Blackberry Wine.

[geordiecolin]

I have about 12kg of great quality blackberries in my freezer which is too much for our usual needs so I have found this recipe.

4 1⁄2 pounds of blackberries. That takes about an hour or less to pick.

• 2 1⁄2 lbs. of regular old sugar, the white kind.

• 7 pints of water

• a red wine yeast (regular yeast will work too, but not as good)


Seems simple. Can I double the quantity of Blackberries and half the water in order to improve the wine? Does anyone have any advice to help me out? I do not have a Demi John or a water lock,but I do have large brewing containers. Thanks.

[rustylady]

I would definitely double the amount of blackberries. You may not need to halve the water. Usual advice is to put your fruit into a clean brewing bucket, pour on boiling water, cover and leave for a couple of days. Then mash the fruit, add sugar and yeast and cover again with muslin and leave for about a week.

Then strain through muslin or a jelly bag into a demijohn and add an airlock (Demijohns aren't particularly cheap, but airlocks are). You could use really large water bottles (available from supermarkets) instead of demijohns.

[Hazel at the Hill]

Welcome to the Vine, GC.

Good post from RL - I can only add that the norm seems to be 3lb fruit, 2.5 to 3lb sugar to a make a gallon of wine, but more fruit will make a wine with more body. With your 12kg of blackberries, I'd make 6 gallons of wine, I think - I bet it will make a cracking wine.

Phone around (or go in) your local charity shops for demijohns (you'll have to ask, they are often in the stock room, not on display), or look at the small ads in your local paper/freecycle/gumtree etc.

[Two_Sheds]

You could use really large water bottles (available from supermarkets) instead of demijohns.

I do, and they work really well. If you ask in offices (eg estate agents) you can often pick up old water containers for free.

Also try car boots, Freegle & eBay for brewing equipment

[geordiecolin]

Thank you for all of your feedback. My guess at the weight of Blackberries in my freezer was way off the mark. I have used all of my 8kg of berries,pulped into boiled water up to 5 gl then left for 3 days. I had 2 pints of the juices( Pectin) from boiling up about 2 kg of apple skins that I had left over after making Jams. So I warmed that up with 4 kg of sugar and added that to the mix. I have just added some Citrus and yeast. I am not sure if I should add more sugar? Can I add more sugar at a later date and can I add more yeast at a later date? What would be the outcome?
Thank you in advance Col :-)

[ohbeary]

Colin, You will be short of fruit with 8kg in 5 gallons, it is normal to use 3lb of fruit per gal but blackberry is often made with 8lb per gal, to get any kind of body you will need to boil about 5lbs of raisins or currants in 4pts of water and add when cooled, it should not require any additional yeast and the dried fruit will add around a kilo of sugar, I would add 1kg of sugar with the dried fruit when you boil it.
Having added the "pectin"! you will certainly need to add some Pectolase to destroy it to avoid a "pectin haze" in the finished wine, I would suggest 6 or 7 teaspoons and 5-6 teaspoons of yeast nutrient.

[geordiecolin]

I would like to thank again those who gave their thoughts to me. The wine is decanted and distributed until I only have a small amount left. It was a fantastic success. Very fruity and it hit the scales at 18%.
Maybe it was down to the quality of last years harvest due to the climate? :-)