Blackberry wine question

steve4520 · Sep 18, 2018

I've just in the process of making bb wine and just taken a S.G
Reading and it's off the scale..1200+.My question is do I need to water this down to a more acceptable level and if so what level. Recipe is 3lbs bbs 3lbs sugar. Tia

steve4520 · Sep 18, 2018

Think I need a new hydrometer..just took a brix reading and it's 29.4 which works out at 1127 S.G. I think that's a good starting point from what I've seen on YouTube videos

ScottE75 · Sep 18, 2018

Depending on the alcohol tolerance of the yeast you used, at worst you might end up with a sweet wine.
I always aim for SG 1.110 which give me a 14% ABV wine when I ferments to dryness. This is about the limit of tolerance of the yeast I use.
3lb of sugar alone is in the region of SG 1.115. I don't know how much sugar is in the blackberries.

steve4520 · Sep 18, 2018

ScottE75 said:
Depending on the alcohol tolerance of the yeast you used, at worst you might end up with a sweet wine.
I always aim for SG 1.110 which give me a 14% ABV wine when I ferments to dryness. This is about the limit of tolerance of the yeast I use.
3lb of sugar alone is in the region of SG 1.115. I don't know how much sugar is in the blackberries.

Cheers ScottE75. That's a point I'll make a note of...and a 14% wine is more than enough.

DanielB · Sep 19, 2018

Hello,. I'm new here, and interested in how your BB wine progresses...

I started off with 4lbs BB and 3lbs sugar, which gave a start SG 1110.

It has almost fermented to dry - am at about a bubble every 30secs.

I had a taste when I was trying to stop the fermentation at 1005 with a campden tablet. It had quite a bitter aftertaste.

Is that aftertaste something that matures away? Or have I got dirty?

All my fruit wines I taste when racking to a new demijohn...and they all seem to have a bitterness.

Is that just what they taste like?

I'll be eager to here how you get on!

Cheers

britton · Sep 19, 2018

DanielB said:
Hello,. I'm new here, and interested in how your BB wine progresses...

I started off with 4lbs BB and 3lbs sugar, which gave a start SG 1110.

It has almost fermented to dry - am at about a bubble every 30secs.

I had a taste when I was trying to stop the fermentation at 1005 with a campden tablet. It had quite a bitter aftertaste.

Is that aftertaste something that matures away? Or have I got dirty?

All my fruit wines I taste when racking to a new demijohn...and they all seem to have a bitterness.

Is that just what they taste like?

I'll be eager to here how you get on!

Cheers

You will also need to use fermentation stopper aka potassium sorbate to stop fermentation completely.

steve4520 · Sep 19, 2018

Hi DanielB
This is my first real fruit wine as I normally do the WOW, 's. By the sound of it you're further along the process than what I am. We'll have to keep each other up to date and hope fully we'll get a good wine

DanielB · Sep 24, 2018

hi steve4520, happy to see how it all progresses!

I think as I am down to pretty much zero bubbles, I am going to rack the blackberry wine...and then agitate to degass...

I may have a taste, just in case. :roll:

Cwrw666 · Sep 24, 2018

Old country wine recipes often said to add 3 Lb sugar (and sometimes much more!) but we always found the wine a bit on the sweet side. So we always added 2.5Lb instead which usually gives a fairly dry wine. Of course this also depends on the sweetness of the fruit used.

DanielB · Sep 24, 2018

thank you cwrw666. However; and this may just say more about my unrefined palette, but...if you/we are fermenting to dry...why or how can it taste more or less sweet? Surely it will just be more or less alcoholic?

Cwrw666 · Sep 24, 2018

I've always gone for dry wines so can't help you there. However, with most fruit wines there's always some residual sweetness, presumably from unfermentable sugars. In the last couple of years I've done sloe wine and raspberry wine and both had some sweetness to then despite only using 2.5Lb sugar. And both were gorgeous by the way.

steve4520 · Sep 24, 2018

Well at the moment I'm on day 5 of initial fermentation. Everything is bubbling along lovely and a gorgeous aroma. In two days time I'll strain it to a demijohn to finish and clear. I like the sound of a sloe wine Cwrw666 there's an abundance of sloes around me so might collect some. Is the recipe similar to bb wine ?

Cwrw666 · Sep 24, 2018

steve4520 said:
I like the sound of a sloe wine Cwrw666 there's an abundance of sloes around me so might collect some. Is the recipe similar to bb wine ?

I imagine so - all I ever do is 3 to 4 Lb fruit in a fermenter and pour on about 6 pints of boiling water. Leave to stand for about 4 or 5 days by which time it'll be fizzing away by itself from wild yeasts. Strain off the fruit and add sugar and wine yeast and add to a DJ a week or so later when fermentation has quietened down and top up to a gallon.
I never bother adding any nutrient or tannin or citric acid as I reckon fruit wines have enough of everything in them already.

RobinB · Sep 24, 2018

Dont drink it for at least 1 year

Gunge · Sep 25, 2018

RobinB said:
Dont drink it for at least 1 year

Whaaat?? Already necked 2 gallons of the blackberry waahn made at the beginning of August! Jolly nice it was too. 5 gallons remain and I'll be surprised if there's any left come Xmas. Ye well... that's Santa's loss, not mine.

RobinB · Sep 25, 2018

Please please tell me your recipe .. even after a year , my wine is hardly pleasent

steve4520 · Sep 26, 2018

Cheers Cwrw666 for the sloe recipe and advice..
Definitely going to give this one a go
.Do I need to break the skins of the sloes with a fork or just leave them ?

steve4520 · Sep 27, 2018

BB wine bubbling away nicely with a sweet summer aroma...hmm. ..nice.

DanielB · Sep 27, 2018

Looks good. What was your start SG? I racked mine last night. Had a little shnifter...didn't taste so bad.... :beer1:

steve4520 · Sep 29, 2018

DanielB said:
Looks good. What was your start SG? I racked mine last night. Had a little shnifter...didn't taste so bad....

The start gravity on this one was 1127 which is a tad high so might end up a bit sweet..time will tell. Got one more on go then one more after that. Hope it tastes nice as I will end up with 18 bottles..

Blackberry wine question

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