Blackberry Wine - how I do it

[Jonny69]

Great, really pleased to be of help :)

How did yours come on berrycrumble? The dryness often softens with time.

2013 I ended up doing a split with a friend. We did three gallons - one with apple, one with red grape and one with more blackberries. All are nice but I do prefer the one with apple. We also did a pure blackcurrant which is powerful stuff indeed!

 

[Noodleman]

In all honesty, I haven't tried any of them yet other than a quick sample in the bottle process. Was happy with all of them.

I ended up with 50 bottles which have all been put away to mature for a minimum of 9 months before I will open and most likely it will all be gone in a month

I still have 4 gallons waiting to bottle that hadn't cleared correctly. I think there is pectin in there from some of the other juices I mixed in, so working on that.

 

[Cobra427v8]

Really interested in making the blackberry wine from the recipe. Only concern I got is that it will turn out sweet as one brewer has already experienced. Unfortunately i only like dry/ medium dry wine. So any advice would be much appreciated before I attempt it.

Cheers Darren

 

[Slid]

Really interested in making the blackberry wine from the recipe. Only concern I got is that it will turn out sweet as one brewer has already experienced. Unfortunately i only like dry/ medium dry wine. So any advice would be much appreciated before I attempt it.

Cheers Darren

I think Moley works on Blackberries as having 7% sugar, so 2kg would be 140g worth. So I guess using 860g of sugar instead of a kilo would be a start point. 7% has to be an estimate, because if you taste the berries, they are all different. Also some bushes give small berries and some large. Some have a small number of large tiny fruits and some have smaller tiny fruit, but more of them. I don't think that blackberries are harvested commercially in the same way that respberries are, but there is a cross between a raspberry and a blackberry called a Loganberry, which has.

Anyway, if you really don't like any residual sweetness, then go with 800g, as is suggested in the thread above. I it ferments to dry, you can always add a bit more sugar later, in small quantities, until it's to your taste.

 

[Cobra427v8]

I think Moley works on Blackberries as having 7% sugar, so 2kg would be 140g worth. So I guess using 860g of sugar instead of a kilo would be a start point. 7% has to be an estimate, because if you taste the berries, they are all different. Also some bushes give small berries and some large. Some have a small number of large tiny fruits and some have smaller tiny fruit, but more of them. I don't think that blackberries are harvested commercially in the same way that respberries are, but there is a cross between a raspberry and a blackberry called a Loganberry, which has.

Anyway, if you really don't like any residual sweetness, then go with 800g, as is suggested in the thread above. I it ferments to dry, you can always add a bit more sugar later, in small quantities, until it's to your taste.

Thanks Slid,
That makes sense. I'll have a crack using just 800g of sugar. Correct me if I'm wrong but will the ABV% be less due to using less sugar. In fact I'm not sure what ABV% to expect.

 

[Slid]

Thanks Slid,
That makes sense. I'll have a crack using just 800g of sugar. Correct me if I'm wrong but will the ABV% be less due to using less sugar. In fact I'm not sure what ABV% to expect.

Yes it will be a lower ABV, but you can "feed" wine with sugar to raise this, without making it too sweet, as long as it is only gradual.

 

[Jonny69]

The sweetness just seems to be the luck of the draw. Blackberry juice doesn't seem to be an ideal environment for yeast to brew in, even with added nutrient. Sometimes it brews all the way out to dry, sometimes it sticks while it is still a little sweet. All of mine last year brewed out to dry with 1kg of sugar added to the gallon, but previous years I've had one or two that didn't. If it's any help, all of the ones I've added natural apple juice to have brewed all the way out and, I could be remembering this incorrectly, but I think the ones that stayed a little sweet had red grape juice added.