Just started Blackberry Wine and I already potentially messed up by almost doubling the amount of fruit the recipe called for -- Help!

[Nakune]

Hello all! This is the 3rd time Im making 1 gallon of blackberry wine. It is my all time favorite! But it's been 10 years and I can't remember the recipe I used last time.

As a precursor, I prefer veeeryyyy dry wines. The closer the taste, to the smell of rubbing alcohol -- the better to me. Jokes. But for real, I love it reallll dry.

This time, I think I'd like to shoot for around 13% alcohol. So I was thinking, the more fruit, the better right? No, I guess not! In my research, I'm reading this can cause acid imbalance / tartness / flavor to be way off (to the average wine drinker they said -- whatever that means -- does that mean we can just appreciate a more tart, acidic flavour, lol?)

This is the recipes I am roughly following, except I am using 71B yeast. And I added 1/4 tsp Wine Tannin because I like the dry mouthfeel.


Blackberry Wine Recipe

Rather than the 4 pounds of fruit, I used probably 6 pounds.

So far, -- where Im at -- I've mashed/crushed the blackberries in a straining bag in my primary fermenting bucket. Then added 7 liters of boiling water (with 2.5 lbs of sugar mixed in). Added a campden tablet, 1/4 tsp of Wine Tannin, and 1/2 tsp of citric acid. It's been about an hour so far (time is now 7:30 PM EST August 14th)

When the water cools down in many hours, I will add the yeast nutrient, 1/2 tsp pectin (or should I use 1 tsp?), measure my specific gravity and report back here!

Did I mess up by using too much fruit and adding an extra 1/2 tsp of aditional citric acid? Do I need to go out and buy an acid testing kit? Or do I just need to raise the S.G. till my desired 13% in this case to balance everything out? Or what?! Seeking guidance, please advise your thoughts!

Thank you so much in advance!

p.s Any other recommendations or changes anyone can suggest to the recipe above, and what I've already done, to ensure a drier wine? Cheers

 

[Scooter68]

Ok I'm confused. The recipe you linked to is for 1 gallon but you say you added 7 liters of water so you are probably over 2 gallons right now if you actually added 7 liters of water.
Blackberry wine is going to be a much better flavor with at least 5-6.5 lbs of fruit per gallon. Anything under 5 and you could end up with a blackberry flavored beverage - weak in the knees on flavor. That's the only problem with the recipe you used - I'd start with no less than 5 - 6 lbs of berries per gallon.

So please clarify the measurements. As far a getting a dry wine - you just have to let it ferment all the way down - use up all the sugar. Keep in mind that while blackberries are a good strong flavor, too much alcohol may bury the flavor - especially if you ended up with a 2 gallon batch based on only 6 lbs of blackberries.

 

[mikewatkins727]

First, welcome to WMT. I would like to suggest you start keeping a log of what you do: when, how much, & what to start. Even with this "mistake"; try to reconstruct what you did. This way next time you do another batch you have some details to fall back on. My suggestion is take notes, reconstruct as much you can on what you have done, complete the fermentation, clarification & bottling. Taste it, this batch may not be a total loss.

 

[Rice_Guy]

All in all you are OK
* too much fruit? before we had all the pH and TA we would taste, that roughly means if you are comfortable going to the garden and eating blackberries, you could do 100% fruit/ no added water. However if you go to the garden and find chewing on a rhubarb stalk is excessive, then you want to cut it with water. @Scooter68 starts at 5 to 6 which is good, but can be pushed higher. Folks in accounting want 3 to 4/ gallon since it looks better on cost of goods. I would sooner impress the neighbors.
* a next batch point, you started with boiling water and Campden tablet, this is usually an either or. Hot water will kill microbial competitors and will also speed the break down of metabisulphite. My preference for killing microbial competition is Campden/ metabisulphite powder since I want to minimize solubilizing pectin (180F). The oxidation benefit of meta starts when alcohol is present so some Vinters club members only add meta when alcohol exists.
* the farmers market blackberry here comes in at TA 0.7%; pH3.9 which is basically where 100% grape juice comes in, so adding citric is only compensating for adding water in your recipe. 1/2 teaspoon Citric in approx 8 liters comes out as 5 grams in 8000 grams, ,, 0.06%, ,, you may decide the acid flavor is low after 7 liters of water.
* ethyl alcohol tastes sweet and 13% means you need some body to hold everything together. ,,,,, so all in all you are OK

