Finished Blackberry Wine too tart

[rickster]

I just finished a gallon of blackberry wine from homegrown berries. Fermentation has stopped after two months. The wine is very tart but according to my acid test, it is low in acid. I just want to reduce the tart. Any recommendations??

Thanks,

Rick

 

[Tom]

Post recipe and what you have done so far

 

[rickster]

3.5 lbs berries
2 lbs + 1cup sugar
1 gal water

mixed all in vessel and let sit for about 4 days. strained and then added 1 packet montrachet yeast

sg showed 1.110 with PT of 15%

once fermentation stopped, the wine is clear and no bubbles in airlock, SG measured 1.100 with PT of 1%

If I'm right that is about 14% by vol.

Tasted and it is very tart but still good. tested 3cc's in a test tube with acid solution kit and acid is low. I can get the specs on that if you need. Thank you for responding

 

[BobF]

I just finished a gallon of blackberry wine from homegrown berries. Fermentation has stopped after two months. The wine is very tart but according to my acid test, it is low in acid. I just want to reduce the tart. Any recommendations??

Thanks,

Rick

If it just finished, I wouldn't worry yet. Time will smooth it out. I suggest only using tartaric to adjust the acid. Malic is more bitter to my taste.

Do you plan to sweeten?

 

[rickster]

I would say it is probably sweet enough. But it is hard to tell with the bite it has right now. So you suggest tartaric?

 

[Tom]

Time is what you need. Fruit wines take longer to develope (4-9 months). Its way to early as fermentation just finished recently. How many times did you rack? Have you stabilized or add clearing yet?

 

[rickster]

I only racked it once. I have not stabilized it and a clearing agent I didn't think was needed because I can see through it just like tinted glass. It looks great

 

[BobF]

I would say it is probably sweet enough. But it is hard to tell with the bite it has right now. So you suggest tartaric?

Yes, tartaric for your acid adjustment. I suggest this b/c malic has a harsher taste to me. Also, tartaric will give you a lower pH than an equal amount of malic. Lower pH (within reason, 3.2-3.6) = better protection from spoileage.

 

[ol' boy]

remember that tart and sweet are not exactly opposites either, think sweet and sour sauce, it is sweet and it is sour so I would not recommend sweetening at all yet, especially if it is young. at two months you are just starting to see the character of the wine, which is not fully developed by any means, perhaps the tip of the iceberg.

if it is entirely clear and no lees, then I would say let it age a bit and see what happens in two more months (check sulfite levels).

did you test your PH or TA before fermentation? and did you taste any of the fruit?

if there are lees I would get it off the lees, and check your sulfite levels place under air lock and then wait two more months.

I didn't see any pectic enzyme in the recipe, maybe others can clear it up further but my first inclination is that there isn't enough fruit there in the recipe.

did you add camden tablets to the must before you added yeast, and how long was it before fermentation fully took off? are we sure the montrachet did the job or was it wild yeast....

 

[rickster]

I did add 1 camden tablet to the must. I did not test pH or TA before fermentation. Im still learning. This is my first batch of fruit wine. My others were from juice. I didnt write down that I put pectic in there and I dont remember doing it. I dont think i did because the skin of the fruit I thought would take care of clearing agent. I could read a book through a bottle of this wine it is so clear.

It did start to ferment before adding yeast. Fermentation really took off though about a day or so after adding the yeast.

How do you check sulfite levels? and what is lees?

 

[ol' boy]

lees is the sediment on the bottom of the wine, it is dead yeast cells and tiny pieces of fruit leftovers and such...

I actually haven't made the investment (although quite small) for the sulfite testing I basically have flown by the seat of my pants adding at the beginning and before bottling, I asked because I know that too much sulfite will give an odd tart/sour taste so if there was too much you would definitely pick it up even if you didn't know what it was...

the pectic enzyme is to help break the fruit down and release more of the fruit's juices I was thinking that if you didn't get all the juice from the fruit then you may have added more sugar to make up for that in which case the wine would be strong and alcoholic but not as fruity as you would expect.

my guess is that the wine is just young and that is what you are tasting, the end result may be that the wine is clear as day and that you find it is not as fruity and is a little more alcoholic tasting than preferred, but that is not the end of the world either you can learn how to make an f-pac with some new juice and fix that right up too.

Don't worry about learning we all are no matter how long we have been doing this, I have been making wine for ten years and it wasn't until a year ago I even learned to use the hydrometer, I had some good wine and I had a lot of bad wines too. wine is a learning experience beginning to end.

experience is something we never have until right after we need it.

 

[Danny]

Have made a batch of blackberry every year for the past 4 years. My guess would be, too, that you just need to put it on the shelf for 6 months or so and try again.

I just opened a bottle of banana wine I'd made 4 years ago and it wasn't too bad, although shortly after making it I had thrown out the first bottle cause it tasted horrible. I'd actually forgotten about the other 4 bottles until this week. Time does matter to the tartness.