I haven't made blackberry wine for some time and thought I would make some wine using frozen blackberries. Wally Mart had some blackberries on sale for $2.50 a pound. At less than 3 bucks a bottle I got inspired.

24 pounds frozen blackberries.
4 gallons water
28 cups white sugar
6 campden tablets
9 teaspoons acid blend
1 3/4 teaspoons wine tannin
3 1/2 teaspoons pectic enzyme
3 teaspoons yeast nutrient
4 teaspoons bentonite
3 teaspoons of yeast energizer at the time I add yeast.

premier cuv'ee yeast after 24 hours to give the meta-bisulphate (campden) to dissipate.

I just transferred to the secondary today. SG was at 1.030 today. The recipe was constructed as I was throwing things together so I'll keep you posted on the results. I had some foaming after transferring so I should have waited until the SG was a little lower.

Since I started out with frozen berries I put 1 gallon of water in a large pan and brought it to a boil. Shut off the burner and added the first 12 pounds of frozen berries. Once the berries were thawed I ran them through the blender and poured the blended fruit through a Home Depot large paint strainer bag. Tie off the top of the bag.These large bags are cheap. I then boiled another gallon of water and used the same process. There was so much fruit that I had to use 2 of those strainer bags. After tying off the second bag I add the remainder of the water and remainder of ingredients. I wanted a full bodied wine so I used a lot of berries. Some of the problems is measuring SG with a hydrometer in such a thick solution. The sugar quickly breaks down the berries. When I am making a heavy bodied wine I use an ATC refractor and measure Brix. I set the brix at 22.5 which is approx. 1.092 SG. My primary fermenter is an 8 gallon food grade trash can and I use a muslin towell over the top fastened in place with a shock cord. I leave my stirring spoon and hydrometer in the must. My hydrometer is inside of the Farmtek wine thief.

Wine has been in the secondary 12 days. About 75% of the gross lees have dropped. Once they drop I will be racking. I expect to have about 1 gallon of gross lees.

I'll keep you posted on the results of this project. wyo wino

Tag: 6 gallon blackberry wine recipe, blackberry wine, brown sugar, beer software

wyo wino wrote:I haven't made blackberry wine for some time and thought I would make some wine using frozen blackberries. Wally Mart had some blackberries on sale for $2.50 a pound. At less than 3 bucks a bottle I got inspired.

24 pounds frozen blackberries.
4 gallons water
28 cups white sugar
6 campden tablets
9 teaspoons acid blend
1 3/4 teaspoons wine tannin
3 1/2 teaspoons pectic enzyme
3 teaspoons yeast nutrient
4 teaspoons bentonite
3 teaspoons of yeast energizer at the time I add yeast.

premier cuv'ee yeast after 24 hours to give the meta-bisulphate (campden) to dissipate.

I just transferred to the secondary today. SG was at 1.030 today. The recipe was constructed as I was throwing things together so I'll keep you posted on the results. I had some foaming after transferring so I should have waited until the SG was a little lower.

Since I started out with frozen berries I put 1 gallon of water in a large pan and brought it to a boil. Shut off the burner and added the first 12 pounds of frozen berries. Once the berries were thawed I ran them through the blender and poured the blended fruit through a Home Depot large paint strainer bag. Tie off the top of the bag.These large bags are cheap. I then boiled another gallon of water and used the same process. There was so much fruit that I had to use 2 of those strainer bags. After tying off the second bag I add the remainder of the water and remainder of ingredients. I wanted a full bodied wine so I used a lot of berries. Some of the problems is measuring SG with a hydrometer in such a thick solution. The sugar quickly breaks down the berries. When I am making a heavy bodied wine I use an ATC refractor and measure Brix. I set the brix at 22.5 which is approx. 1.092 SG. My primary fermenter is an 8 gallon food grade trash can and I use a muslin towell over the top fastened in place with a shock cord. I leave my stirring spoon and hydrometer in the must. My hydrometer is inside of the Farmtek wine thief.

Wine has been in the secondary 12 days. About 75% of the gross lees have dropped. Once they drop I will be racking. I expect to have about 1 gallon of gross lees.

I'll keep you posted on the results of this project. wyo wino

6/11/08
Racked off of the gross lees. Obtained 5 gallons of wine and a 750 ml bottle which goes into the reefer to be used later. wyo wino

7/23/08
Racked again. Very full bodied and excellent flavor. Used the bottle of saved wine in the reefer to top off and replaced air lock. This wine was started on 5/27/08 and almost 2 months old. wyo wino

12/06/08
Racked again. Very full bodied but acid slightly high at .80%. Added 1 teaspoon of potassium carbonate. Lowered acid to .65%. Placed wine on oak and added 5 campden tablets and 2 1/2 teaspoons for potassium sorbate for the 5 gallons and re-installed air lock. This wine should be ready to bottle in about 6 weeks.

