'nother newbie

[juice]

Howdy, we have a ton of wild blueberries on our place, like a 5 acre patch down in the bog by the river, about 15 pounds in the freezer of witch a few of them ended up with my wife being chased out of the "bog" by a bear! Wine making is about the last use of this wonderful fruit that we haven't tried and that's about to end. My wine palate is, idk, juvenile might describe it. I like sweet wine with a screw on lid. I alway's enjoyed whatever home made fruit wines (usually peach) would show up at the swimming hole or a party when we lived down south. Actually I usually have a bottle of red Port wine in the shop refrigerator for sipping purposes but that's about it.
Our daughters left a bottle of white wine a few years ago, it's still there. Same go's for beer, some how I, we've become very sober, and not on purpose or need. I hope having a little home grown & brewed wine handy will help with that.

 

[AkTom]

Hello Juice,
You came to the right place. These folks are great. Beside blueberry wine, you should try blueberry mead. I made a gallon and wish I'd made 2.

 

[AkTom]

Hello Juice,
You came to the right place. These folks are great. Beside blueberry wine, you should try blueberry mead. I made a gallon and wish I'd made 2.

 

[juice]

Thanks Tom, does that involve honey? That's (honey) the only mead I've heard of. Sounds great.

 

[hounddawg]

welcome,
bear burgersand wine what afine supper,
best of luck to you
Dawg

 

[hounddawg]

i have my first blackberry mead at 1 year of bulk aging so far, i plan on waiting one more year to bottle and try, i plan on aelderberry mead this year, i make mine in 3lr or 6 gallon batches,
DAWG



UOTE=AkTom;634180]Hello Juice,
You came to the right place. These folks are great. Beside blueberry wine, you should try blueberry mead. I made a gallon and wish I'd made 2.[/QUOTE]

 

[bkisel]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[Arne]

Howdy Juice, welcome to the forum. Yep, mead is just regular wine only you substitute honey for sugar. Usually makes the wine taste a little smoother and usually takes a bit longer to ferment. First try I would try with sugar instead. If it flops (which it probably won't) you do not have as much expense in the wine. When you get ready to go with it, start asking questions and somebody will usually jump in to help. Arne.

 

[AkTom]

/\ what he said.

 

[heatherd]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[juice]

Howdy Juice, …….If it flops (which it probably won't)

I'm glad you have confidence Thank you Arne and everyone else for the kind welcome.

 

[ceeaton]

Welcome to the forum. Blueberries benefit from some sweetness added after stabilizing. Would love to have a bog on my property, but the bears I could do without. Maybe a few bear rugs would take care of that problem!

 

[juice]

Thanks to all. I have a thread on my first batch going.http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55681 It tastes pretty good already & "ya gotta start somewhere" right?

 

[hounddawg]

welcome to this incureable addition. THESE PEOPLE ARE THE BEST TEACHERS BUT THEY NEVERWARN YOU OF THE EXTREMELY HIGH ADDICTION RATESNORTHE FACT THAT THIS ADDICTION RATE HASNOCURE,,, LOL
DAWG

 

[juice]

Welcome to the forum. Blueberries benefit from some sweetness added after stabilizing. Would love to have a bog on my property, but the bears I could do without. Maybe a few bear rugs would take care of that problem!

Ceeaton, "stabilizing", when is that? & how is it done? I'm still in the bucket and @ 1.046 right now.

 

[ceeaton]

Ceeaton, "stabilizing", when is that? & how is it done? I'm still in the bucket and @ 1.046 right now.

After fermentation is finished (SG stays the same for three days in a row), most siphon (rack) it to a clean carboy (off of the junk in the bottom of the fermenter) and add Potassium Metabisulphite (Kmeta for short) to help prevent oxidation and Potassium Sorbate to keep any left over yeast from reproducing and eating the sugar you add to sweeten the wine (also known as "back sweetening"). You can let it age for a while if you want before adding the sorbate and then back sweetening it, but it is good to add the Kmeta once fermentation is done (usually 1/4 tsp per 6 gallons of wine, adding more every three months if you age it that long before bottling the wine). I usually also wait a week after sorbate/sweetening to make sure fermentation doesn't start up again before bottling. If it does re-ferment in the bottle, it will eventually push your corks out and make a mess in your wine room.

 

[Bodenski]

Welcome to the forum!

I'm jealous. My blueberry wine is from frozen berries from Walmart. Maybe this summer I'll get some fresh fruit to make a better wine with.