Frozen Blackberry wine

[DavieC]

Hi all, After picking blackberries one afternoon last year I simply sealed them into bags and stuck them in the freezer. Yesterday I finally got around to using them to make some wine but am now wondering how this will turn out.
I placed the frozen berries(2kg+100g of frozen blackcurrants) into FV and then poured on 2 kettles of boiling water, stirring and agitating as I poured, next I used a hand blender to blitz all the berries,I had about 300ml of concentrated white grape juice that had been on a shelf in the garage for 18months,I inspected this visually and all looked ok, I smelt it and seemed fine so added this as well . I next added sugar and water but here's where I may have gone further off track than I maybe already was.Thinking that the berries although blitzed to liquid are going to leave a lot of pulp sediment I topped up to 8ltrs in FV and sugared with 1150g giving a SG of 1085. Finally I added 1tspNutrient+pectolaise and half TSP red wine yeast.Everything sanitised in usual way. Anybody got any thoughts on how to proceed regards when to go about racking etc, or how it may turn out? I did make some blackberry wine in 2019 but did a freeze concentration using double the amount of fruit but not doing that this time.

 

[johncrobinson]

I really don't understand the question.
From what you have said you have done everything in a textbook manner.

I mean this in the most friendly way possible

 

[DavieC]

That's great J. I suddenly felt this morning as if I hadn't. It's bubbling nicely now, I'll let it ferment out then rack..yes seems quite straightforward now

 

[Nicks90]

Agreed with your method so far. Would suggest once it's had its initial burst of fermentation, maybe about 1-2 weeks, rack it off
You don't want it on the fruit pulp for too long

 

[johncrobinson]

Glad its working out for you

 

[Frogbrew]

Half a TSP of wine yeast doesn't sound much? 2.5g?

 

[DavieC]

Yes 2.5g ,it is bubbling now so hopefully all's well. Packet (5g) says suitable for 5gallons! Bit stingy of me to only use half of it I know!

 

[DavieC]

Quick update on this , I racked the wine yesterday into a gallon DJ and a 1.5 ltr plastic bottle.Still quite a lot of the fruit throughout but eventually managed to get mainly liquid into DJ and bottle.After transfer I took FG reading of 990. The taste sample that I had was excellent and will be ready to drink when it's clear.With airlocks in place Ive moved them into the cold garage to allow to clear.I'll probably need to transfer again as it clears but I'm really pleased with this so far.

 

[DavieC]

Update on this, finally decided to bottle this wine, it's been resting and clearing for 6 or7 months now.Lovely colour and clear for first 5 bottles, final bottle did suck some sediment up but not too bad.Taste was good, definitely very drinkable,I may decant it before serving and see if that improves it a little more but on the whole very pleased.We never got round to picking any blackberries this year though so will have to wait before making some more.

 

[DavieC]

Hi, I tried a couple of glasses of this wine last night and it's turned out really good.I think the 300ml concentrated grape juice really adds to the blackberry and makes a great tasting light bodied wine.

 

[Cwrw666]

Just a thought: the method I use is firstly to freeze the fruit (this ruptures the cell membranes and allows the juice to exit easily) then steep it in boiling water. After about 5 days strain off the fruit.
This way you don't get fruit pulp in your fermenting wine.
I've been doing this for 40+ years with excellent results.

 

[DavieC]

I'll give it a go that way next time @Cwrw666