Blackberry Wine Question

[goan]

Started a blackberry wine about a month ago, started with specific gravity of 1.090, down to 1 now or just under, seems to be fermenting really quickly, is this normal? I did use a yeast nutrient. Also is it better to leave the wine to age or bottle below a specific gravity? was hoping to leave it 3 or 4 months.

Sorry if these are all newbie questions

 

[RobWalker]

yeah, tis fine, i've had some quick fermenters this year too! but you want to give it plenty of time anyway, you may want to rack it off into a new DJ and let it do its thing for a while. things apparently age better in bulk :thumb:

 

[goan]

Yea i read about racking it off into another vessel, does this make much difference or affect it much?

 

[oldbloke]

Racking gets rid of the dead yeast and other rubbish that the live yeast might start eating if it runs out of sugars, and so avoids generation of off flavours.
So if you reckon it's done, you may as well rack it, but it's worth using an airlock on the vessel you rack into just in case.
4 weeks isn't long though so in this case I wouldn't say it was vital, yet.
If it's cleared you may as well just bottle, unless you want to mature it in bulk.
If it looks like it'll clear any day soon, you may as well wait.
Otherwise, rack it.

 

[goan]

Looks as if its clearing, but how will I tell? may leave it a few more weeks then rack and leave until jan or feb to age? Thanks for the help, again excuse the newbieness

 

[stevie1556]

I read that if you shine a bright light through the wine, if you can't see the light haze then it's cleared. It's also how I've been checking mine.

 

[oldbloke]

With white wines, you can actually read through a full demi when it's properly clear, quite small print too.
Harder with a red - but if you shine an LED torch through you should be able to see all the detail of the bulbs (Moley's tip, there)
When you've seen a few it's obvious, but for a beginner, not so much. But, they positively shine with the light behind them when they're done.
If you're not sure, rack it and leave it - can't hurt, might be best course of action anyway.

 

[goan]

ill check in the morning, I presume its better to leave it to age after racking it of or is better to bottle after fermentation stops?

 

[Moley]

Started a blackberry wine about a month ago, started with specific gravity of 1.090, down to 1 now or just under, seems to be fermenting really quickly, is this normal?

A lot is going to depend upon the type of yeast used and the temperature it has been working at, but I would say that's quite normal or perhaps even a little slow.

If it still seems to be working and you are still getting bubbles through the airlock, then I would give it another week before racking.

Blackberry usually clears well on its own, and I would never use finings for country reds. It won't be clearing yet though. After racking, leave it in a cool, dark place for a couple of months, then it should be clear. Then you can re-rack and either bottle or leave for a few months longer.

 

[goan]

I used the 'Wilko Gervin Univeral Wine Yeast' from wilkinsons. Been working at around 16-18 degrees, kept under the combi boiler in my room, though that is a guess as haven't measured it, and has likely been quite variable. Ill upload some pics later on

 

[Moley]

As it happens, I can give you a direct comparison. I make a mixed red fruits wine every year from blackberries, elderberries and anything else I have to hand. I started a 6 gallon batch on September 23rd with 12lbs elderberries, 12lbs blackberries, 6lbs raspberries and 1.5lbs red gooseberries, strained on Sept. 29th and I've just racked it on October 27th, so that was 5 weeks from 1.100 to 0.992. It was still giving the occasional pop through the airlock after 4 weeks so I left it a little bit longer. Racked to glass DJs I got 5 x 1 gallon plus one half gallon. Only the half jar needed a slight top-up, for which I used a previous red juices wine.

In the meantime, the used fruit pulp from the first mash still had plenty of goodness in it, so that went into a second sterilised bucket together with a minced bag of raisins and a few litres of red grape juice, and made up to 4 gallons. Strained after a further 5-6 days, that is still giving the ocasional pop through the airlock and will be racked next weekend.

My fermenting temperatures have been fairly steadily around 18°C.

This means that fermentation will run slightly slower and take slightly longer, but I think that's better than slightly warmer and slightly faster. I always prefer to be able to take my time and do a job properly rather than the ‘rush it and botch it’ approach, and I like my yeasties to work accordingly.

 

[Jonny69]

As Moley pointed out - the speed can depend on the yeast. Most of my wines made with yeast from a sachet have finished fermenting in 3-4 weeks. The ones using their natural yeast can take 3-4 months and ferment very gently in comparison, with a lot of debris floating around in it. I also would not use finings in a dark fruit wine because you need to leave it to mature for a bit, and in this time the yeast will drop out by itself.

 

[Moley]

The ones using their natural yeast can take 3-4 months and ferment very gently in comparison, with a lot of debris floating around in it.

Ah, now I've never tried that, I've always bumped off the wild yeasts and pitched my own.

I've never really known if wild yeasts were up to the job, what sort of results they would give and whether or not they could handle the alcohol level I want to hit, which is typically around 13-15% with red fruits.

How have you got on with them, and if you've found a good one have you tried saving some to use again?

 

[Jonny69]

I've never really known if wild yeasts were up to the job, what sort of results they would give and whether or not they could handle the alcohol level I want to hit, which is typically around 13-15% with red fruits.

How have you got on with them, and if you've found a good one have you tried saving some to use again?

Well I think it might depend where the yeast comes from because I've had mixed results. My current parsnip wine is the only one I've actually left to its own devices all the way to the end and it's not as strong as it should be. It's around 12% but I haven't stabilised it, it's not completely cleared yet and it's maturing, so it might ferment some more of the sugar out. The yeast came from over-ripe banana and actually started brewing quite fast, but was very gentle and slow. I'm keen to leave that one be and see what it turns into.

One of my blackberry wines started by itself this year (despite puring boiling water over the fruit and adding campden) but because I wanted it to brew all the way out I helped it along by pitching some Young's wine yeast.

The ciders are more difficult to tell because they only brew to 5-6% anyway. I saved a yeast last year and pitched it into some apple juice and it kicked off almost immediately. The finished drink actually tasted just like any other turbo cider, so I was a bit disappointed, but the scrumpy taste seems to come more from using apples well past their best, so (in my opinion) is more a combination of the apple solids in the fermentation and the natural bacteria that's in there. I haven't managed to get one of these malolactic fermentations to happen yet, so I can't comment yet if it's the same thing.