blackberry

[yul]

Hi
Just knocked up 10lt of blackberry must ,did not have a bag big enough to put blackberrys in so just threw them in loose, do I need to crush theese or will the ferment sort that out?

[goldseal]

They'll be fine as-is. Fermentation will reduce them to a mush.

In fact, crushing is not a good idea. If you crush the seeds you can introduce bitterness to the wine.

[Anticrossmodulation]

Juice & Oak Chips!

On the subject of Blackberry wine, would a ltr of Black Grape Juice (ASDA & Tesco) and Oak Chips enhance the final product

[Cellar_Rat]

IMO do the oak chips separately. Too much oak is not a good thing and very hard to undo.

[Petrovitch]

Bill Smith in his book reckons that oak added for a short amount of time while fermentation is happening on the pulp (typically 4-5 days if you're doing a late fruit addition) helps as it removes astringency and aids the wine in becoming approachable earlier. But as Mr Rat says too much oak can ruin a wine and is difficult to reverse.

[lockwood1956]

You can take pretty much anything Bill Smith says as Gospel.

Oak in the primary is fine, it doesnt add the same oakiness as it does after ferment, and so wont "over oak" your wine. Dont go crazy with it, 10g per gallon is my preferred option if I'm using it, but its only going to be in there about a week. After this time there is still more oakiness left in the oak, so i sometimes rinse and dry, then use again later (15 mins in oven wrapped in tin foil at 130 deg first)

regards
Bob

[billybuntus]

Hi
Just knocked up 10lt of blackberry must ,did not have a bag big enough to put blackberrys in so just threw them in loose, do I need to crush theese or will the ferment sort that out?

You'll regret that. Do yourself a favour and buy a large coarse jelly bag from your HBS

[yul]

Ye I know I did mutter a fewwords to myself when transfering.