found the tubing for my food saver and will be buying a non drilled bung so I can drill it out the size I need to hook it up right. So using a vaccume will work out just fine. My wife is due to have our second baby, a boy tomorrow and she cant wait to try the wine. It should be perfect timing when it is ready for her.
 
Racked off the lees. There where not too many and the wine in the tubes looked very clear. Added 6 Cambden Tabs and sorbate. Ill leave this batch in the closet for a couple months now before I Rack again. I also got some un drilled bungs so I can drill them my size for my food saver so I can degass.
 

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