 

[hounddawg]

yup, Agreed, you can't use to much fruit as long as you can get juice from it, the more fruit the more the natural taste,
Dawg

 

[Nakune]

Oops, I intended to say 7 pints, not liters. I am indeed making only a gallon, hehe

And wow, thank you all for the wonderful insights here. From all accounts, it sounds like I made the correct decision to use 5-6 lbs of Blackberries and should hopefully end up with a badass gallon of wine.

p.s. For my, and others reference, my recipe so far :

5-6 lbs Blackberries
7 pints Water
3 1/2 Pounds of Sugar (Until I hit S.G 1.100)
1/2 tsp Citric Acid
1/4 tsp Wine Tannin
1/2 tsp Pectic Enzyme
1 tsp Nutrient
1 package 71B Wine Yeast

And the ordering of what I did was :

1. Crushed up all the berries in a strainer bag in my primary fermenter bucket.
2. Added 7 liters (14 cups) of Boiling Water with the 3 1/2 lbs of Sugar
3. Added 1/2 tsp Citric Acid
4. Added 1/4 tsp Wine Tannin
5. Added 1 Crushed Campden Tablet
- Rice_Guy Thanks for your tips above, sounds like I will want to defer this step until after the water cools down to room temperature, or, not even use boiling water to begin with?
6. Added 1 tsp Yeast Nutrient
7. Waited 12 hours for the water to cool down
8. Added 1/2 tsp of Pectic Enzyme
9. Waited another 12 hours
10. Added 1 pkg 71B Yeast

Now I'm wondering :

- When yall make your Blackberry Wine -- how much -- and when do you guys / should I add more campden tablets?

- And my starting S.G was 1.101 -- when do you guys suggest I transfer it from the Primary to the Secondary? When it hits a specific S.G, or, at a static 5 days from adding the yeast?

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH

 

[hounddawg]

Oops, I intended to say 7 pints, not liters. I am indeed making only a gallon, hehe

And wow, thank you all for the wonderful insights here. From all accounts, it sounds like I made the correct decision to use 5-6 lbs of Blackberries and should hopefully end up with a badass gallon of wine.

p.s. For my, and others reference, my recipe so far :

5-6 lbs Blackberries
7 pints Water
3 1/2 Pounds of Sugar (Until I hit S.G 1.100)
1/2 tsp Citric Acid
1/4 tsp Wine Tannin
1/2 tsp Pectic Enzyme
1 tsp Nutrient
1 package 71B Wine Yeast

And the ordering of what I did was :

1. Crushed up all the berries in a strainer bag in my primary fermenter bucket.
2. Added 7 liters (14 cups) of Boiling Water with the 3 1/2 lbs of Sugar
3. Added 1/2 tsp Citric Acid
4. Added 1/4 tsp Wine Tannin
5. Added 1 Crushed Campden Tablet
- Rice_Guy Thanks for your tips above, sounds like I will want to defer this step until after the water cools down to room temperature, or, not even use boiling water to begin with?
6. Added 1 tsp Yeast Nutrient
7. Waited 12 hours for the water to cool down
8. Added 1/2 tsp of Pectic Enzyme
9. Waited another 12 hours
10. Added 1 pkg 71B Yeast

Now I'm wondering :

- When yall make your Blackberry Wine -- how much -- and when do you guys / should I add more campden tablets?

- And my starting S.G was 1.101 -- when do you guys suggest I transfer it from the Primary to the Secondary? When it hits a specific S.G, or, at a static 5 days from adding the yeast?

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH

HUM i think is customary to send each of us a case, but i get confused it might be 2 cases each,,, aw could not help kidding ya, This is the color you get when you double or triple your fruits and berries, the flavor is as deep as the color, this aint my blackberry, but my blackberry is darker,, you'll figure out how sweet or dry and in between , so instead of using weights of sugar or cups, you will use your hydrometer, your fruits and berries are different each year, your hydrometer is more accurate for the sweetness or dryness level you desire,
Dawg

 

[hounddawg]

Hello all! This is the 3rd time Im making 1 gallon of blackberry wine. It is my all time favorite! But it's been 10 years and I can't remember the recipe I used last time.

