# Blueberry Wine Suggestions



## jimhill (Feb 22, 2016)

Hi everyone,
My 2015 Blueberry wine turned out good, but I had some problems with it fermenting down to dry. Here is what I did and some changes for 2016 I am considering.
I used 26 lbs blueberries, 20.5 lbs sugar, 6.5 gal water, 8 tsp yeast nutrient, 9.75 tsp acid blend, 6.75 tsp tannin, 10 campden tablet eq. Montrechet yeast., and 2 tsp pectic enzyme. Must temp at start was 80F. Starting sg at 1.110.
In short my fermentation rate was slow and steady, but the wine finished at sg of 1.016. (sweet). I have been reading this site as well as other sources. 
My proposed changes for 2016. Use less sugar for a lower starting sg. and use EC1118 instead of the Montrechet. I am planning to also step feed the yeast nutrient instead of adding it all up front. I also plan to test for pH (am going to purchase equipment). Also use more fruit per gallon.
As I am new to wine making, any suggestions from this crew will be very welcome.


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## Scooter68 (Feb 23, 2016)

The only issue I can see is if your yeast died before converting all the sugar. Montrachet is rated up to 15% and based on your starting SG it should have finished unless it ran out of nutrients or perhaps your SG was off. Depending on how much sugar released from your berries and when it was released I wonder if your available sugar was actually over what that yeast could handle. I'm sure more experienced heads can give you more info on this too.


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## jimhill (Feb 23, 2016)

Thanks Scooter, Yes, that is what I was thinking. That is one reason I am planning to start with a lower sg this year. Also others on this site, and Jack Keller, suggest having a more moderate alcohol content than 15% will yield a better wine. Jim


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## sour_grapes (Feb 23, 2016)

I did not respond to your post yesterday because I am no expert in fruit wines. However, the changes you propose to make all seem like positive steps to me. I would be surprised if you did not get all the way to dry this year with those changes!


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## MattWI (Feb 24, 2016)

Blueberry wine closer to 12-13% tastes pretty fantastic. But, if you used a more tolerant yeast like 1118 as mentioned, I don't see why you can't do a "big bad blue". Adding about 4-6 oz of raisins or a can of grape concentrate per gallon will be greatly appreciated by your yeast and help beef up the body. You can use this to make up some of the sugar content, but would probably need to adjust the acid.


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## jimhill (Feb 25, 2016)

MattWI said:


> Blueberry wine closer to 12-13% tastes pretty fantastic. But, if you used a more tolerant yeast like 1118 as mentioned, I don't see why you can't do a "big bad blue". Adding about 4-6 oz of raisins or a can of grape concentrate per gallon will be greatly appreciated by your yeast and help beef up the body. You can use this to make up some of the sugar content, but would probably need to adjust the acid.



Thanks Matt,
I will definitely try these suggestions. I plan on making at least 3 batches of blueberry, and do a little something different on each batch. 
Jim


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## SBWs (Mar 6, 2016)

Lalvin K1V-1116 is my go to yeast for making Blueberry wine. 

From there web site: The K1V-1116 strain tends to express the freshness of white grape varieties such as Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc and Seyval. The natural fresh fruit aromas are retained longer than with other standard yeast strains. Fruit wines and wines made from concentrates poor in nutrient balance benefit from the capacity of K1V-1116 to adapt to difficult fermentation conditions. Restarts stuck fermentations.


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## Scooter68 (Mar 6, 2016)

SBWs said:


> Lalvin K1V-1116 is my go to yeast for making Blueberry wine.
> 
> From there web site: The K1V-1116 strain tends to express the freshness of white grape varieties such as Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc and Seyval. The natural fresh fruit aromas are retained longer than with other standard yeast strains. Fruit wines and wines made from concentrates poor in nutrient balance benefit from the capacity of K1V-1116 to adapt to difficult fermentation conditions. Restarts stuck fermentations.



Yes, I am starting to move towards the same yeast because of those same reviews, reports. I tend to go for the higher ABV. My blueberry last year had no problem in fermentation except for being exceptionally fast to finish - less than 7 days from start to finish at .990. 

