Starting Blueberry Wine

[gaudet]

Plotting my second attempt at fruit wine making. The victim this time..... blueberry. I have 3 gallons of fresh picked, frozen berries. I plan to prep them with campden. For a 5-6 gallon batch, I will add yeast energizer, pectic enzyme, and acid blend, along with 11 pounds of sugar. I have a general recipe that I will follow. Also, I will try to document (photos) the steps here as I go.

Please help a newbie out with any tips or suggestions. I have a 7.9 gallon primary thats just begging to be used.


Mike

Edited by: gaudet

 

[Bert]

Welcome to the forum gaudet.....If I understand your plan to make a 5-6 gal batch and if you plan to fermet on the berries, you may not have enough room in your primary....3 gallons of berries will displace a lot.....Good luck...Blueberry wine sounds great..

 

[NorthernWinos]

Yeast Nutrient as well Yeast Energizer....sometimes Blueberry is hard to start.

Photos will be nice.

 

[smurfe]

You ought to be able to fit those berries in your fermenter. You won't leave them whole, rather you will smash them to release the juice. That will reduce the space taken up by the berries. I would say you will have the volume of berries down to a gallon or less. If you have or have access to a steam juicer, that would be even better. Good luck with the wine.

 

[smokegrub]

I have found that freezing the berries and mashing them helps in primary fermentation.

 

[gaudet]

It has begun.............

16 pints (2 gallons frozen) fresh picked blueberries, 11 pounds sugar, 3/4 tsp pectic enzyme, 2 tbs yeast nutrient, filled to 6 gallons with water. Berries were mashed, 6 tabs crushed campden stirred in well. Covered and in a holding pattern for at least the next 24 hours. I took a OG reading of 1.100

Pictures to come.

 

[Wade E]

Thats a pretty high SG for a fruit wine. Let me guess, you got this recipe from Jack Kellers website. I dont like those high SG's with country wines especially for a beginner as that will require some serious aging before you can drink it as it will be very harsh for awhile. I and many others like to make their fruit wines with a starting SG of no more then 1.090 to keep the fruit taste from being hidden by the abv. Jack likes to get all the alcohol he can from his wines. What yeast did you use as different yeast strains will have higher or lower abv tolerances.

 

[gaudet]

I followed this kraus recipe, but adjusted to about 3 pounds more blueberries. I had read Jack's recipe and thought it was more complicated than I wanted to try my hand at. I will stir and take another SG tomorrow. I expect it to be close to the same though.

I have 4 types of yeast to choose from Lavlin K1-V1116, Lavlin D47, Red Star Champagne, & Red Star Montrachet. I was leaning towards the Montrachet from most of the recipes I have seen.

I won't add any more sugar Wade, I promise.

 

[Wade E]

At that SG you will probably stop fermenting around 1.000 give or take some depending on where your yeast finally fizzles out with Montrachet yeast and i do believe that is your best bet.

 

[Bill B]

I have to agree with Wade. 1.100 is guite high for a fruit wine. I would like to see the SG at around 1.085 I keep all my fruit wine at that SG you would be amazed at how much more fruit you will taste. Good luck.

 

[gaudet]

Are you getting 10-12% ABV with that OG? I only plan to do fruit wines for now as its easy to get plenty to work with relatively inexpensive. I might branch out later on as I get more comfortable with my methods and that I am doing this correctly. I plan on seasonal wines based on whats available around here.

PSS I stirred the juice this morning and the sq was actually between 1.09 and 1.095

I have about 5 inches of head room left in the primary, I could dilute it further if you guys don't think that it would be at risk of foaming out



Edited by: gaudet

 

[First Time Wine]

You are going to be very happy with this wine. I had some room left in mine when I started. I started off making a 3 gallon batch that has turned into a 5 gallon batch. Make sure you add the additional nutrient energizers etc. to compensate.


I have a very strong fruit concentration and felt like I could add more watter and sugar to make a bigger batch. I am glad I did. My SG started about 1.080 which I was a little concerned was too low. It is almost done fermenting in the secondary and the alcohol and fruit combination is just right.

If I can offer a little advise. Make sure you wait a min of 24 hours before adding yeast etc. You might can even wait a little longer. I added too soon and fermentation didn't start. I think there was too much concentration of K-Meta.

You are going to be very happy.

good luck

 

[gaudet]

I plan to pitch the yeast either tonight, or tomorrow afternoon. After 5pm it will be 24 hours since I added the campden.


I was curious as to when is the best time to add bentonite for clearing. I have read that its good to add during the primary fermentation due to the vigorous activity in process. I read that if you use too much then it can give an off taste to the wine. In a previous batch I have going, I added it when I transferred it from the secondary back to the primary (Only 1 carboy at the time), it was easier to stir that way. I havealso read on easier ways to mix the bentonite before adding it to the must that I want to try.

 

[First Time Wine]

Hum you got me. I will be interested in the answer you get. Good luck

 

[Wade E]

Bentonite is usually what i use in the primary and mix that in before anythin else with hot water. This will help rid your wine of a protein haze. After fermentation I use just time or SuperKleer to fine my wine.

 

[gaudet]

Here are the first pics. I started the juice on 6/25, Pitched the yeast 25 hours later on 6/26. OG was 1.096 if I read it right. This morning I took the sg and it was 1.020

I racked it to secondary and placed airlock. Time to sit tight and wait........

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[gaudet]

I got my supplies from George today. Very quickly might I add. The only thing I needed today was the pH strips. I did my 2nd racking from carboy off the lees today to the primary bucket. I took a sg and I got 0.990 or 0.992 I checked it twice and got the same reading. I took a small amount to a cup and pH tested it reading the test strip (pretty confident I got this right) 3.6 pH. I crushed 6 tabs of campden and mixed it to the primary thoroughly before racking back to my clean and sanitized carboy. Topped it off with 2 cups of water to the top of the shoulder. Now we play the waiting game again. Tasting the sample in the cup, it was extremely dry and tart. Not quite what I was expecting, but I'm sure its fine. ABV 13.9% - 14.3%


Mike


Edited by: gaudet

 

[smurfe]

The tartness is from the pH. It will dissipate when (or if) you back sweeten. You higher SG and higher alcohol level will enhance it as well. As Bill B stated in an earlier post, 1.085 is about ideal for a fruit wine. He should know to. He makes some of the best, if not the best fruit wines I have had the pleasure to drink. Let us know how it comes out after you back sweeten a bit. I bet you will be surprised.

 

[gaudet]

I am slowly learning that you need to carefully set your starting gravity as to not get too much % ABV. I have another batch (blackberry) that I started a month earlier than the blueberry and I overdid the sugar. It started at 1.120 and finished at 1.010

When it comes time for bottling (blackberry) in another few weeks, I will be asking some more questions.

Edited by: gaudet

 

[gaudet]

Ok Guys and Gals,

Two days ago I used a packet of Super Kleer when I racked my blueberry. That was pretty fantastic how fast it cleared that wine. Its still got a long way to go, but I never thought it would clear so quickly.