# Raspberry Wine Started



## montyfox (Aug 21, 2008)

I had a great crop of raspberries this year from my garden, soooooo. 


I didn't quite have enough to make more than 1 gallon since I like to eat a few as well. I am following Terry Garey's recipe in the book "The Joy of Home Winemaking."


I did use 4 1/2 pounds of raspberries and the starting S.G. was 1.085. I also used Lalvin 71B-1122 yeast, which I added on 8-22.


The color looks great and it is bubbling away nicely. 









This is my first attempt at making a wine from scratch. I've made several from kits and decided to give this a try. I sure hope it turns out as well as I've heard.


More pics to follow after I rack it.*Edited by: montyfox *


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## JWMINNESOTA (Aug 21, 2008)

Looks great, good choice on the yeast in my opinion. You'll be through a gallon in no time, I'm sure next years crop will go more toward the wine effort!


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## Wade E (Aug 21, 2008)

That should be a great wine there.


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## Waldo (Aug 21, 2008)

looks mighty good


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## pkcook (Aug 23, 2008)

Hey Montyfox,


The wine looks great! Raspberry is my favoritefruit wine.


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## montyfox (Aug 26, 2008)

I have a question for all you fruit wine experts out there. At what S.G. do you remove the bag from the fermentation bucket? 


I started out at 1.085 and will check the S.G. tomorrow as it will be exactly one week since I added the yeast. Do you wait until 0or do you remove it after a week regardless?


Also, how many of you squeeze the bag upon removing verses just letting it drip? I'm guessing that this depends on the fruit. My instinct with raspberries is telling me not to squeeze as this will release the smaller particles into the wine.


I'm really excited about this one. It smells great!


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## Wade E (Aug 26, 2008)

i take the fruit out after 7-10 days depending on temps, if it is winter and the temps are low then Ill go 10 days or close but if its summer and warm temps then Ill pull the fruit sock out faster to prevent spoilage. As far as squeezing I almost always squeeze unless its a very fibrous fruit like banana and would just squish out through the pours of the bag. Raspberry I definitely would get all the juices out by squeezing and have many times . I just did a Crab apple and wish I didnt squeeze that 1 as much as I did as I have tons of sediment to rack off of but its just another racking so all will be well.


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## montyfox (Aug 28, 2008)

It's been 8 days and I checked the S.G. this morning. It came out at 1.000, so I transferred to a glass carboy. The color looks good and it smells great! 

















I actually had enough to bottle 1 gallon carboy and 1 half gallon carboy. The half gallon has a ton of sediment in it and I think I'll only get about 750ml out of it. That's ok with me as that's one more bottle than I was expecting.


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## Aaronh (Aug 28, 2008)

Looken pretty good



.


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## Wade E (Aug 28, 2008)

You will still have to rack both of these so might end up with a full 1 gallon after all is said and done and thats the way most do it. Start with more and not have to worry what to top off with later.


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## univity (Aug 28, 2008)

Looks very yummy! I like the red color.


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## joeswine (Aug 30, 2008)

what did you do with the mash in the bag ,didn,t through it out ,did you?


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## montyfox (Aug 30, 2008)

As a matter of fact, I dumped it in my compost bin. I'm guessing by the way you phrased your question that I've make a grave error and now need to hear from the voice of experience.


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## joeswine (Aug 30, 2008)

next time take that mash and place it into a sauce pan warm it up,cook it a ,a little ,add a little simple syrup to it ,then take it off the heat and use a fine mesh chiefs strainer and press the mash through it,until theres nothing but a compose left,what your left with in the bowl is pure raspberry puree add some sorbate to it and either freeze it to add back to your wine later or add to your wine in secondary fermentation adds such depth in body and flavor................won two golds with fresh raspberries that way ..........................







http://www.sweetim.com/s.asp?im=gen&amp;ref=12


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## montyfox (Aug 30, 2008)

I bow to the master and wish I would have known sooner. However, next year I'll be ready. Is this something that you do with all your fruit wines (peach, blueberry, strawberry)? Sounds like it would greatly improve them.


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## Wade E (Aug 30, 2008)

As a recipient of Joe's raspberry wine I will say it works and works VERY GOOD!


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## grapeman (Aug 30, 2008)

I need to comment on Wade's new Avatar! A kitten recently followed my son Rick home in the middle of the night.He loves to do exactly like the cat in the Avatar. We get up to a house full of shredded toilet paper!


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## Wade E (Aug 30, 2008)

I have a black cat called Toby that does this very thing and my daughter found that avatar and showed it to me so I had to change it. We have to keep the bathroom doors pulled to so we dont end up with this mess constantly.


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## ehlenrg (Aug 31, 2008)

I'm far from an expert but I rack from the primary in 6-9 days. Mostly dependent upon what else is going on in my life. I'd like to hear about the end result because I'm planning to try fresh fruit next time. 

My last raspberry was from a Vintner's Harvest can of fruit using the 3 gallon recipe on the label. It has a slightly metallic taste that is gradually going away. It's been in the bottle about 12 months now. Each one I open seems a bite better. I also blended some 50/50 with cranberry and that seems to mask the metallic taste.