I don't put a lot of faith in my "vinometer" sort of use it to see what ball park I'm in rather than expecting any high accuracy of ABV measurement. Montrachet with starting SG of 1.095 read out at 12-13% for me. But the blueberry flavor was less than expected. Will up from 4lbs/gal to probably 6lbs this year or higher IF I get any blueberries this year. (Too warm too soon and I suspect a later freeze will zap most of my fruit trees and bushes if the warm continues much longer.)


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## Robingreen (Apr 17, 2016)

My blueberry is still cranking away after 10 weeks. Is this crazy the rest of the fruits I've used are usually done in 3 weeks. Can I spark it up by adding yeast energizer now?


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## sour_grapes (Apr 17, 2016)

Robingreen said:


> My blueberry is still cranking away after 10 weeks. Is this crazy the rest of the fruits I've used are usually done in 3 weeks. Can I spark it up by adding yeast energizer now?



Do you have a hydrometer? What was the specific gravity when you started, and what is it now?


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## Arne (Apr 24, 2016)

I don't put a lot of faith in my "vinometer" sort of use it to see what ball park I'm in rather than expecting any high accuracy of ABV measurement. Montrachet with starting SG of 1.095 read out at 12-13% for me. But the blueberry flavor was less than expected. Will up from 4lbs/gal to probably 6lbs this year or higher IF I get any blueberries this year. (Too warm too soon and I suspect a later freeze will zap most of my fruit trees and bushes if the warm continues much longer.)[/QUOTE]

Get it bottled. Stick it on the shelf for a couple of years. The alcohol should mellow out and the blueberry should come thru a bit more. Might not take a couple of years, try a bottle after 6 months or so. Good luck with it, Arne.


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## Scooter68 (Apr 24, 2016)

Good news! Did not lose the blueberry crop this year! And I've added more plants (Expanded my Second blueberry Patch) up to 29 plants with some late producers so that will spread out the picking time for me. Figure once all the bushes are about 3-4 years old should be getting approxiamately 10-15 lbs per bush or about 290 - 435 lbs of berries. Enough freeze, eat as I pick (My favorite thing) and plenty for wine. Even half to wine would what about 30 gallons of wine with 7 lbs per gallon. Yeah that would be a good number


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## Whitehrs (Jun 2, 2016)

jimhill said:


> Hi everyone,
> My 2015 Blueberry wine turned out good, but I had some problems with it fermenting down to dry. Here is what I did and some changes for 2016 I am considering.
> I used 26 lbs blueberries, 20.5 lbs sugar, 6.5 gal water, 8 tsp yeast nutrient, 9.75 tsp acid blend, 6.75 tsp tannin, 10 campden tablet eq. Montrechet yeast., and 2 tsp pectic enzyme. Must temp at start was 80F. Starting sg at 1.110.
> In short my fermentation rate was slow and steady, but the wine finished at sg of 1.016. (sweet). I have been reading this site as well as other sources.
> ...




I'm a newbee.. how many gallons is this? I says 6.5 gallon water but surely there is a good amount of juice from 26lbs of berries.. I brewed a 3lbs gallon and I got almost a half gallon of pure juice..If memory serves.


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## Scooter68 (Jun 2, 2016)

Key thing to remember is that just as with grapes, and all fruit really, the water to sugar ratio as well as the flavor will affect the out come. We've been having a lot of rain as our blueberries have been growing and as a result the flavor is not as intense as when we had dryer weather in the weeks leading up to picking. So you could get lots of 'juice' but less flavor in that juice. 

Every year is different and that makes this all a bit more challenging. I a dry year 6 lbs of berries per gallon of must might be a great wine. In a wet year you may need 8-10 lbs to get the same flavor. And that is why the grape winemakers and drinkers refer to a particular years wine as better than another.


