Blueberry wine help needed
- Thread starter Cincincy
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dcbrown73
Clueless Winemaker
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If you just used straight granulated sugar, it can take time to integrate into the wine. I know when I made the Dragon's Blood fruit wine, I only added 3/4 a cup of sugar per gallon and initially it was still extremely tart, but after a while, it started to integrate and the sweetness started to come forward.
I believe inverted sugar (simple syrup) can integrate faster, but I would prefer someone else to validate that since I have yet to use inverted sugar. (going to with my new cherry wine)
I believe inverted sugar (simple syrup) can integrate faster, but I would prefer someone else to validate that since I have yet to use inverted sugar. (going to with my new cherry wine)
tking23
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Sounds good but I've never tried the granulated sugar before, I even considered honey but it's yet to come, there is no one way to make wine and trying different things will definitely give you a unique tasting wine so go ahead and make unique wine...
Scooter68
Fruit "Wine" Maker
Quote: "I'm not a big user of glycerin, but it can help. IIRC, it is said that some judges can detect glycerin in the wine, even in the recommended amounts, so beware if you are submitting your wine to competitions. I can't detect it however, so I have used it on a few occasions in the past with good results."
Well since all my wine is made for my personal tastes the judges can just close their mouths walk away. If Glycerin does the job to increase the body and improve the mouth feel(In small amounts of course) that's the route I'll take. IF on the other hand I detect a change in taste that I don't like or someone has some rational reason for NOT using Glycerin I'm ready to listen. I find using another type juice in my "pure fruit" wines more of a problem than any effect that I've experienced with Glycerin, personally. I want the true flavor of the fruit I base my wine on, Blackberry 100% or Peach 100% etc. Otherwise I will make and call it a blended wine. That's one of the reasons I was interested in making my own wine, to taste pure Blueberry, Apple, Peach, Blackberry etc wine. When I went looking in stores for fruit wines the contents listed Grapes first in the contents not Blackberries or Blueberries. So I thought, I'm paying more for what percentage of those berries in my wine?
Sorry if this sounds like a rant folks. To me calling a grape and blueberry wine "Blueberry Wine" is more offensive than adding glycerin to make the wine better tasting. Shoot if I could get away without Sulfites and Sorbate in my wine I'd do that but... I'm not that big a fan of dry wines. Ok, I'll take my meds and chill out now.
Well since all my wine is made for my personal tastes the judges can just close their mouths walk away. If Glycerin does the job to increase the body and improve the mouth feel(In small amounts of course) that's the route I'll take. IF on the other hand I detect a change in taste that I don't like or someone has some rational reason for NOT using Glycerin I'm ready to listen. I find using another type juice in my "pure fruit" wines more of a problem than any effect that I've experienced with Glycerin, personally. I want the true flavor of the fruit I base my wine on, Blackberry 100% or Peach 100% etc. Otherwise I will make and call it a blended wine. That's one of the reasons I was interested in making my own wine, to taste pure Blueberry, Apple, Peach, Blackberry etc wine. When I went looking in stores for fruit wines the contents listed Grapes first in the contents not Blackberries or Blueberries. So I thought, I'm paying more for what percentage of those berries in my wine?
Sorry if this sounds like a rant folks. To me calling a grape and blueberry wine "Blueberry Wine" is more offensive than adding glycerin to make the wine better tasting. Shoot if I could get away without Sulfites and Sorbate in my wine I'd do that but... I'm not that big a fan of dry wines. Ok, I'll take my meds and chill out now.
Scooter68
Fruit "Wine" Maker
I us a simple syrup to back-sweeten since I hate wasting time mixing things and especially since I don't want to introduce any unnecessary oxygen into my wine by mixing it.
I always make a simple syrup with cane sugar - 2 cups sugar to 1 cup water. Most often it takes less than 1/2 ounce of the syrup per 8 oz of wine to obtain a semi-sweet/semi-dry wine. I work with 1 cup of wine at a time so that I can readily figure out how much to add to the final mix. So is 1/2 oz gets 1 cup (8oz) where I want it then I just need 7.5 oz of my simple syrup for the rest of the gallon.