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## Wade E (Aug 31, 2008)

Havent seen you in awhile Dr.Bob. Ive noticed that taste once or twice myself and wondered if it was from being in that can too long as Ive never noticed a canned date or expiration date on the can. I can say that the taste has gone away on every batch but I do sweeten my fruit wines back also so that would mask it also.


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## joeswine (Aug 31, 2008)

wade i love the cat,i also like cats there very cool people


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## ehlenrg (Aug 31, 2008)

I was wondering the same thing about the effects of time in the can. That's exactly what the taste reminds me of.

It's been a busy summer up here. Fortunately, I've had some time for wine. Right now there's a green apple gerwestaimer kit, cranberry, 2007 cherry from the tree in the front yard, and a white zin kit waiting for enough time for me to get them in the bottle. Cranberry Fest is only about a month away in Three Lakes WI so there'll be another batch of cranberry to start after that.


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## joeswine (Sep 1, 2008)

what type of event is cranberry feat otherthan what the name emplys,any wine comps.............................................


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## ehlenrg (Sep 3, 2008)

Small town celebration of cranberry harvest. Crafts,art and lots of things made with cranberries. Cranberries for sale---the reason for my being there. Local winery Three Lakes Winery started about 30 years ago with cranberry wine and now makes several types of fruit wine along with some grape.


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## joeswine (Sep 4, 2008)

sounds like a great time- --been to many of those type of events......................................................................................


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## ashton Hammar (Sep 17, 2008)

Thanks MontyFox for asking all those perfect questions. Just started my first wine from scratch (Blackberry) and I had all the exact same questions you asked. Therefore benefited from Joe's comment on how to add some extra body to the wine!






When did you end up pulling your bag from the primary? Was it right before it got to the right SG?


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## Wade E (Sep 17, 2008)

Depends really on what size batch you are making as a 1 gallon batch will ferment very fast so you will need to pull the fruit out earlier but with 6 gallons I usually leave in 7-10 days depending on temps in wine. In ex. if the batch is cooking at 80* in the summer then I will pull the fruit out in seven days so that it doesnt spoil. If its a nice cool 70* then Ill leave it in for 10 days or when racking is necessary due to fast fermentation and low SG.


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## ashton Hammar (Sep 18, 2008)

joeswine said:


> next time take that mash and place it into a sauce pan warm it up,cook it a , a little ,add a little simple syrup to it ,then take it off the heat and use a fine mesh chiefs strainer and press the mash through it,until theres nothing but a compose left,what your left with in the bowl is pure raspberry puree add some sorbate to it and either freeze it to add  back to your wine later or add to your wine in secondary fermentation adds such depth in body and flavor................won two golds with fresh raspberries that way ..........................http://www.sweetim.com/s.asp?im=gen&ref=12



As I just started my blackberry - I have the fortune to benefit from the vast amount of wisdom on this forum. Joe or anyone who performs the above 'refusion' of the mash back into the wine during secondary fermentation - wouldn't that cloud the wine? I am thinking I will do this process as I am worried about the body of my wine. I had to dilute my with about an extra 1/2 gal because I was following the recipe as gospel rather than, as I have read on this forum now, as a 'guideline' so my SG hit 1.13!



Luckily caught it and reduced down to SG 1.12 and further comforted that the yeast provided in my started packet (EC-1118) is a hearty.





Anyways, I ramble... does refusing the wine with mash cloud and require more time to clear?


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## Wade E (Sep 18, 2008)

If you do this when it has just finished then it is still cloudy anyway so will only set you back a little. If using a fining agent it wont matter anyway.


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## montyfox (Nov 15, 2008)

Well, I bottled my raspberry wine last night and had just enough left over for a glass. It was really good! I can hardly wait to taste it after it ages a little bit. Here are some pictures so you can see color. I thought it came out rather well for my first try at making a fruit wine from scratch. Now that I have my confidence build, I know where there is a patch of wild black raspberries that I just begging to be picked next summer!




























I'm really looking forward to drinking this one and I seriously doubt I'll be sharing much



.


Monty


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## Wade E (Nov 15, 2008)

Wonderful color!


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## joeswine (Nov 15, 2008)

looks like a fine batch of fermented fruit........enjoy the wonderful world of fruit wine making


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## NorthernWinos (Nov 15, 2008)

Very nice package....surely the contents are as beautiful....


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## First250 (Jan 14, 2009)

They look great! I too was impressed with my first raspberry wine, even though I made it from canned raspberries. After only two months it tasted better than any other at that point, even my (fresh)blackberry and blueberry. Liked it so much I started another batch right away. 
Would love to get some fresh raspberries down here in the South!


Enjoy!


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## BDKS (Jan 14, 2009)

Great looking end result.



Is it summer yet? I am tired of winter...

<div style="padding: 10px 0px 3px 5px;">*14°F*
*Feels Like
-2°F

* We have a buch of U-pick orchards. Raspberry is one of them


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## Chrisbrew (Apr 19, 2016)

Hey! Old thread I know.....but I don't suppose you have the recipe for this? It looks beautiful! I can see you put the amount of raspberries in the first post but I would like to know about sugar quantities if possible.

New to wine making, just made a kit red wine but want to make my own from fruit?

Also, does this wine age well, or did it get drunk too quickly


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