My Elder, Blue, Pom Recipe

[BOB21801]

I'm a novice, been lurking off and on for a couple months. Just got back into making some wines recently, after a break of a couple years. I was never an expert, but made several decent batches with various berries and juices - nothing very "refined", but trying to get better now. Anyway, I just put together a recipe, using the "Dragonette" recipe here, as a template. (THANKS for that!) I'll post it, and hopefully you can give me some feedback on my plan. I'll be using homegrown, frozen elderberries, frozen wild blueberries, and a good quality pomegranate juice.

I'm starting this tonight, so hopefully I'm not majorly screwing anything up.
Thanks, Bob

Elderberry, Blueberry, Pomegranate Wine – Bob21801 Recipe​

Ingredients: For a three gallon batch:​

Step 1: To a cleaned and sanitized five gallon primary, add---in this order:​

Warm water to about two gallons, 9 cups of white granulated sugar (look for a SG of around 1.085 after filling to 3 gallons below*): use more/less sugar for high/lower desired final ABV. Stir sugar until completely dissolved.
1/4 tsp. tannin (stir)
1 1/2 tsp. yeast nutrient (stir)
1/2 tsp. yeast energizer (stir)
1 tsp. pectic enzyme (stir)
1 tsp. acid blend (stir)​

Add (2) 46 oz bottles of Pomegranate Juice, top with water to three (3) gallons* and stir well.
Test SG (looking for a SG around 1.085) Add additional sugar, if necessary to increase SG. Note: The natural sugars from the fruit will slightly increase the final ABV, so be careful how high you drive up the SG at this point!​

Add 2 ½ lbs. of Wild Blueberries and 2 ½ lb off elderberries, frozen then thawed, in a nylon fine mesh bag (tied shut), placed in primary Give the bag of berries a couple of squeezes to work in pectic enzyme. May also toss fruit directly into primary, but this makes for a "messier" fermentation and subsequently will require more clearing time and racking.​

Cover primary and fit airlock.
Place brew belt: Keep temp in 70F-80F range.
Let sit undisturbed for 12-24 hours...​

Step 2: To the primary fermenter, add:
1 packet of Montrachet yeast: Sprinkle yeast into one cup of warm water (100F), let sit for 15 minutes (no longer), stir and add to primary. Other yeast strains may also work well.
Stir Primary Vigorously!​

Step 3: Once or twice each day, do the following, in this order:
Check temperature. Record on log.
Check specific gravity. Record on log.
Squeeze juices from fruit pack into fermenter---remove fruit pack: Temporarily place in sanitized bucket.
Stir primary vigorously: To introduce oxygen into must.
Replace fruit pack and punch down well.
Cover primary​

Step 4: When specific gravity (SG) reaches <1.000, and bubbling in airlock are very minimal, do the following:
Thoroughly squeeze juices from fruit pack into fermenter---remove fruit pack: Discard fruit.
Rack to cleaned and sanitized three gallon carboy.
Add 2 tsp. Potassium Sorbate (stir)​

Rack again every 2-3 weeks, until clear. Expect total of 3-4 racks for nice clear wine. Add 1/8 tsp Potassium Metabisulfite every other racking. (stir)​

Add Sparkolloid* (or other clearing agent) after first racking: *1 tbs in one cup of water simmered for about 30 minutes. Add hot mixture to carboy.
Allow to clear undisturbed for no less than 1 week​

Step 5: When wine is clear:
Carefully rack off any remaining lees into cleaned & sanitized 3 gallon carboy
Taste to gauge desired level of dryness/sweetness, and add small amounts of granulated white sugar until desired sweetness is ALMOST attained. Remember! The sugars will blend with the berry flavors over time, and the sweetness will come forward. Do not over-sweeten!​

After 2-3 days, taste again, and add a bit more of any of the juices if desired and stir into wine: This step (and the pectic enzyme below) can be skipped for a dryer, lighter wine.
Add 1 tsp of pectic enzyme to wine and stir thoroughly.​

Allow wine to clear free of all sediment once more. This may or may not require more racking over the next few weeks.​

Step 6: When wine is completely clear:
Degas very thoroughly: I cannot emphasize this enough!
Bottle in clear bottles
Note: Never bottle cloudy wine! NEVER!​