As a precursor, I prefer veeeryyyy dry wines. The closer the taste, to the smell of rubbing alcohol -- the better to me. Jokes. But for real, I love it reallll dry.

This time, I think I'd like to shoot for around 13% alcohol. So I was thinking, the more fruit, the better right? No, I guess not! In my research, I'm reading this can cause acid imbalance / tartness / flavor to be way off (to the average wine drinker they said -- whatever that means -- does that mean we can just appreciate a more tart, acidic flavour, lol?)

This is the recipes I am roughly following, except I am using 71B yeast. And I added 1/4 tsp Wine Tannin because I like the dry mouthfeel.


Blackberry Wine Recipe

Rather than the 4 pounds of fruit, I used probably 6 pounds.

So far, -- where Im at -- I've mashed/crushed the blackberries in a straining bag in my primary fermenting bucket. Then added 7 liters of boiling water (with 2.5 lbs of sugar mixed in). Added a campden tablet, 1/4 tsp of Wine Tannin, and 1/2 tsp of citric acid. It's been about an hour so far (time is now 7:30 PM EST August 14th)

When the water cools down in many hours, I will add the yeast nutrient, 1/2 tsp pectin (or should I use 1 tsp?), measure my specific gravity and report back here!

Did I mess up by using too much fruit and adding an extra 1/2 tsp of aditional citric acid? Do I need to go out and buy an acid testing kit? Or do I just need to raise the S.G. till my desired 13% in this case to balance everything out? Or what?! Seeking guidance, please advise your thoughts!

Thank you so much in advance!

p.s Any other recommendations or changes anyone can suggest to the recipe above, and what I've already done, to ensure a drier wine? Cheers

you know if you make it sweet enough. that i can dry out your bottles to very dry bottles just a helpful mooch,, lol
Dawg

 

[Scooter68]

Watch that 'Dawg' He's one sneaky Arkie.

NO campden/K-meta into that batch until the fermentation has completely finished.

When the SG is below 1.000 and it does not change for at least 3 days , THEN rack to a carboy and dose with 1 campden tablet crushed and disolved in an 1 or 2 ozs of warm water. It's possible that the fermentation could stop above that point, but hopefully not. As long as it gets below 1.010 before stopping you should be OK but hopefully it will go all the way down to at least .996 or below.

 

[Rice_Guy]

@Nakune it is useful having a 4 liter which will get racked down to a gallon (3.79 l) you ought to see if Dawg would clean some bottles and take the labels off too.

you know if you make it sweet enough. that i can dry out your bottles to very dry bottles just a helpful mooch,,

 

[Nakune]

HAHA Dawg, you are too funny T

his year I stumbled across a patch of HUNDREDS...THOUSANDS of Blackberry plants on public land. I collected the 6 pounds I used for my wine over the course of only 3 days!

There are still probably a hundred pounds left in the field -- but the ones left are NOT easily accessable -- there's no pathway to pick them! It's such a dense field! I just skirted around the edges! Since I came across the jackpot, maybe in the future it's not out of the realm of possibility to share

 

[hounddawg]

HAHA Dawg, you are too funny T

his year I stumbled across a patch of HUNDREDS...THOUSANDS of Blackberry plants on public land. I collected the 6 pounds I used for my wine over the course of only 3 days!

There are still probably a hundred pounds left in the field -- but the ones left are NOT easily accessable -- there's no pathway to pick them! It's such a dense field! I just skirted around the edges! Since I came across the jackpot, maybe in the future it's not out of the realm of possibility to share

you put on 2 pair of bluejeans, 2 or 3 long sleeve shirts, and a pair of tight fitting leather gloves, or you can buy a weed hook and cut paths thru the briar patches
Dawg

 

[hounddawg]

as you collect blackberries put them in ziplock baggies a quart baggie full is about 1 lb, a gallon ziplock full is purrty much 4 lbs, and freeze them, breaks down the cell walls and gives up more and to me better juice,
Dawg

 

[Nakune]

Thats a good idea! Doubling up hoodies and leather gloves! It's like, technically a national park though so I dont wanna do any cutting ( And that's totally what I did --- I froze em over 3 days in gallon bags

p.s. Another few questions!! So I measured my S.G today, and it's 1.02. So, by some guides it's ready to be transferred to the secondary?! But nevertheless --

1. What is the logic/reasoning behind waiting until it gets as close to 1 as possible? What are the benefits / any downsides?

