concord blackberry wine start

[Fran365]

Hi folks, I had 24 ounces of blackberry puree and gallons of Welch's concord juice to use up, so tried this blend about 50/50 juice and puree/water. I've attached the recipe I calculated from blending recipes for both components. The must before pitching was SG 1.104, PH 3, PA 14.8 @ Temp 69.5. Pitched Lalvin Bourgovin RC 212, which took off after about 30 hours. I've also attached a pic of how I maintain about 75 degrees F in a house heated by wood during a cold snap. Fran
Working on attachments, 3/18/17

 

[Fran365]

As I stated above I was working on downloading a pic and a recipe from my documents. Ever since I changed from Chrome to Firefox I seem to be a stranger here. As I try to download I am not allowed to, any ideas? My Win 10 Wordpad does not seem to have a format (valid file ext.)recognized here. I also somehow got tangled up with Google pics and cannot find my pics, nothing new. Fran

 

[3274mike]

Sounds good make sure you use yeast nutrient like Fermax it will start faster and held fermintation through process and consider adding a bannana it will smooth out faster . Best way for bannana use is to boil and smash until almost pure liquid helps welches wines a lot

 

[Fran365]

concord/blackberry wine

Thanks 3274mike, I'll be soon racking to glass. Was considering adding about 1 tbl/gallon oak chips at the racking. Appreciate that banana info, I had 4 black bananas my wife had said go ahead and use, and I didn't use then, darn. Fran
Just racked to glass, PH 3.5, SG .994, TEMP 68F. I see I made a mistake not putting the puree in a sack. In one gallon put 2 cinnamon sticks in the other 1 Tbl French oak chips, we will see. Scheduled to rack again on 30 days. Fran

 

[Fran365]

I never have been able to post my Word documents but for those interested my recipe, at the start was: 1 qt. water with 2 1/8th pound sugar, heated till dissolved.-add 24 ounces berry puree-add 1 gallon, 1 quart, 3/4 cup concord juice-all in primary with: 2 3/4 tsp acid blend, 1 3/4 yeast nutrient, 1 1/2 pectin enzyme,(I forgot the 3/8ths tsp tannin). this must =SG 1.104-PH 3, PA 14.8,TEMP 69.5F. Pitched: Lalvin Bourgovin RC 212. After 12 days SG .994 -PH 3.5-TEMP 68.5. Odd liquid measurements are because I use a 1 gallon and a 3 liter secondary fer-mentors. Not recommending this yet will rack 4/22/17 test and report. Fran

 

[Scooter68]

One hint - Posting a pH of "3" is troublesome.

Was it 3.00 or 3.xx (.01-.99) It makes a big difference in comments on what you might need to do or how well the ferment will go. If the actual pH was above 3.60 you run risk of bacterial infection unless the alcohol level rises quickly. If the pH was really 3.00 then you are in danger of inhibiting the fermentation with an overly acid must. I'm stating the extremes possibilities here but they are real and do happen from time to time. So what ever the pH is list it out to at least 1 digit to the right of the decimal point for clarity. Make that 3.0 not 3 and we all have a better understanding of the situation.

If the reading is 3.65 and you list that as 3.6 some of the more exacting among us (You know who you are) will ask for that second digit but really rounding up or down as appropriate isn't near the problem for most of us as long as you at least go to one decimal point to right. More is great but sometimes our equipment doesn't get quite that accurate.

One more thing just as a fine point. Don't forget to take one more set of readings just before you pitch the yeast. Even a must from all puree and juice can shift in both the SG and pH reading overnight with no outside influence as the sugars and acids are freed up or absorbed. I've seen some surprising shifts that required a little adjusting just when I thought I was ready to pitch yeast.

 

[Fran365]

Hi Scooter68, appreciate your thoughtful comments. I use the same PH testing tools I use when I make Kombucha, test strips. I match the color on the strip against the color chart in the package. There is a 3 and a 3.5 color. I have of late seen the need for a more accurate measurement system, as you point out. This is especially apparent when I wing it with a hybrid must of my own.
I have at the moment a concord/banana/pineapple/apple wine ready for measurements, pectic enzyme and yeast pitching in a few hours. The recipes I've combined do not worry about PH or any acid blend. I will be watching my test strips to try to be as accurate as they allow. Will be searching for that more accurate PH measuring system. Also, will get all those measurements(on this new multi/fruit wine) just before pitching and report.Fran

 

[Scooter68]

When I first started I tried test strips with fine gradations (in the typical range) I found it virtually impossible to be certain of my readings with blueberry, blackberry etc. I invested $20.00 in a basic pH meter on Amazon. Certainly a better meter might be more accurate but I find with calibration checks every few months, that this inexpensive meter is rarely off that much. And even the more expensive meters need checking (Re-calibration) at least that often as well. So I would imagine that any meter you get will need calibration checks periodically (A small cost, but a cost nonetheless) so in the long run my personal take is spending more than $50.00 for a pH meter is not necessarily needed nor do you gain that much by doing so, unless it performs more than just pH testing. That's my two cents worth.

 

[Fran365]

Hi Scooter68, to my surprise, as I mentioned this topic(accurate PH measurement) to my wife, she explained that she bought a meter for her Kombucha fermenting but never used it. We dug it up and I now have a PH meter that measures to the tenth, 4.1, 4.2 etc. I checked the multi fruit wine that just started and it has a 3.5, and it is purking nicely. I had a much cared for rhubarb/honey wine go bad and die last year and the only clue I had was the PH was off, so I know it's important. Fran

 

[Scooter68]

Hi Scooter68, to my surprise, as I mentioned this topic(accurate PH measurement) to my wife, she explained that she bought a meter for her Kombucha fermenting but never used it. We dug it up and I now have a PH meter that measures to the tenth, 4.1, 4.2 etc. I checked the multi fruit wine that just started and it has a 3.5, and it is purking nicely. I had a much cared for rhubarb/honey wine go bad and die last year and the only clue I had was the PH was off, so I know it's important. Fran

Remember that to be accurate on those readings you will have to re-calibrate that meter to be certain. Especially if it's been stored for very long (Over a year?) Some even recommend checking calibration before each use. I do a check about every 3-4 months especially if I haven't been using it much.

 

[Fran365]

Anyone following this recipe, after 2 months + its been bottled and is being drunk. It is a juice wine and the concord has that familiar taste, the blackberries don't come thru strong, I'm new at this, the result could be average. I've bottled it dry and add raw sugar or any sweetener as I drink it. On a 1-10 I give it a 5-6. Perhaps more blackberry puree and a true grape wine concentrate would nudge that rating up, I'll find out some day. Fran