Blueberry wine

[PolishWineP]

.Edited by: PolishWineP

 

[AAASTINKIE]

Thanks, I just checked the SG 1.063 now at 72 degrees, I was going to leave a little extra room in the carboy

 

[Hippie]

No. I would not rack to glass at that high SG. The fermentation will probably turn vigorous on you due to all the aeration of racking. Wait until SG falls to under 1.040. What is the hurry?

 

[AAASTINKIE]

No hurry that's why I asked, just didn't want to leave it in plastic too long.

 

[Berrywine]

hey Stinkie, I always wait till mine gets down to 1.030 or 1.020 to move to secondary. I agree with CW, it could cause a big ole' mess.


berry

 

[AAASTINKIE]

I never made a country wine before and am used to a much faster fermenting time, I am all set waiting if this is normal to wait this long.

 

[Maui Joe]

Stinkie,


Patience my friend...outside temps, inside temps, type ofyeasts used, etc. all play the role...."remember the race between the turtle and the hare?".....hmmnn

 

[Goslin]

It may be a good idea to wait until it reaches 1.010 I transfered
my raisin must at 1.020 and after doing so it turned vigorous
again and blew out the bung and air lock, after a few hours it settled
back down. My main fermentation seemed to be going slow as well, it
took 12 days while others were telling me it would be around 7 days. To
begin with the temp stayed a contant 70 degrees so to help speed things
along a little I raised the temp to 74 useing a 35 watt plate warmer
which made for a good vigorous fermentation. It still took twelve days
though.

 

[Hippie]

Most times we do not want a very warm or very vigorous fermentation. Usually, the faster the aerobic fermentation is, the more fruity esters get burned off. I prefer a 70*F fermentation way over a 74*F one. Believe it or not, the difference can be huge. Yeast selection figures in also. After racking to glass and going anerobic, one can really cool off and slow down and continue for months, most times weeks.


How is the raisin? I have not had good luck fermenting raisins.


I also prefer to wait until 1.010, if my bucket is nearly full, but if I have alot of airspace in there, I rack to glass sooner.


Hey! It's all an experiment, right?

 

[Goslin]

The raisin seems to be doing pretty good. I checked the sg this morning
and it read dry. Even though it was still bubbling fairly strong
(because I added a cup of simple syrup to it friday) I decided it was
time too rack since it was dry and seemed to be developing an off oder.
So I thought it would be best to get it off the lees. Which turned out
to be the right thing to do as the oder is now gone.

BTW I think the reason my fermentation was slow is because I added to
much tartaric acid. I was going by a recipe which sent it off the
scale. When I say it was slow, I mean it was VERY slow.



But since this is an experiment, I started a new batch useing the old
lees and yeast from the first batch. It's not all put together yet and
I may not even use it as the oder is really wierd. It smells greasy.
Which is the first time I've smelled that before.



Here's what I've got going on now, I took the old lees(sp) added five
pounds of sugar, yeast nutient, tartaric acid and 2 gallons water. I
intended to sort of use that as the starter for the 12 pounds of minced
raisins and one gallon of water with the required additives. The 2
gallon sarter is already very active but like I said I may not use it
as I really don't care for the greasy oder. What is that? Should I
trash it? The other gallon is waiting for the other additives. Campden
and pectic enzym.



Hummm.. I just checked the starter/old lees, it's producing a lot of
carbodioxide and the greasy smell is gone so I think I may use it.
Unless you all have better advice. While I was writing this I thought
to my self why would I want to use the old lees. If it wasn't good for
the other batch what's gonna make it good for this one. But then again
the lees had nothing left to work with in the first batch, so basically
I'm just giving them something fresh to feed on.



Live and learn I guess. I'm still experimenting.

 

[Hippie]

I really don't like to reuse lees to start a new batch. the one time I did it, the subsequent batch did not turn out well, although drinkable now. I use drinkable very loosely after 3+ years in the bottle. I think honey might also be a culprit.

 

[Goslin]

It's smelling like I'll probably use it, the more active it gets the
more it smells like it did during the first fementation and this is
just a starter. I also did add an extra teaspoon of yeast. There's no
doubt in my mind that this one will be better than the last since I'm
useing three times the fruit. I'll more than likely raise it up to five
gallons too, which of course will weaken the flavor, but it makes it
easier to manage.

Alright I want to do some blue berries now and then some strawberries, I need more carboys

 

[Maui Joe]

Goslin, when is "Blueberry" season there? We don't see any in the stores until the later part of the year here.

 

[Goslin]

Not really sure Joe, I was thinking of just useing frozen berries. Strawberries on the other hand will be ready next month in my area. Next year I plan to use strawberries as border in the front yard, each plant produces on average a quart of berries so next year I should have about 150 gallons of straw berries. I have no idea at the moment how that would convert to pounds so don't know how much wine it would make once mashed into juice. I'm going to have to do some research on blue berries, I'm sure it's to late to plant them this year.
Here's something else I have in mind too. Black berries


http://fruitsandberries.com


I've noticed mozilla doesn't work to good on this forum, it wouldn't let me add the url. Paste is not even show.




Edited by: Goslin

 

[Maui Joe]

It is kinda hard to be accurate not knowing how much juice you would get from fruit based on the density of the fruit vs. pressed juice. On the average, we know that 1-gallon of water weighs 8 lbs + so. I am getting ready to make some strawberry wine soon, but Masta just did so his info would be more accurate.

 

[rgecaprock]

Stinkie,,


You need to put that Palmolive under the sink.....


Just kidding....I see it in all of your pictures.





RamonaEdited by: rgecaprock

 

[rgecaprock]

I just bought some New Jersey blueberries today...so I"m sure I'll be looking to you and Hippie for advice.


Also started my pretty apricot rose today too.......the fragrance is very intoxicating...

Ramona

 

[Hippie]

Wow Ramona, you have been busy. You go girl! Let us know however we might help.