Black Raspberry / Malbec Experiment

[BABRU]

I have a recipe that turns out excellent 6 gallon batches of black raspberry wine from berries picked from my own vines after aging for 2-3 years (if it lasts that long). Another family favorite is Malbec made from Chilean 6 gallon buckets of juice. Recently I obtained a Wine Expert Selection Chilean Malbec 16L wine kit. My thought is that this kit might need some tweaking so as not to be disappointing given the success I have had with the juice and berry wines. So I was thinking of starting with a 1/3 batch (2 gallon) of blackberry from my berry supply then making up the balance of the 6 gallon batch with the Malbec kit. This is what I was thinking; any thoughts or comments will be appreciated::
Day 1 -
7-8 pounds of berries in straining bag
7 quarts of water
4.5 pounds of sugar
1 tsp acid blend
1 tsp pectic enzme
1/4 tsp tannin
2 crushed campden tablets
2 tsp yeast nutrient
Smash berries (inside bag) and mix well
Day 2 -
Add Malbec Kit ingredients and enough water to fill just over 6 gallon line in primary
Pitch Kit yeast and ferment until dry SG=0.990 or thereabout
Day 10 or more -
Rack to carboy
Re-rack every 3 months or so
Day 365 or more -
Wine should have cleared and degassed itself and be ready to bottle.

 

[salcoco]

caution when you add the malbec kit check your sg,I think you will find it quite high. the kit requires at least 7 liters of water to getto 22 brix, you have close to the water required but you also added another 4.5 lbs of sugar. I would wait until kit is added to berries before adding any sugar, also the kit is balanced, acid blend would also not be required. good luck

 

[BABRU]

Good comment on the sugar. I will wait to add sugar until I check SG after adding the kit. Glad I posted here. Thank you! Not sure about the acid blend though. I thought it would be needed due to using the berries.

 

[salcoco]

I guess I was really saying is check for the need to add acid, post berry addition. black raspberry will have there own acid notes and they may be sufficient . if not may be best post fermentation once wine is clear and before bottling to adjust acid with bench trials to taste.