May I get some advice

[Papa]

Hello all,
For the bullet statements,
- beginner/ 1st time
-5 gallons of blueberry wine
-@ the 2nd stage of fermentation & want to stop & begin the aging phase
- recipe came from on line, but lost what site I got it from due to looking up to much info on different sites

I started a 5 gallon blueberry recipe using
13lbs frozen blueberries
12lbs of sugar
5 campden tablets
Yeast nutrient
Lalvin rc 212
Cleaned & sterilized very meticulous & frequently

My starting gravity was 1.141, and I thought whoa this is going to be great! Made a slurry with the rc 212 and waited 2 days no activity.
Added water (about 1/2 gal) to the sealed fermentation w/airlock bucket and got the s.g. To 1.102. After this I pitched lalvin rc 118 and within 4 hrs fermentation started bubbling . I stirred 3 times a day but kept the lid on with an airlock . The bumbling was never fierce but at a rate of 1 bubble every 3 seconds thru the airlock.
Tracked the progress with the hydrometer .
I transferred to a glass car boy at 1.028 and strained sediment of using a racking cane and the nylon mesh bag.
Checked the taste and gravity (1.010) last night and transferred to another carboy to remove sediment.
I like the taste of it now and would like to stop the fermentation now.
I have put the carboy in the fridge and I am looking for directions/advice to proceed.
Do I add 5 campden tablets now?
And bulk age in the carboy in the fridge or add potassium sorbate and bottle age now ?
How soon will I be able to bottle ?
Was thinking of 3-6 months of aging?
Thank you all for any help lended

 

[salcoco]

your gravity number now-1.100 does not correlate to what has transposed beforehand. number should be close to .995 range.
I would remove from frig let wine continue to ferment dry it will restart anyways as soon as you remove it. cold will not kill yeast. rack again in three weeks after ferment has stopped add camden tablets. let wine clear age for three months, then perform bench trials with sugar syrup to get level of sweetness desired. add sugar syrup to final bulk wine add sorbate and Camden tablets again. then bottle.

 

[Papa]

I appreciate your response.
What are the problems of not letting it ferment to "dry" ?
Also thanks for the correction on the current gravity it was a typo on my end , I am at 1.010.
I'll see if I can correct it above

 

[DoctorCAD]

You cannot stop an active fermentation. Yeast are very strong. Anything you do to kill yeast will destroy the wine. Let it go and fix it later.

 

[Papa]

You cannot stop an active fermentation. Yeast are very strong. Anything you do to kill yeast will destroy the wine. Let it go and fix it later.

Thanks DoctorCad ,
Learning,listening , and applying .
I just wanna hit a home run my first time up to bat.

 

[Jericurl]

I agree with what everyone else has said above.

When you rack it again, I would drop it right on top of another few lbs of frozen blueberries. You will lose a little bit of volume, but the flavor will end up being dynamite.

 

[Julie]

Hi Papa, you received some good advice and the only thing I would add is for future batches. Use at least 5 pounds of fruit per gallon and have a starting gravity around 1.080 - 1.090.

 

[Papa]

I agree with what everyone else has said above.

When you rack it again, I would drop it right on top of another few lbs of frozen blueberries. You will lose a little bit of volume, but the flavor will end up being dynamite.

How many blueberries would you recommend as a few?
Thanks for the input

 

[Papa]

Hi Papa, you received some good advice and the only thing I would add is for future batches. Use at least 5 pounds of fruit per gallon and have a starting gravity around 1.080 - 1.090.

Thanks for the advice,
Yeah .....my starting gravity was too high, and I didn't recognize it as a problem at the time . I thought it was going to an unpurpopsable benefit.
Do you think the 5lbs of fruit per gal will shine the flavor through on the end?

 

[Julie]

Thanks for the advice,
Yeah .....my starting gravity was too high, and I didn't recognize it as a problem at the time . I thought it was going to an unpurpopsable benefit.
Do you think the 5lbs of fruit per gal will shine the flavor through on the end?

Depending on the fruit. Some fruits such as peaches or apples need to be all fruit and no water. Blueberries, blackberries and elderberries are good 5 pound per gallon fruits.

