OK. I decided to post it now, rather than tomorrow coz I might forgot or be tired.
Its gonna be long post so seat comfortable :)
I tried a few recipes of blackberry wines (i belive i managed to write 4 ot them), none of them gave me results I want to, or too watery, or too sweet ââ¬Â¦ etc. So I decided to use bit of common sense bit of math and my small experience to make my own recipe based on last 4 recipes which were not good at all. So my first recipe was not as good as expected but still better then other ones. Next one was almost perfect, but unfortunatelly I made only 1 gallon batch �" which result in 3 litres of wine.
That recipe I post below.
Now before we go to recipe, there is couple variable in there, amounts of fruits, the more fruits You will use the more concentrated and better flavor of wine (without beign crazy), so 400-800g more per gallon can only help, so dont have to go exactly right on spot.
Sugar, is next, You can add more sugar to make it stronger, when I made my wine i did not had hydrometer or refractometer, so i didnt know alcohol %, but wine was nice and fairly strong so i think somewere 11-13% maybe bit more.
Sweetner �" I did use just a tiny bit, coz I prefer semi-dry wines, with such sharp fruits that small amount of stevia is came out almost fully dry, but nice.
In my recipe I used yeast which are not longer on market, so I replace them with more common and easy accessoble one's, I use them now for all my wines and meads.
Recipe for 3-4 litres ready wine, for that yield you will need at least 10litre bucket/FV (spare room for foam etc)
2kg blackberries
3 litres water (prefably boiled & cooled down)
1kg white sugar
1/2 tsp stevia powder without inuline if possible (optional)
1/2 packet of sachet yeast (Mangrove Jacks see note below)
1 ripe (brown dotted ) banana chopped/slided not puree
2g gypsum for wines
1,5 tsp pectolase
1 tsp yeast nutrient
Yeast note �" Mangrove Jacks yeast ideally R56 strain, will go up only to about 13% so if planning to go with more alcohol/sygar go for SN9 will go up to 18%
Ok. clean + sterylize all used in project equipment, especially FV.
Wash and dry all blackberries, put them in FV, put disposable gloves, and squash them fairly well, add banana and pectolase, mix gently, cover leave for 8-12 hours, after this time make quick yeast starter to 1 cup of water add 2tsp sugar, mix, add yeast, mix, leave for 1 hour. then, heat Your water to 30-35 deg. C, add sugar to disolve, add nutrient, pour over fruits, check temp and gravity, if below 25 deg. add gypsum mix, add yeast, cover with lid add airlock with water, leave for 8-10 days.
I never add any sweetner to primary fermentation. After 8-10 days fermentation if no more bubbles come through, transfer wine to another clean sterylised FV/DJ through sieve with muslin cloth (boil clothe for 5 minutes, squeeze all water as much as You can, you can do it before and let cool down but not too far ahead) and check gravity. Add sweetner if desired, lid + airlock and leave for 1-2 months days to mature, check amount of sediment. After that time wine should be ready to drink, but not so great, there should be some sediment on the bottom, so need to rack it off to another sterylised DJ/FV after another 1-2 months should be ideal and could be bottled.
IMHO that wine needs 6 months to shine. Simple as that.
Notes:
everyone says, stir Your wine daily or twice a day, I never do that, never recommend that, i do not belive in that, better to leave it lone, forget for couple days,
another thing, some recipes says take all fruits out after 2-3-4 days, why? The longer fruits are in FV the more flavor they will give to wine, You should never open FV during primary fermentation, too may wild yeast and bacteria can harm Your must/wort/wine to be, its so so silly, how people can advice that , cannot understand, bit of patience is all You need guys, and I made hekto-litres of wines, seriously
campden tablets �" I never use them, before (i know them very well), people seem to be obsesed with all bacteria, wild yeast, bugs, why? Basic hygiene + well washed and sterylised equipment is enough, why to put so many chemicals in wine,
just sprinkling yeast on top of fruit/liquid, is not good enough, thats why i make simple starter, just sprinkling on top makes yeast to stick to sides of FV instead go though liquid, silly mistake many people do and many people advise, not shure why
Now there are options, if You want to add extra mix, 10% yield (of main fruit) of blackcurrants or dark grapes will add to flavor �" grapes will give even more body without overpowering berrie, also 1/2 vanilla pod could be very interesting, but add spice to secondary fermentation, extra fruits on primary
If You need more quantity multiply by 2 or 5 or even 10.
Hope You all hapy now :)
