What if I...?

[Ehren]

Hi everyone! I'm new to the forum, but I admit I have lurked a time or two in the past There's lots of good information to be had here!


Anyway, I moved to Oregon a few years back, and I have been making some great wine from delicious wild blackberries. I like a good sweet berry desert wine, so I have been experimenting with different yeasts, OGs, acids, etc. to get it how I like it, and it has been turning out great!

This time I got a little wild, but I'm not sure how its going to turn out, so I thought I'd ask some more experienced winemakers... What do you think will happen? and is there something I should be doing to make it turn out better?

1) I started with 5 gallons of sweet berries (after they were crushed to liquid. I'm not sure how many pounds that is, I go by volume, but I think around 30lbs) and added water to bring it up to 7 gallons of must, to which I added 7 campden tabs and let it sit for 30 hours.

2) Next, I added 12.5 lbs of sugar to bring the OG up to 1.11, yeast nutrient and energizer, acid blend, pectic enzyme, and EC1118 yeast.

3) Fermentation took off like a shot! After 48 hrs, the SG was down to 1.05. I then added more sugar to bring the SG back up to 1.11, and I removed all the spent fruit/seeds leaving a little more than 6 gallons in the fermenter.

Hopefully, this will yield around 18% abv (the limit of the yeast) with a little residual sugar. The berries were very flavorful, and I think the flavor is going to shine through all that alcohol fairly well if I get my balance right with sweetness and acid.

Any suggestions or predictions about the outcome?
Cheers!

 

[Ehren]

I guess this should have been posted under the "fruit wine" section... still figuring out the forum I guess. If a mod wants to move it, that would be fine by me.

 

[Bartman]

That sounds okay to me, though I mostly make grape wines rather than fruit wines. Your fruit content should yield a good flavor and mouthfeel. Are you trying to have some residual sugar left after fermentation ends? I don't like my wines with quite so much alcohol in them, but that's just a personal preference. The only issue that I see might be that, possibly, the yeast don't go all the way to 18% without nutrient being added; however, the fruit may such that no nutrient is needed. Also, it is possible that EC1118 goes beyond 18% - that is a guideline, not set in stone; no one sends a note to the yeast to stop reproducing and die off at 17.9%.

 

[jswordy]

With high alcohol like that and no sugar added at backsweetening, I am going to predict your fruit flavor will not be shining through so much in the wine after it ferments dry. As has already been mentioned, an 18% yeast can yield much higher alcohol if there's enough sugar to keep it going. And there is. On the other hand aging it well can round off the alcohol and bring back the fruit. So it's a safe, interesting experiiment that can always be ciorrected on the back end prior to bottling if you don't get what you want.

Very surprised you got an active ferment after adding SEVEN campden tabs to 7 gallons. Usually, one per 5 gallons is enough. It shows the power of EC1118. I have had a failed ferment when too much k meta was present in the must. Never again! I err on the side of caution now. One thing's for sure, you darned sure didn't have anything wild left in the must after that.

 

[southlake333]

Very surprised you got an active ferment after adding SEVEN campden tabs to 7 gallons. Usually, one per 5 gallons is enough.

One campden tab per gallon 24 hours prior to pitching yeast is normal. Actually, that's what the bottle of tablets suggests. I do that for most of my wines (other than skeeter based recipes).

 

[Ehren]

Thanks guys! I appreciate the input.

I also like my wine with much less alcohol content (usually). But this time I am actually going for HIGH alcohol content; mostly as and an experiment, partly because, well alcohol is the point right? Why else ferment the stuff in the first place? haha.

I tried to add enough sugar so that it could push just a little past 18% if the yeasties will do it. I am going to keep an eye on it though, and add more if I need it. My goal is to push the %abv to the limit, and have a little bit of residual sugar left over, if I get it up to 20% I'll only be happier!

If I need to, I will backsweeten with blackberry syrup (that I prepared beforehand from more of the same berries and sugar) and adjust the acid if I really need to, but hopefully I got that right prior to fermentation.

I'm not sure how this will turn out, but its sure to be potent!

The local standard for Campden tabs around here seems to be 1 tab per gallon of must with wild fruit. That's about what I have been using every time, and I haven't had a problem yet. Should I really be using less?

 

[Ehren]

So, if anyone is interested, this actually turned out pretty good!

After sitting in the secondary for two weeks, the fermentation started to slow, so I pulled some to check it out. The SG is down to 1.038, which is just below the SG of the must before adding any sugar, so the sweetness is roughly that of fresh blackberries; perfect.

I don't have an exact figure for ABV since I added sugar in stages. I added a total of 18.5 lbs of sugar. I ended up with a little less than 6 gallons, so by my calculations, that should be somewhere around 19%.

The wine still has a very, very strong blackberry flavor (much stringer than I was expecting) with a little bit of acid bite. It is very close to the flavor of a fresh sweet blackberry. That being said, the alcohol is also a fairly imposing presence, as well it should be... there is a lot of it! It definitely reminds me of a sweet, heavy port style wine.

Since fermentation was slowing, I figured the yeast was going to give out soon anyway, so I cold crashed it rather then let the yeast stay active but stressed until it died.

Other than a little seed bitterness, I don't notice any off flavors or smells, so I think it all worked out the way it was supposed to. I am hoping the bitterness will smooth out with age, but only time will tell!

Of course I'm going to drink some of this right after I bottle it, but I plan to age the majority of it for a year or so before I start to pop them open. I can't wait!

Now... I'm off to the wilderness to pick more berries so I can do it again!