Blackberry

[K&GB]

Thanks for the help Wade. I transferred mine to glass yesterday evening. Squeezed the juice out of the strainer bag of fruit and discarded it. Here's a couple of pics of primary and secondary.

Both airlocks still blooping away this evening. Looks more like rasberry than blackberry, but I'm sure it'll darken quite a bit after fermentation.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Yummmm!!!!

Looks as good as it sounds....
How did it taste???

 

[Wade E]

Mine's lacking a little flavor as I guess thr Vintners harvest Blackberry is lacking it on this one, I wish all the cans had the flavor strength of the Black Currant! Its pretty good though, I will have to add just a little bit of flavor back. Mine fermented down to 1.013 which is just a bit lower then where I wanted it but I also started just a little bit lower then where I wanted it as I ran out of sugar like Ken did.
Edited by: wade

 

[Wade E]

Well Im currently making a f-pack for my Black Currant and Blackberry wines as we speak. The Black Currant I went with 3 32 oz. jugs of R.W. Knudsons Just Black Currant juice and 1 1/2 lbs of sugar as those are unsweetened and reducing them to 1 32 oz. jug. For the Blackberry I bought 4 10 oz packages of frozen blackberries from a health food store and simmered them in 4 cups of water and and rung the

out of them and will be making a smoothie with what was left over. I added 3/4 of a lb of sugar to this and will be just under 32 oz's when its done reducing and it tastes awesome(Pretty much joeswines f-pack) design as I couldnt find Blackberry juice anywhere near me and I looked in a lot of stores. Probably could have found it on the net but finding the berries was good enough and I wanted to try joes way anyway.

 

[uavwmn]

Wade, glad to hear your back is getting better.

Did you get your Vintners Harvest base from George? I am assuming this is a fruit base in a can??

 

[uavwmn]

K&GB, this sounds like a good one to make next. Keep the threads coming between you and Wade!! haha

 

[joeswine]

well wade how did the f PAC turn out,did you use simple syrup ,after ,was the depth of flavor there????

 

[smikes]

Could oneof you go over how you prepare an Fpack and how its used, please?


Would all fruits wine benefit from its use?




I am guessing you add it after stabilization correct? But before fining?

 

[jobe05]

Split your 3 gallons up Wade, do one with 2/3 hungarian Oak, and 1/3 french oak, and about 1/8 (or less) teaspoon of black pepper.

You won't regret it!

The mixture of the oak keeps the oak flavor, but with the pepper, takes it from a sweet fruit wine, to a much more complex red wine with a nose of blackberry, blackberry forward, and leather, spice, and a minor pepper after taste........ A much more rich drink.

I think the Bulgarian and Hungarian Oaks are interchangeable............ well........ in Arkansas at least........

 

[Wade E]

UAV, yes it is Vintners Harvest from a can. Joe, it worked out very well between the fruit f-pack and a little sugar to raise the sweetness up just a tad more from where it finished. Smikes, what I usually do is just take a juice of the same species(usually 2 quarts per 6 gallon batch) and put them in a pot and simmer down till about 1/3 its original size and add sugar to it while its still warm to dissolve it really goo then let it cool and add it back to the wine slowly until I like final outcome. This time though this was no juice around as its very hard to find blackberry juice so I used frozen blackberries in a fermenting bag and just enough water to get the fruit mostly under and simmer the berries sqeezing often to get all the juices out and then add the sugar after in the same manner as the juice. Then I made a blackberry smoothie with what was left of the fruit when I couldnt get any more juice out of it. Still had a little flavor left.

 

[joeswine]

SO THE ONLY THING TO WATCH OUT FOR IS FERMENTATION AT THIS POINT ,A KEY FRACTURE IN DOING IT MY STYLE BUT THE FLAVOR IT CAN BE VERY GOOD..........JUST GOT DONE RACKING MY ICE WINE STARTED TO DOING A TIME TRIAL OF DEGASSING ON IT WENT OVER ALL MY WINES AT THIS POINT AND RE LAYERED OAK FLAVOR IN MOST OF THE REDS,( ITS LIKE MAKING A RECIPE, ADD FLAVOR IN THE BEGINNING AND NEAR THE END TO REFRESH THE FLAVOR A MONTH OR SO BEFORE BOTTLING)CREATING LAYERS OF INTENSITY AND ADDING BODY AT THE SAME TIME.WITH THE POWERED OAK OR LIQUID OAK YOU CAN DO THIS VERY EASILY.PM YOU SOON .JP

 

[uavwmn]

Wade, what would the recipe be for a gallon batch of a strawberry F-pac?
My strawberry wine finished at .990 after 4 days fermenting!

 

[Wade E]

Depends on how much flavor there is existing in the wine. I would probably buy a little over a pound and put in just enough water to get the fruit in the pan and as small as a pan as you can get the fruit in so it will be deeper, probably about a cup and a half to 2 cups. and about 1/2 lb of sugar and simmere till the sugar can be dissolved and the fruit can be squeezed well. Use a very fine straining bag so as to not get all them strawberry seeds.

Or you can go the juice way like I usually do and get a good strawberry juice, on my port I used a frozen strawberry Daiquiri mix but if can only find a strawberry juice then a 1/2 quart simmered down to a little less then 1/2 with the 1/2 lb of sugar dissolved in there would be good. Hope that helps.

 

[Bert]

Wade...Do you adduntil youget a desired taste [amount of sweetness] or justdump it in and hope for the best???? Or do you look for a specific SG.

 

[uavwmn]

"Or you can go the juice way like I usually do and get a good strawberry juice, on my port I used a frozen strawberry Daiquiri mix but if can only find a strawberry juice then a 1/2 quart simmered down to a little less then 1/2 with the 1/2 lb of sugar dissolved in there would be good. Hope that helps."


ok, 1 can frozen strawberry daquiri mix. A 1/2 quart "of what" simmered down to 1/2????


I must be really not getting these directions for some reason. hahahaha

 

[grapeman]

"Or you can go the juice way like I usually do and get a good strawberry juice, on my port I used a frozen strawberry Daiquiri mix but if can only find a strawberry juice then a 1/2 quart simmered down to a little less then 1/2 with the 1/2 lb of sugar dissolved in there would be good. Hope that helps."


ok, 1 can frozen strawberry daquiri mix. A 1/2 quart "of what" simmered down to 1/2????


I must be really not getting these directions for some reason. hahahaha

That means if he can only find straight strawberry juice and not the daiquiri mix, that he uses straight strawberry juice. Start with a half quart(pint) and add 1/2 pound sugar (1 cup). Boil it until it reduces down by half of what it was when you started boiling.

 

[uavwmn]

Appleman, ok, got it. Sorry for all the dumb questions.

I am really trying to get the hang of this. haha


F-pak will be making in a couple of days.


Starting a tripleberry 2 gal batch today. anyone heard of "marionberries"?
I got them at Costco mixed with blueberries and raspberries.

 

[Wade E]

I bought a Vintners Harvest can of Marion berries and that was 1 of th batches that the instructions on the can for sulfiting tricked me and I totally killed it with sulfites. I must say though that that can was the weakest can of juice I have ever seen as it had almost no tatse at all, just colored purple water.
Bert, I add till taste has reached my desired liking.

 

[Wade E]

Bottled this yesterday and labeled and capped today and must say that this 1's a keeper, will have to do another bigger batch of this! I think I can maybe fit these on my shelves but it will be tight!

 

[dragonmaster42]

Sounds good Wade. Might have to try a batch this year.


I found this and just had to throw it in here. Proof that Waldo knows what he's talking about when it comes to oak:
http://www.bulgarianoak.com/?prm=home