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## jimhill (Jun 6, 2016)

Whitehrs, I was not ignoring your question, but was out of town and could not remember password. I too am new to this addiction. Unlike many, I usually begin with 5 gal. water, and then add fruit and sugar. Depending on the fruit, as scooter says, I use between 4-6 lbs. This year I am using on the higher side. But I am still learning. Many others on this forum are well seasoned and extremely knowledgeable. Listen to them before me. I have spent hours in the last few months just reading posts on different subjects. To answer your question, I just transferred a batch of strawberry into carboys. 5 gal water, 25 lbs. fruit, and 15lbs 4oz sugar yielded about nine gallons. I filled a 5gal carboy, a 3 gal carboy, a gallon jug, and a magnum bottle. I like to top off with my wine, and I like making plenty. Now just trying to improve. The people on this forum are very helpful and great. Good luck. Jim
p.s. beginning with blueberry next week


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## PierreR (Jun 7, 2016)

I used 6.5 gallons of all blueberry juice. No water. Should be bottling late summer/early fall.


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## PierreR (Jun 7, 2016)

Double post.


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## Stressbaby (Jul 3, 2016)

PierreR said:


> I used 6.5 gallons of all blueberry juice. No water. Should be bottling late summer/early fall.



PierreR,
Any trouble fermenting to dry using straight juice? I've read that as you push past around 4-5#/gal blueberry wine can have trouble finishing fermentation. I did 6#/gal last year and it fermented dry without any problem. It turned out to have PLENTY of blueberry flavor, a very nice wine, and in contrast to my blackberry I'm not seeing a compelling reason to go with straight juice on blueberry this year.


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## Scooter68 (Jul 4, 2016)

Interesting post as Stressbaby - I have a one gallon batch made with 8 lbs of blueberries and it seems to stopped fermentation after 1 week with SG at 1.000 approx. It went rapidly from start to finish and actually could have been moved into a Carboy a couple of days ago but I left it after I pulled out the fruit bag and squeezed out the last juice from it. Now I have a 4 L carboy and 3/4 qt of juice (Stored in the Fridge until I decide how to 'finish' it. Figuring I can use a lot of the quart after the first true racking. 
But your point about the unfinished fermentation with high levels of pure juice sounds reasonable. My last batch of blueberry had only 5 lbs and it finished nicely albeit a little light on flavor until back sweetened.
Going to see how this turns out in about 2 weeks when I'm ready to do the first racking to get rid of the seeds and lees.


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## Whitehrs (Jul 5, 2016)

jimhill said:


> Whitehrs, I was not ignoring your question, but was out of town and could not remember password. I too am new to this addiction. Unlike many, I usually begin with 5 gal. water, and then add fruit and sugar. Depending on the fruit, as scooter says, I use between 4-6 lbs. This year I am using on the higher side. But I am still learning. Many others on this forum are well seasoned and extremely knowledgeable. Listen to them before me. I have spent hours in the last few months just reading posts on different subjects. To answer your question, I just transferred a batch of strawberry into carboys. 5 gal water, 25 lbs. fruit, and 15lbs 4oz sugar yielded about nine gallons. I filled a 5gal carboy, a 3 gal carboy, a gallon jug, and a magnum bottle. I like to top off with my wine, and I like making plenty. Now just trying to improve. The people on this forum are very helpful and great. Good luck. Jim
> p.s. beginning with blueberry next week




No problem. I'm just learning.


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## Stressbaby (Jul 5, 2016)

I need to post a correction. I checked my notes and my blueberry last year was only 3.5#/gallon. Yet it has a surprising amount blueberry flavor.


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## Scooter68 (Jul 8, 2016)

Several years ago we had a very dry spring and the few nectarines we got from our young tree really looked puny. BUT the flavor was so great - like all the flavor of a larger fruit was compacted into that small little guy.

Professional fruit growers will tell you there is a balance between enough water and too much water and when you exceed that, the fruit, blueberries or any fruit, can actually lose flavor - it's all really there but spread through a larger amount of water giving it a less favorable, less enjoyable taste. So I suspect that those blueberries you used in the past were less water-logged ones that were really pound-for-pound more flavorful because there was less water. This year we had some rain just before I started picking our blueberries and honestly it was disappointing. They just didn't seem as sweet even if were so ripe that the fell into my hand when I touched the cluster of berries. 

