blueberry and blackberry wine???

[Doober]

i did add food and actually doubled the energizer on accident, just wasn't thinkin

 

[Wade E]

Fruit wines almost always take a lot longer then a kit would so dont try and time it like a kit. As long as its fermenting dont worry.

 

[Doober]

my blackberry has been in the primary for5 days and cleared nicely with the gross lees on the bottom and then the next day, there is a thick layer of what looks like jello and lees mixed together on the surface of the wine. This only happened in the smaller 1 gallon jugs. it doesn't smell bad. what can it be, and what should i do? i can get a picture on here later if you want.

 

[Wade E]

I think a pic is needed for this. Did you use pectic enzyme as it sounds like pectin, if so was the enzyme fresh?

 

[Doober]

here are the pics

 

[Wade E]

Did you degas this wine good in all carboys. Im not sure if thats the problem but sometimes if not degassed well the gas will actually suspend all sediment at the top instead of sinking to bottom. Uther then that it could be pectin or even worse a bacteria forming from maybe not sanitizing your gallon jug well.

 

[grapeman]

Did you rack that in the gallon jug last? It may just be pulp left from the blackberry that is floating from suspended C02.

 

[Doober]

there are 2 jugs and a wine bottle that are like this. i cleaned, scrubed, and sanitized them all. they were the last containers that i racked into.

 

[Wade E]

Im guessing that it is racked sediment that is stuck in suspension from C02. Try degassing which will stir it up and then it should settle at the bottom.

 

[Doober]

ill try that

 

[Doober]

the "pulp" settled and know it happened in the large carboy but i stirred that too. should i top up the carboy and jugs now or wait till fermentation has ended? if so, should i rack the smaller bottles and use that to top up?

 

[Wade E]

I would wait till it is done fermenting and must say that I thought it was done fermenting or I would not have even worried about it as fermentation does that, sort of like a lava lamp. Let it finish fermenting then rack off sediment and top up then. At that point you will either want to add fining agents which will require a little haed space for degassing 1st and then for the fining agents to fit in or you could just let time do its thing which will still require degassing for it to settle at the bottom.

 

[Doober]

thanks again wade

 

[Guest]

Doober:


For future reference, you can search out these postings by fruitfor other peoples postings on how their wines went.
This will often times save you time and anxiety by reading about other peoples mistakes before you make them all over again.


Your suspended "jello" mass interests me to the extent that I'd pay close attention to the musts for the next several weeks for a possible repeat.


Wine quantities, are preaty much determined by the amount of fruit you have to ferment.
Small amount of fruit, small quantity of water, small quantity of wine.
The more fruit you have (within reason of course) in your ratio of water to fruit,the richer your resulting aroma and taste. See the principal of dilution.


The actual ratio difference between Blueberries and Blackberries is very near. The difference is actuallyonly their difference in size and mass and taste impact.


To my experience, Blueberries inherently take much longer to ferment out than Blackberries or Raspberries. I recomend to the first time fruit wine maker that they start with Blackberries or Raspberries rather than Blueberries only because patience in waiting out the FULL PROCESS is very limited in the first time fruit wine maker.


My latest batch of Blueberry is now in its third week and has only dropped another 2/100s on the hydrometer since racking from primary to carboy one week ago (possible fermentation issues?).


Also. General rule of thumb for fruit wines is to gently squeeze andremove the fruit bagat the 1.025 to 1.035 hydrometerrange.At that time, you can also rack offwhat ever lees may have accumulated by transfering to your carboy via gravity siphon allowing a much slower final fermentation to your 1.000 (or less as the case may be) sugar level.


When you rack, leave as little surfaceexposure as you can. This vastly reduces your risk to oxydation and other issues. You can do this by either filling your carboy to the neck level (any height in the neck is sufficient) or by adding sterilized marbles to your carboy to make up for a difference in actual volume verses bottle volume.


Last but certainly not least....


Taste, taste, taste.


Each and every time you make a change (always do so in small increments), thentaste for effect.


This wine should beall about you and not the recipe author.
That's why we try to offer only general advice rather than specific advice.


Best of the vinyards.
Handyman

 

[Wade E]

Another thing with ratio of water to fruit is the amount of acid that a fruit has or its PH Some are very high in acids and must be diluted more or less compared to others. Same goes with PH.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Handyman....Sounds like your Blueberry is slow going. I am anxiously awaiting making a batch...Hear Blueberry can be a little difficult due to it's natural yeast inhibitor.

Do you think if you added a little Yeast Energizer would give that yest a little boost????

 

[Wade E]

You should add all of the yeast nutrient and 1/2 the energizer at the beginning and then the other 1/2 around 1.035. I always add 1 tsp of nutrient and 1/2 tsp per gallon to every fruit wine batch as fruit wines do not contain all or enough nutrients as grape wines do.

Edited by: wade

 

[Guest]

Crud... I knew I forgot somthing.




I'm sitting here today thinking to myself, what can you do to perk this puppy up andas I'm reading your suggestion it occurs to me that I was finishing up the third beer after a hard day and out of Energizer when I mixed this batch up and thought to my self as I wassetting the lid on the primary, 'maybe you oughta go down to the local Brewmaster and get some before you add the yeast tomorow.' And then I got my fourth beer and started somthing else.


What's that saying? The road to some place or other is paved with good intentions.


I'm off for the Energizer tomorrow.


Thanks NW

 

[grapeman]

Crud... I knew I forgot somthing.




And then I got my fourth beer and started somthing else.


What's that saying? The road to some place or other is paved with good intentions.


I'm off for the Energizer tomorrow.


Thanks NW

OK Handyman, how many beers have you had today? Will you remember it tomorrow?

 

[Wade E]

Thats alright, I went to a new local HBS and was bummed that they didnt have 1 thing that I needed and by that time the other place had closed so I had to go today just to get shrink wraps and yeast packets. It probably cost me more in gas by the time all was said and done then what I paid for these few items. Make a list and check it twice before you start something!