I just put the pre-sweetened cup of wine into a clean carboy add the correct amount of syrup to the carboy and the rack the unsweetened remainder into it on top of the syrup. By the time that's done my carboy is brim full and I can simply cap it and shake it to finish the mixing. Wait a 3-7 days and ready to bottle.
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tking23
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Cane syrup is perfect where I'm from we make tons of wine and rum from the sugarcane so u can't go wrong with that you just got to know your proportions now so make quality wine. I will even be happy to have some good cane syrup myself now things are different out here...
Hi Cincincy
gotta ask, vas you from Cincinnati?
I've read this entire thread and have a couple concerns. First, the use of phrase secondary fermentation confuses a lot of newbies. It refers both to the continuation of primary fermentation when transferred out of bucket to it's first carboy, and also MLF, malolactic fermentation which almost always only occurs when you introduce special MLF bacteria to your wine in hopes that MLF will occur.
I hope you did not introduce MLF bacteria since your recipe included acid blend. That blend includes citric acid, which is a no no for MLF. MLF converts citric acid into a type of vinegar, which is never what a winemaker is trying for on purpose. Many fruits contain a bit of citric acid which is why MLF is generally not done on county fruit wines, & basically done only on red grape wines. MLF converts malic acid to a softer tasting lactic acid.
Sorry to write so much, but I wanted to be pretty clear about why I had concerns when you mentioned hoping MLF was still going on.
I love fruit wines, make a lot of them. I can tell you from experience that they change in taste dramatically at 1-2 years of age. There is no way to speed that up, tho adding sugar (after using sorbate plus Kmeta at the same time to stop the yeast from converting that sugar to alcohol) does help balance the bite of acid a bit.
Pam in cinti (see why I asked where you were from?)
gotta ask, vas you from Cincinnati?
I've read this entire thread and have a couple concerns. First, the use of phrase secondary fermentation confuses a lot of newbies. It refers both to the continuation of primary fermentation when transferred out of bucket to it's first carboy, and also MLF, malolactic fermentation which almost always only occurs when you introduce special MLF bacteria to your wine in hopes that MLF will occur.
I hope you did not introduce MLF bacteria since your recipe included acid blend. That blend includes citric acid, which is a no no for MLF. MLF converts citric acid into a type of vinegar, which is never what a winemaker is trying for on purpose. Many fruits contain a bit of citric acid which is why MLF is generally not done on county fruit wines, & basically done only on red grape wines. MLF converts malic acid to a softer tasting lactic acid.
Sorry to write so much, but I wanted to be pretty clear about why I had concerns when you mentioned hoping MLF was still going on.
I love fruit wines, make a lot of them. I can tell you from experience that they change in taste dramatically at 1-2 years of age. There is no way to speed that up, tho adding sugar (after using sorbate plus Kmeta at the same time to stop the yeast from converting that sugar to alcohol) does help balance the bite of acid a bit.
Pam in cinti (see why I asked where you were from?)
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Actually I am near Richmond VA. But I spent a lot of time in cincy to when I was a child. Grandparents lived there. Area know as Knowlton's Corner.
No. I ve only followed the recipe I posted above and have not added anything extra. Since this is my first non - kit endeavor I really don't know what is normal. I chose blueberry because I read it was relatively forgiving .
Hw
No. I ve only followed the recipe I posted above and have not added anything extra. Since this is my first non - kit endeavor I really don't know what is normal. I chose blueberry because I read it was relatively forgiving .
Hw
WAC4504
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I give the wine away because I don't really drink wine, I keep about 4-5 bottles for later to see how they turn out and give the rest away.What started all my wine making is, I got tired of picking blue berries in 100 deg. heat just to give away. This way is much more fun. I keep 4-5 bottles and give 18-20 away. I think some day I'll try drinking some to see if it's as good as people say, or if they're just blowing smoke.
