Blackberry juice only?

[hounddawg]

Man, you all are lucky with your wild blackberry harvests! I've been picking mine for 2 weeks now, and am giving up. My arms look like Newbie Mel's, too! I have a whopping 4.5 lbs. We've had a terrible drought, having only had rain twice in a month. The berries are tiny, and nose-crinkling tart and bitter. I'd always heard that they are sweeter if it's dry when they ripen. That tale has been proven false, in my opinion. The deer, birds, and racoons don't seem to mind their taste, however. It's been a daily competition between me and the animals to get what I've managed to pick. The deer even defoliated a Tree of Heaven (which is on my eradication list later this summer) that blocks one honey hole to get to them! As bad as the tree smells, I'd hate to guess the taste of it.

I'll make a gallon of wine with them though, and see what happens.

jeans and at least 2 long sleeve shirts,
Dawg

 

[BigDaveK]

Incredible harvest this year with wild and thornless. I'm wondering if there's a point of diminishing returns with blackberries. In other words, is all juice really worth it or will 10 or so lbs get me the same result?

 

[hounddawg]

Incredible harvest this year with wild and thornless. I'm wondering if there's a point of diminishing returns with blackberries. In other words, is all juice really worth it or will 10 or so lbs get me the same result?

yup.
i prefer the blackberries whole after freezing them at least 24 hours, yet there just before my foot got so bad, i did make 12 gallons using www.colomafrozen.com
they are still bulk aging now for a few years now, when i finally get my stash bottled, i have some coloma concentrate , 4 gal pear and 1&1/2 gal of peach, which when i reconstitute stronger than labeled, and putting both together in 1 ferment barrel. I believe that will make a nice country wine. will probably reconsitute using apple juice instead of water, but less than called for, i like very fruit heavy on my wines since i do go with higher ABV% than normal,
Dawg

 

[BigDaveK]

Yeah, @hounddawg , I should have been more specific. I prefer whole berries as well. I'm guessing 18ish lbs might get me a gallon but I could be wrong. Once I have a final tally on my harvest I'll decide what to do.

As a side note, I made a couple all fruit pear wines. At 6-8 months in the bottle it tasted like an ordinary pear wine and I was disappointed considering the extra work. At 12ish months the pear flavor and aroma is coming back with a vengeance! I will ALWAYS be amazed at what time will do for wine.

 

[Ohio Bob]

I have been averaging 8lbs per gallon of pressed blackberry wine. This is an average of about 5 years.

The total weight of the fruit is pretty straight forward. My process is to boil sugar in water and get to SG = 1.090, no additional water is added. Once the wine is fermented dry, I use a fruit press to extract all the liquid. Once I have all wine pressed this is the final tally on the volume of wine made.

The 8lbs number comes from the total weight divided by the total pressed wine volume.

 

[BigDaveK]

I have been averaging 8lbs per gallon of pressed blackberry wine. This is an average of about 5 years.

The total weight of the fruit is pretty straight forward. My process is to boil sugar in water and get to SG = 1.090, no additional water is added. Once the wine is fermented dry, I use a fruit press to extract all the liquid. Once I have all wine pressed this is the final tally on the volume of wine made.

The 8lbs number comes from the total weight divided by the total pressed wine volume.

No additional water for 8 lbs? I've been using 6ish lbs and it needed considerable water as I recall. (I've been known to mis-remember things, though. ) You really have me wondering now. My harvest should be done in a day or two and I think a couple blackberry wines need to be started as soon as possible! I'll let you know how close I am to 8 lbs.

Last year my wonderful black raspberry wine used 6.6 lbs, all I had. This year I collected 30 lbs so I'll be increasing that one as well.

 

[CallmeDave]

Yeah, @hounddawg , I should have been more specific. I prefer whole berries as well. I'm guessing 18ish lbs might get me a gallon but I could be wrong. Once I have a final tally on my harvest I'll decide what to do.

As a side note, I made a couple all fruit pear wines. At 6-8 months in the bottle it tasted like an ordinary pear wine and I was disappointed considering the extra work. At 12ish months the pear flavor and aroma is coming back with a vengeance! I will ALWAYS be amazed at what time will do for wine.

How do you juice the pears? I'm about to start making a white wine with my green grapes and I'm thinking of throwing in a few sliced pears from my pear tree.

 

[hounddawg]

I have lots of 2 types at least of wild blackberry canes/brambles, behind the house several years ago i planted triple crown, and I forget at the time the latest kind of canes at that time,
my thornless types have never done any good, nor spread to speak of. but since staying off my foot, i have picked none this year of anytype.
Dawg

 

[BigDaveK]

How do you juice the pears? I'm about to start making a white wine with my green grapes and I'm thinking of throwing in a few sliced pears from my pear tree.

I don't.
Something very important to keep in mind, pears do not ripen on the tree. (They are "climacteric" if you're interested in the lingo.) When they're ready to pick I let them ripen, even over-ripen, then freeze. When thawed they're mushy, that's what I use. With all pear the must is like a porridge but starts to thin in just a day or two.
Also keep i mind that pears in small quantities are subtle. They won't overpower anything!

 

[BigDaveK]

I have been averaging 8lbs per gallon of pressed blackberry wine. This is an average of about 5 years.

The total weight of the fruit is pretty straight forward. My process is to boil sugar in water and get to SG = 1.090, no additional water is added. Once the wine is fermented dry, I use a fruit press to extract all the liquid. Once I have all wine pressed this is the final tally on the volume of wine made.

The 8lbs number comes from the total weight divided by the total pressed wine volume.