2. Today I poured the wine from one primary fermented into another primary fermenter -- though a very very fine screen mesh, to strain all the seeds out and other crap that slipped through my larger mesh bag. Was doing this transfer damaging at all -- like, introducing too much oxygen? Or Is it okay because it's still fermenting? Next, my intentions is to do no additional stirring, and let the yeast settle to the bottom over the next 2 days, and then rack it off into the carboy as it approached 1.0 SG / or it dosn't change anymore. Is this all okay?

3. Will adding campden while racking into the secondary pretty much stop all fermentation? Or just prevent oxidizing? And I should add 1 per gallon?!

Cheers!!

 

[hounddawg]

Thats a good idea! Doubling up hoodies and leather gloves! It's like, technically a national park though so I dont wanna do any cutting ( And that's totally what I did --- I froze em over 3 days in gallon bags

p.s. Another few questions!! So I measured my S.G today, and it's 1.02. So, by some guides it's ready to be transferred to the secondary?! But nevertheless --

1. What is the logic/reasoning behind waiting until it gets as close to 1 as possible? What are the benefits / any downsides?

2. Today I poured the wine from one primary fermented into another primary fermenter -- though a very very fine screen mesh, to strain all the seeds out and other crap that slipped through my larger mesh bag. Was doing this transfer damaging at all -- like, introducing too much oxygen? Or Is it okay because it's still fermenting? Next, my intentions is to do no additional stirring, and let the yeast settle to the bottom over the next 2 days, and then rack it off into the carboy as it approached 1.0 SG / or it dosn't change anymore. Is this all okay?

3. Will adding campden while racking into the secondary pretty much stop all fermentation? Or just prevent oxidizing? And I should add 1 per gallon?!

Cheers!!

1. letting your SG go to around .996 and stay the same reading 3 days in a row lets you know your ferment is done, if your readings stay the same for 3 days at higher SG will let you know you ferment, to determine that we'd need your SSG, type yeast and so on,
2. since ferment is still going you should be ok, but pouring is a very bad habit, you and take food grade tubing and syphan it, or get a vacuum wine pump, a member on here sells a very good one, @vacuumpumpman , during ferment the more oxygen the better, after the ferment oxygen becomes your wines enemy,
3. others on here use campden tablets they crush them the add at each racking, i use the powder form potassium metabisulfite also called K-meta, 1/4 tsp per 6 gallons,
me i'd if you SG reading is that low would airlock it,
Dawg

 

[hounddawg]

as home winemakers , we really can't stop a ferment, your campton will help with stopping oxidation, and you'll if not using a fining will need to let your wine sit under airlock for a few months to get a clear wine, clear as in sediment/lees, you can use different finings, i have now and then used dual fine, then in about 4 weeks it will be clear/polished, super kleer is the same as dual fine, as well you can read the 2 ingredients and buy them in bulk,
Dawg

 

[Scooter68]

The reason for not racking until down close to 1.000 is to avoid the FOAM MONSTER - Rack too soon and often the yeast/ferment is invigorated to the point of producing a large amount of foam which then flows out of your carboy and all over the place. When it happens to you once, you remember.

My personal rule of thumb is when that foam layer thins out and you start seeing clear spots on the surface of the bucket AND the SG is 1.010 or below - THEN rack but if you can don't fill the carboy completely full immediately. Put some of the must in a quart jar or smaller container and wait about 10-30 minutes. You can normally tell if things are getting dangerously 'active' again. Then go ahead and complete the racking. That would also allow you to rack a little lower and put that extra - remaining wine must into the fridge to better separate the lees that sneak into the siphon on that last part of the bucket that way you can leave some headroom in the carboy overnight to let it settle down before you fill it up the rest of the way. If the fermentation isn't finished it's still letting off plenty of CO2 to protect from oxidation with that extra headspace temporarily.