1/29/09
Bottled Blackberry. Great tasting wine. Full bodied blackberry flavor.

sounds like you got it down pretty good, i've never used frozen fruit before but i've made a lot of wine useing the fruit puree from Vintner's Harvest and have had very good results. let us know how it comes out when you bottle it up.
gary

I started it on May 23, added yeast on May 24, transferred to carboy on May 27 at SG 1.030 and had an unusual large amount of pulp and gross lees. Ended up with 7 gallons of must. Expected the gross lees but didn't expect so much pulp since I placed the berries in a strainer bag and tied it off in the primary. Racked off of the gross lees on June 11 and the wine was totally fermented out and very dry with a good blackberry flavor. I ended up with 5 gallons of wine plus a 750 ml bottle which I corked and placed in my reefer to use for topping off my carboy later. I strained as I racked through some muslin from the fabric store. Expect to rack again late July. I try to age in the carboy for 6 months. wyo wino

my wines usually clear up in about 2 months, but i did a perssimon wine in november and i had a problem with all the pulp i got from it. after racking 3 times and ageing for 8 months it still wasn't as clear as i wanted. i bottled it last week and it was very dry and still a little cloudy. i've made this wine before and never had the pulp problem before so i can't figure what happened this time. i'll try again this year when i get another crop and see if i can get it back to normal. have you ever used a clearifier to help to clear your wine?
gary

shineman wrote:my wines usually clear up in about 2 months, but i did a perssimon wine in november and i had a problem with all the pulp i got from it. after racking 3 times and ageing for 8 months it still wasn't as clear as i wanted. i bottled it last week and it was very dry and still a little cloudy. i've made this wine before and never had the pulp problem before so i can't figure what happened this time. i'll try again this year when i get another crop and see if i can get it back to normal. have you ever used a clearifier to help to clear your wine?
gary

No. I do use pectic enzyme and/or bentonite in the primary. If it hasn't cleared in a couple of months I use pectic enzyme again but only half as much as I used the first time. I made strawberry wine from fruit and I did have a clearing problem. That wasn't the only problem. I forgot and left it on the gross lees for about a month. Oops! It had a rotten egg odor but after racking and letting it splash into the carboy the odor cleared up after a month. The wine did not clear so I added more pectic enzyme and it dropped a lot more lees and now it is 4 months old and very clear, dry and has a real good strawberry flavor and no other odors. I usually let my wine age 6 to 8 months. I have been making wine since the early 70s and in 6 or 8 months it has always cleared quite well. I have noticed though that some of my white wines after a year or so in the bottle have had a little sediment. I recently popped for the buon mini jet filter and use the med #2 filter and it will turn your wine into a real commercial looking product. Have you used bentonite or pectic enzyme in your perssimon wine?? wyo wino

i've never used a pectic enzyme in any of my wines before, but it sounds like a good idea when useing a fruit base, so i think i will give it a try next time. when do you add it and how much for a 5 gal batch.
thanks,
gary

You will be amazed what the pectic enzyme will do to your wine. all fruit has pectin. In fact when you make jelly you add pectin to firm up the jelly. In wine you do the opposite. The pectic enzyme breaks down the fruit. Jack Keller, quite an wine expert, said he was never impressed about pectic enzyme until he saw it put into a jar of apple sauce. It turned the apple sauce into apple juice. I use 1/2 teaspoon of pectic enzyme per gallon in my wine. I also use bentonite and tannin. If you don't use tannin you might just experiment next time. Tannin is strong. It is on grapes skins and in the seeds and you can also find tannin in wood. If you have a wine that just doesn't have that great flavor take a small sample and add just a small amount of tannin. Just a few grains in a glass. You will be amazed in the change in flavor. wyo wino

thanks much, wyo wino, next time i'm down to my LHBS i'll pick up some and give it a try.
gary

Whenever you mix bentonite or tannin in wine mix a small amount in wine or water first. Might try heating the water in a microwave. Just an ounce or two. Bentonite and tannin just kind of turns to mud if it doesn't get mixed first. wyo wino

please explain to me what gross lees are?

and when is the proper time to expel them in the wine making process.

-J

Once the yeast starts eating the sugar they put out alcohol and bubbles. We let the bubbles excape unless we want champagne. While the yeast are eating the sugar that is added and the fruit and fruit pulp that has sugar in it you will have garbage fall to the bottom of the container which is called gross lees. While you wine must is in a primary for a few days that really doesn't matter. After we transfer to a carboy with an airlock we start becoming concerned after a couple weeks. Your wine will to take on an odor of rotton eggs. Before this happens the procedure is to siphone the wine off of those gross lees. later we will siphone the wine off the lees again called racking but they are light lees that look like a very fine silt. The light silt or lees will not impart any odors to your wine. We want to rack several times so that the wine clears. wyo wino

so basically, its racking within the first week, then again every month or so?

so you do not use a air lock in the primary?

-J

I use an 8 gallon container that looks like a trash can. Food grade. Available from most wine retailers. If I am using juice I just add it to the container. If I am using fruit it is crushed and the pulp is placed in the container inside a strainer bag. I use a Home Depot paint strainer bag. I add my chemicals and add the yeast 24 hours later. I place a clean cloth like a dish towel over the container to keep out the dust and dirt. As the yeast starts working the specific gravity of the wine must will start decreasing as the yeast eat the sugar. When the SG or specific gravity decreases to about 1.030 we transfer everything to a 6 gallon glass carboy with an airlock. Within the next couple of weeks a large amount of gross lees will fall to the bottom of the carboy. In about 2 weeks we siphone or rack to a 5 gallon carboy. We will only get a little over 5 gallons of the wine must. The amount in excess of 5 gallons I place in a wine bottle and store in the fridge. Every couple of months I rack again. Because of the lees I will come up short so I add the wine must I have saved in the fridge. The reason for storing the extra in the fridge is to stop the yeast from growing so the bottle will not blow out the cork.