 

[Jericurl]

How many blueberries would you recommend as a few?
Thanks for the input

Do you have a 6 gallon carboy? If so, I would rack my wine into that, then add blueberries until it is mostly full. It'll probably take between 5-10 lbs.

Your initial recipe is a little light for fruit. I shoot for 3-5 lbs per gallon. Had you used honey instead of sugar it wouldn't matter so much since mead acts a bit different in the flavor department.
You may find that your wine feels a little thin, hence why I would add more blueberries in secondary.

It will also help the flavor profile. Fruit in primary tends to give that fermented fruit wine flavor. Fruit in secondary when fermentation is mostly done will help with the POW fresh fruit flavor as well as the aroma.

 

[Jericurl]

Also, I wouldn't bottle any time sooner than 9 months, but that's just me.



If you are impatient you can make some Dragon's Blood in the meantime and that should last you a bit.

 

[WAC4504]

your gravity number now-1.100 does not correlate to what has transposed beforehand. number should be close to .995 range.
I would remove from frig let wine continue to ferment dry it will restart anyways as soon as you remove it. cold will not kill yeast. rack again in three weeks after ferment has stopped add camden tablets. let wine clear age for three months, then perform bench trials with sugar syrup to get level of sweetness desired. add sugar syrup to final bulk wine add sorbate and Camden tablets again. then bottle.

Hey Papa, this is some great advice, I'm new at wine making also and have made 2 5gal. batches of wine with the EC Krause recipe that calls for 13 lbs of blueberries, and your story sounds very familiar, my advise is to not get in any hurry to sweeten the wine. Let it do it's thing and then bench trial it. And do NOT add any of that all Nat. Flavoring in a bottle stuff. Just my 2 cents worth, good luck and have fun.

 

[BernardSmith]

The best way to know how much fruit to use is to taste the juice before you pitch the yeast. If the juice tastes thin and flavorless then the wine will not taste any richer. You always want to add the very least amount of water possible - The critical criterion is flavor and not your desired volume. Your desired volume should be determined by the richness of the flavor.

 

[NorCal]

I just wanna hit a home run my first time up to bat.

I thought I hit it out if the park with my first vintage, but it wasn't until my fourth did I realize that it really wasn't all that good.

 

[Papa]

Thank you guys
This is a huge help to have a sounding board

 

[pip]

The fruit to water ratio discussion is interesting. I make dragons blood style wine based loosely on Danger Dans recipe on more or less a production line. 6-12 gallons a month. I use 1 pound of fruit per gallon. It produces a lightly bodies fruity rose' style beverage which is very much to my personal taste.

I also make heavier bodied fruit wine using 3 or 4 times the fruit and i also ferment 100% fruit juice with no water if i can get hold of enough suitable fruit. Basically, i dont think there is a rule to fruit water ratio. It depends on the fruit and the style of wine you want to make.

As for flavor, you can add f-pacs and flavor extracts, fresh ingredients to a secondary like fruit, spices, herbs, oak chips etc.

Anything is possible. I think the question is, what type of wine do you want to make?

 

[NorCal]

The fruit to water ratio discussion is interesting. I make dragons blood style wine based loosely on Danger Dans recipe on more or less a production line. 6-12 gallons a month. I use 1 pound of fruit per gallon. It produces a lightly bodies fruity rose' style beverage which is very much to my personal taste.

I also make heavier bodied fruit wine using 3 or 4 times the fruit and i also ferment 100% fruit juice with no water if i can get hold of enough suitable fruit. Basically, i dont think there is a rule to fruit water ratio. It depends on the fruit and the style of wine you want to make.

As for flavor, you can add f-pacs and flavor extracts, fresh ingredients to a secondary like fruit, spices, herbs, oak chips etc.

Anything is possible. I think the question is, what type of wine do you want to make?

As a reference point, I use 15.5 lbs of grapes to make one gallon of wine.

 

[pip]

As a reference point, I use 15.5 lbs of grapes to make one gallon of wine.

Yep, excellent contrast with my dragons blood. Type of fruit, wine style, aging issues, body...its all so wonderfully variable i reckon.