OK, @Ohio Bob, I was doubtful about your 8 lb claim. In fact, I was thinking "No effen way!" Well, sir, I don't have a problem admitting I was wrong. To make it official - I was wrong.

Took blackberries out of the freezer today. Because of my package sizes I'll be dealing with 9.5 lbs. I'm hoping for zero water. Once I get a handle on quantity I'll start a port and a dessert wine.

 

[Raptor99]

OK, @Ohio Bob, I was doubtful about your 8 lb claim. In fact, I was thinking "No effen way!" Well, sir, I don't have a problem admitting I was wrong. To make it official - I was wrong.

Took blackberries out of the freezer today. Because of my package sizes I'll be dealing with 9.5 lbs. I'm hoping for zero water. Once I get a handle on quantity I'll start a port and a dessert wine.

I am following this discussion with interest. I have about 12 lbs. of blackberries in the freezer so far, and my thornless blackberries are still going strong. I don't want to add much water, but I am willing to add a little bit. I'm hoping for a 3-gallon batch if I get enough berries. From what you say, might need about 24 lbs. of berries.

 

[Ohio Bob]

Today I pressed my blackberry wine.

Full disclosure, I simmered 1lb of light malt in a quart of water, simmered a couple pounds of prunes in a couple quarts of water, added sugar which was boiled in water, in a solution as thick as I could make it, added 1 bunch of over ripe bananas simmered in the same sugar solution. So no water added just for the sake of diluting the blackberries.

Total blackberry weight was 91.3 lbs, after pressing the pomace, I put about 11 gallons into 2 carboys at SG = 1.010, so do the math and you get 91.3 / 11 = 8.3 lbs/gallon. I couldn’t get a good number for the must volume because I was using a 32g Brute and it was slightly less than half full. That’s the reason I like to use post-pressing volume for my records as I know what carboys I will need for a given harvest of fruit.

Side note: I still have ~25lbs of blackberry still in the freezer, hoping to try my first mead some time soon. So a new personal best of ~115lbs of blackberries harvested. I stopped picking when the freezer got to capacity. I told the wife we need a bigger freezer, she said no. Rats!

 

[BigDaveK]

I am following this discussion with interest. I have about 12 lbs. of blackberries in the freezer so far, and my thornless blackberries are still going strong. I don't want to add much water, but I am willing to add a little bit. I'm hoping for a 3-gallon batch if I get enough berries. From what you say, might need about 24 lbs. of berries.

If it helps even a little, great. I'm in new territory here so we can both learn. I have an update...and I may not have been too wrong.

The basics: I use the whole berry (thornless), frozen then crushed. I put a brew bag in the bucket, extracting juice between the bag and bucket for SG measurements.

9.5 lbs of blackberries was just shy of the gallon mark on my bucket. That wasn't going to work for me. Now I'm at 14 lbs of blackberries and after the addition of sugar I'm at the 1.5 gallon mark. VERY thick must and it seems like it's half seeds! Very curious how much I'll lose going into secondary, haven't got a clue. Pitched yeast today. Total water - about 1/3 cup for the yeast starter. pH was 3.21 - for a berry wine that's fine for me. And the must tastes really really good!

Good luck harvesting the thornless. Just about done here, maybe a day or two more. I can afford to play - I should hit 82 lbs.

 

[BigDaveK]

Well here's something for you to think about, @Raptor99 . I hit 1.020 this morning and transferred. 14 lbs of blackberries got me one gallon and one quart which, surprisingly, is the quantity I usually aim for with the secondary. After 6 hours the lees are starting to build and I'm really wondering if I'll have enough to top up going into bulk. We'll see!

Right now it tastes like alcohol was added to blackberry juice. Yeah, there's a boatload of blackberry flavor!

 

[Raptor99]

I'm getting ready... The harvest is still coming in.

 

[BigDaveK]

I'm getting ready... The harvest is still coming in.

My harvest is officially done at a mind blowing (for me) 86.02 lbs. I used 71B for this one, different yeast next time.

 

[Ohio Bob]

Racked my ‘24 blackberry, 2 weeks after pressing. What was an estimated 11g of pressed wine, now looks like a little over 8g of racked wine. A half-gallon of wine went to the fridge. So the 91 lbs of fruit has netted 8g of mostly clear wine. More loss is expected at further rackings.

 

[hounddawg]

Well here's something for you to think about, @Raptor99 . I hit 1.020 this morning and transferred. 14 lbs of blackberries got me one gallon and one quart which, surprisingly, is the quantity I usually aim for with the secondary. After 6 hours the lees are starting to build and I'm really wondering if I'll have enough to top up going into bulk. We'll see!

Right now it tastes like alcohol was added to blackberry juice. Yeah, there's a boatload of blackberry flavor!

View attachment 115067

fairly nice color
Dawg

 

[hounddawg]

Racked my ‘24 blackberry, 2 weeks after pressing. What was an estimated 11g of pressed wine, now looks like a little over 8g of racked wine. A half-gallon of wine went to the fridge. So the 91 lbs of fruit has netted 8g of mostly clear wine. More loss is expected at further rackings.

View attachment 115349

Racked my ‘24 blackberry, 2 weeks after pressing. What was an estimated 11g of pressed wine, now looks like a little over 8g of racked wine. A half-gallon of wine went to the fridge. So the 91 lbs of fruit has netted 8g of mostly clear wine. More loss is expected at further rackings.

View attachment 115349

Dead on color
Dawg

 

[hounddawg]

How do you juice the pears? I'm about to start making a white wine with my green grapes and I'm thinking of throwing in a few sliced pears from my pear tree.

freeze, stir using a drill.
i got 4 gallon of juice in the freeze, man my foot heals ii
'm bottling then starting my pear and peach,
Dawg