Blackberry and stuff wine

[Chris the Fish]

I have just had a bit of a stock-take and have the following...

Some blackberries - about 1lb
Nice sable grapes which are going over - about 1/2 lb
1l red grape juice
1l white grape juice
a tin of Youngs 'Medium red' grape juice concentrate

what do you reckon?

stick it all in bar the white grape juice and see what happens?

would this be a bit too 'red' if you know what i mean?

im still a bit of a noob so any help would be welcome. Cheers!

[ms67]

i think this looks like a nice mix for a brew. It won't be "too red" if by that you mean astringent. You'll want to squish your berries and grapes. also check around some other recipes to see what likely nutrients, acids you may need, but that mix looks to me to have pretty much what it needs. i'd also add the white grape juice. but heres the clincher ... i would also post here for advice cos there are plenty who know far more than me! i thought i would just chime in with my tuppence worth to give you something to read! the only downside with something like this is that if you make a blindingly good wine then its a little tricky to recreate. my guess is that you'll get a nice fruity rose.

good luck

[fatbloke]

A wine with "stuff" in it...... outstanding....

Actually, reading yer list, I'd go with the lot except the WGJ, but I'd also be getting one of those tins of blackberry fruit concentrate. Cos it'd be too easy to lose the BB taste.....

Regards


Jtfb

[lockwood1956]

or......

fire it all up except the blackberries, and add them when the SG gets to around 1.015, that should maintain the blackberry aroma and taste

regards
Bob

[Chris the Fish]

Thats settled then,

as the blackberries are frozen ill stick them in the bucket with the concentrate, grape juice and grapes make it up to 4gal ish, then ill add some pectin enzyme and leave it for 24h.

Do you think ill need to add tannin/acids?

i guess with the concentrate and the blackberries that this will be taken care of as ive read that blackberries are quite high in acid/tannin.

cheers for the responses - ill keep you updated with the progress.

[lockwood1956]

You will get more blackberriness if you add the blackberries towards the end of the ferment...trust me on this (I'm dating a doctor)

regards
Bob

[Chris the Fish]

I actually weighed them and had nearer 2-2 1/2lb! so they all went in bar 2 tubs which will go in towards the end of the ferment.

You say to add them at 1015, in your world is this whilst still in the bucket or in the DJ? Ive tended to bucket ferment my fruit for about 4 days (by which time the SG is higher than 1010) then tx to a DJ and continue till it reaches the 1010 mark then rack off the lees into a 2nd DJ .

You can count the country wines ive produced on one hand so any hints at your process would be greatly received...

Cheers

chris

[mctoon]

I wish i read this before i started mine,, i bunged the blackberries in at the beginning,, oh well will see how it turns out

[danpug]

Theres plenty of blackberries around so go and pick some more then add those later.

[hairytoes]

How did you get on with this?

I'm going to make my 1st attempt.

I've got:

4L Lidl red grape juice
200g Elderberries
1.5kg Blackberries
Pectalose
Yeast & Nutrient
Unrefined demerera sugar
white ordinary sugar
campden tablets

I'm thinking of putting theelderberies & 3/4 of the blackberries in a bucket, covering with boiling water & some pectalose/campden tablets & leaving for a few days.

Topping up with the fruit juice & straining over about 2kg of sugar, into another bucket - adding a prepared yeast starter & leaving it to ferment...add remaining blackberries.

Rack into 2 DJ's to finish fermenting.

When all the bubbles have stopped, rack into bottles & leave until Christmas.

I've not got a hydromoter yet, so I'm kinda flying by the seat of my pants a wee bit.

Sound any good?

[danpug]

I wouldn't use boiling water on the fruit. Is there any particular reason you want to have the fruit seperate for the first few days?

Edit: Oh, and get yourself a hydrometer!

[hairytoes]

I wouldn't use boiling water on the fruit. Is there any particular reason you want to have the fruit seperate for the first few days?

Edit: Oh, and get yourself a hydrometer!

Apparantly you get more "blackberriness" - flavour, by adding them late in the ferment.

Why wouldn't you use boiling water? That's whats in my book - what would you do?

[lockwood1956]

Adding fruit late in the ferment will indeed give you more of that flavour and aroma, I prefer not to use boiling water in the process as it releases the pectin from the fruit, and can, (but not always) lead to a "cooked" taste.

I freeze and then thaw fruit to aid in breakdown of cell structure, or if using them cold use 50ppm sulphite (1 Campden tablet per gallon) to sanitise the fruit.

A lot of older recipes call for boiling water to be used on the fruit, it was used to kill off any spoilage organism, and to release colour and flavour, pectolase will release colour and flavour compounds just as well.


hope that helps

regards
Bob

[hairytoes]

Cheers for that.

I have pectalose, so I'll just use tap water.

I'm going to look for some tinned fruit at the shops too for this, is there a prescribed method for making a wine from :

Fresh fruit
Tinned fruit
Fruit juice (cartons)

I'm assuming to make a must, with the pectalose, most of the fruit, tins & cartons (campden tab?).

Strain onto sugar, add yeast/nutrient & ferment.

Add in remaining fresh fruit & ferment until done.

Rack into bottles & store for a few months.

- This is my perception, I've never done it & have only started reading books/websites very recently.

Thanks for any help - it's invaluable & greatly appreciated!!

[goldseal]

Start here:

http://www.winesathome.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=62

- use Wine No.1 and/or Wine No.2 for method for cartons of Fruit Juice, Wine No.3 for fresh fruit.

Tinned fruit - there is a thread here:

http://www.winesathome.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=825

- however, the early recipes talk about using boiling water. I would read the whole thread, which should give you a good feel for what is required.