Concentrates vs whole berry

[silverbullet07]

I am looking at doing a blueberry Wine. Would the home winery concentrates be as good as doing a Whole wild blueberry. I can get 24 lbs of Wymans of main wild blueberries for $66, 24 lbs of natural frozen Blueberries for $48, and the home winery 1/2 gal concentrate to me is $51. All would do 4 gal. Which would you do for the best blueberry wine?

 

[Scooter68]

I would suggest you contact Home Winery and see if their Blueberry concentrate is 100% blueberry or a blend of Blueberry and ??? Someone else contacted them recently and found that at least one of their concentrates is a blend not 100% the name on the label. That matters to some folks and not to others but you just might check into it.
Here's the forum thread where this 'blend' question came up: Elderberry concentrate "Crushberry" was the member who found out about the blending of at least one of their juice concentrates. BUT in thinking about it was with their Elderberry juice which is one variety of fruit that is rather potent, so that might be why that one is a blend. I don't know about the reset of their concentrates.

 

[silverbullet07]

I was wondering if having the skins during fermentation is real important character that I would be missing out on if I did do a concentrate.

 

[Scooter68]

It depends on how the concentrate was prepared as to what difference there might be between the two sources. Skins in would always be my preference but it comes back to how the juice was extracted and of course is it 100% blueberry juice.

 

[silverbullet07]

@Scooter68 I contacted Home Winery and they did say their Blueberry and peach also has grape juice.

 

[FTC Wines]

Well my 2 cents ! A few ears ago I only had a few pounds of fresh picked blueberries, Frozen by me, so I added them to a 5 gallon batch of Home Winery Blueberry concentrate wine. Best blueberry wine. I ever made ! Roy

 

[Vinobeau]

If You really want to know, try them both and use the same yeast. If there is a difference that is important to you, then you will know what to try the next time.

 

[hounddawg]

I would suggest you contact Home Winery and see if their Blueberry concentrate is 100% blueberry or a blend of Blueberry and ??? Someone else contacted them recently and found that at least one of their concentrates is a blend not 100% the name on the label. That matters to some folks and not to others but you just might check into it.
Here's the forum thread where this 'blend' question came up: Elderberry concentrate "Crushberry" was the member who found out about the blending of at least one of their juice concentrates. BUT in thinking about it was with their Elderberry juice which is one variety of fruit that is rather potent, so that might be why that one is a blend. I don't know about the reset of their concentrates.

i ask them about peach, and it too has grape juice, don't get me wrong it is good, but it is not single fruit, i go with fruit/berries from scratch when ever possible, they have changed with the two running t know, sadly it is kinda late in the season, but i have found 2 farmers markets within 20 miles of me, and so far i have located 1 orchard about 6 miles from me, and this old hound dawg still has his noise to the ground, this dawg will hunt, i unassay use fresh fruit/berries, but my area was hit hard this summer , due to lack of rain,,, so i'll be using more from home winery, this year, shoot even my wild plums and persimmons,, all has not made this year,,,
Dawg

 

[hounddawg]

It depends on how the concentrate was prepared as to what difference there might be between the two sources. Skins in would always be my preference but it comes back to how the juice was extracted and of course is it 100% blueberry juice.

you got your concentrates from home winery, going yet?
Dawg

 

[reeflections]

On the subject of concentrates vs whole berry, if you are using concentrates only, would you still use pectin enzyme?

 

[Scooter68]

Would not be needed if there is no fruit pulp.

 

[reeflections]

Would not be needed if there is no fruit pulp.

Thanks! That's what I thought, but the recipe on Home Winery calls for pectin enzyme with their concentrate. But it also states that the amount of initial sugar determines the sweetness or dryness of the final wine. And the S.G. is never even mentioned.

Seems like Home Winery is losing credibility on a lot of fronts these days.

 

[Alexey]

I was wondering if having the skins during fermentation is real important character that I would be missing out on if I did do a concentrate.

The skins is what provides the color.

 

[Scooter68]

Skins are not the only source of color for all fruit AND a proper preparation of a concentrate will have extracted the color of that fruit. For example we recent purchased some plums with deep red 'meat' and the skins are actually somewhat pale in comparison.

 

[G259]

You still need the pectic enzyme in your must, you can add it later NP, but add it. In the worst case, it won't hurt it at all.

 

[Scooter68]

Post content moved to intended thread on this same forum (Country Fruit Winemaking, Elderberry Concentrate)

 

[reeflections]

You still need the pectic enzyme in your must, you can add it later NP, but add it. In the worst case, it won't hurt it at all.

Thanks. What would the purpose be? For clearing?

 

[G259]

Yes, it binds to the pectin, and then drops to the bottom (it's heavier now).

 

[hounddawg]

On the subject of concentrates vs whole berry, if you are using concentrates only, would you still use pectin enzyme?

yes. you need pectic enzyme in your home winery concentrate, it has a condensed solids in the bottom of the jug..
Dawg

 

[Ty520]

One benefit I've discovered about frozen berries is that (high quality) frozen berries are picked and flash-frozen at peak ripeness, whereas "fresh" fruit is more often than not harvested 2+ weeks early (on average, depending on where it was grown and where it is being shipped) so that they do not spoil before reaching the consumer. (Obviously this doesn't matter if you can get your hands on local produce, but I live in a climate where most fruit doesn't grow well, if at all)

Since many people freeze their fruit anyways, this also saves you a couple steps as well.