Of course if picked too soon the sugar content hasn't fully developed either so you can get a double whammie that way too. Someday I hope to be able to afford some Ice Wine - something to look forward to.


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## jimhill (Jul 10, 2016)

I just racked my first 2016 Blueberry this afternoon. The problem I had last year, and which prompted this thread, did not occur this year. I did not take time to get a hydrometer reading today, but as I sip it tonight, it is definitely dry. To be so young (4 weeks), it tastes pretty darn good. I went with the EC 1118 yeast, lowered the sugar content, and (thanks MattWI) added a bit of grape concentrate; not as much as you suggested though. I made a double making and it yielded apx. 13 gallons. This is a great forum, and all of you are most helpful. Thank you.
Jim


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## Scooter68 (Jul 13, 2016)

Congrats! 
My Blueberry batch (8lbs - 1 Gallon) is already at .990 at just over 2 weeks. Racked it Monday - not a lot of lees but I expect more as it really settles in the next month or so. What started out as 1.6 gallons of must in the primary is now 1 Gallon Plus about 20 oz in a Ball Jar in the fridge. Hope to use the extra 20 oz to fill in the lost volume on the racking. Not worried about time to age all of it out and planning on not touching any of this for 1 year - Next 4th of July.


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## robert81650 (Jul 23, 2016)

I have found out that fruit wines are much tastier if the alcohol content is not so high. 10 to 12% is plenty strong enough and still get the flavor of the fruit. High concentrations of alcohol will numb the taste buds and you will not be able to appreciate the true taste of the fruit.


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## PierreR (Jul 28, 2016)

Stressbaby said:


> PierreR,
> Any trouble fermenting to dry using straight juice? I've read that as you push past around 4-5#/gal blueberry wine can have trouble finishing fermentation. I did 6#/gal last year and it fermented dry without any problem. It turned out to have PLENTY of blueberry flavor, a very nice wine, and in contrast to my blackberry I'm not seeing a compelling reason to go with straight juice on blueberry this year.



sorry!! Missed this. I haven't tested yet, but will be sure to fill you in as soon as I do.


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## Ambugaton (Jul 28, 2016)

I'm very new to winemaking but if it helps at all I have my first batch in primary with 15# blueberries, 2# raisins with 9# sugar and enough water for 6 gallons total. It seems your sugar to fruit ratio is a lot different than mine. Starting SG was 1.100. We'll see how it comes out. My blueberries were wild picked from Alaska which seemed to be about 1/2 the size of store bought. Might be that the store bought have more water?


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## Scooter68 (Jul 28, 2016)

Ambugaton said:


> I'm very new to winemaking but if it helps at all I have my first batch in primary with 15# blueberries, 2# raisins with 9# sugar and enough water for 6 gallons total. ... Might be that the store bought have more water?



I'm a believer in not overdoing it with the lbs of berries to gallons of wine. With Blueberries, Blackberries and Black Raspberries I normally use from 4-6 gallons per gallon and get very good results. I'm afraid that even with a low water content and loaded with flavor and sugar 2.5 lbs of blueberries per gallon you are going to be wanting more flavor. Raisins will help with body but the flavor may be missing at that concentration. I've never made elderberry wine but that's about the only fruit/berry I know that people normally go anywhere near that low on pounds/gallon ratios. If you can add another 6-10 lbs of blueberries of any variety you will probably be a lot happier. Again I don't believe in 'wasting' 10-12 lbs of berries per gallon as a number of people do but would hate to have you invest all that time and effort and be disappointed with the taste.


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## Ambugaton (Jul 28, 2016)

Well then I guess I will look into adding some more when I back. It is actually a 5 gallon batch, my mistake. It does have a very very deep and full color and a sample of the must does surprisingly carry the blueberry through the sweetness at this stage.


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## Scooter68 (Jul 28, 2016)

Better and of course a lot depends on the concentration of the flavor in those berries. As you mentioned they are smaller and sometimes that can mean less water content more flavor per pound. Still on the light side in pounds per gallon but now adding 5 pounds of berries will bring you into a safer ratio. As STRESSBABY mentions sometimes you can go lighter but after you invest the time effort and a few dollars it's disappointing to have it turn out low on flavor.


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## gratus_fermentatio (Aug 3, 2016)

PierreR said:


> I used 6.5 gallons of all blueberry juice. No water. Should be bottling late summer/early fall.



I'm curious to know how this turns out. I'll be making a 3 gallon batch with pure blueberry juice as soon as temps cool down enough, probably Oct. Did you add anything other than yeast? (sugar, tannin, raisins, etc...)
Regards, GF.


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## cgallamo (Aug 3, 2016)

Scooter68 said:


> Good news! Did not lose the blueberry crop this year! And I've added more plants (Expanded my Second blueberry Patch) up to 29 plants with some late producers so that will spread out the picking time for me. Figure once all the bushes are about 3-4 years old should be getting approxiamately 10-15 lbs per bush or about 290 - 435 lbs of berries. Enough freeze, eat as I pick (My favorite thing) and plenty for wine. Even half to wine would what about 30 gallons of wine with 7 lbs per gallon. Yeah that would be a good number



Hey Scooter - I have 6 bushes averaging 10-12lbs of berries this year. It takes me about an hour to pick 2lbs. Now I eat alot of those, and take my time, but something to think about with all those bushes.


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## Scooter68 (Aug 3, 2016)

_"Now I eat alot of those, and take my time,... "_

Call it "Quality Control" Each bush is different and ya gotta be sure you are only pickin ripe berries.


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## Scooter68 (Aug 3, 2016)

gratus_fermentatio said:


> I'm curious to know how this turns out. I'll be making a 3 gallon batch with pure blueberry juice as soon as temps cool down enough, probably Oct. Did you add anything other than yeast? (sugar, tannin, raisins, etc...)
> Regards, GF.




WATCH YOUR ACID LEVELs ! I've got a 1 gallon batch right now from 8+ lbs of blueberries and the acidity is 2.8 when I racked and checked a week ago. That's one possible issue with a pure blueberry batch. I don't add acid blend to any of my wine musts until I am about to pitch the yeast - I check the acid level and add if needed, then I'm ready to pitch the yeast starter in.


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## Tnuscan (Aug 3, 2016)

Scooter68 said:


> WATCH YOUR ACID LEVELs ! I've got a 1 gallon batch right now from 8+ lbs of blueberries and the acidity is 2.8 when I racked and checked a week ago. That's one possible issue with a pure blueberry batch. I don't add acid blend to any of my wine musts until I am about to pitch the yeast - I check the acid level and add if needed, then I'm ready to pitch the yeast starter in.



With 2.8 what will be the process you choose to correct?


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## cgallamo (Aug 3, 2016)

Scooter68 said:


> _"Now I eat alot of those, and take my time,... "_
> 
> Call it "Quality Control" Each bush is different and ya gotta be sure you are only pickin ripe berries.



Exactly- but I am eating to see I want them in the wine


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## Scooter68 (Aug 3, 2016)

At 2.86 I wait a while - it's early on only 6 weeks in from start. I've had several show high acidity initially and mellow out a lot during 4-5 months waiting and watching. (I don't have my log sheet with me and that 2.8 is an estimate from my head - I know it'ss well below 3.0 and yet I've had other mellow up a lot so I'm not in a hurry....yet. Confirmed pH was actually 2.86

Blueberries are high in citric acid and that does tend to mellow up. My previous batches had me worried thinking I would wind up with blue battery acid - not the case.

Quote from Jack Keller on citric acid - "Citric acid, minor in grapes but major in many other fruits, is often added to wines to increase acidity, complement a specific flavor or prevent ferric hazes. In the grape, citric acid all but disappears during fermentation in much the same way that malic is reduced. It is reduced through normal fermentation and again during MLF. If added to an almost finished wine to increase acidity, citric acid gives the wine a freshness of flavor that seems (and is) artificial." (Underlining is my addition) From: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/acid.asp


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