Need some general help on making blackberry wine Inc quantities

[Berry454]

Hi all

Been doing lots of picking locally so it's time to start looking at making my blackberry wine. Need to get it done soon as !y freezer is jam packed with blackberries!

My first question would be quantities.. how many kilogram of blackberries do I need per 5 gallon batch? I've seen everything from 10kg to as little as 4kg. Love brewing seems to recommend 6kg per 5 gallon brew.

https://www.lovebrewing.co.uk/guides/fruit-quantities-for-wine-making/
Regarding the overall process, any tips or advice would be appreciated. In particular, how do you clear the wine off the sediment without losing lots of wine? I don't even want to imagine how thick the layer of sediment will be at the end of fermentation from 6-10kg of the fruit in a 5 gallon batch!

I'm using 5 gallon just as a guide. I'll probably be making around 20 gallons in my 30 gallon SS fermenter. I'll be looking at an abv of 12.5%.

 

[MashBag]

First up, park you beer brain. This is wine.

Here's my thoughts. No specifically answers.

I would do something like...
1kg per gallon.
Some tannin
1 kg sugar per gallon
Bdx yeast
Olive oil
Perhaps a banana
Water to volume

Mix everthing. Mash the fruit. DON'T BLITZ.
Add everything.
No boiling. No bleaching.

Ferment to peak at about 29c and then decline gently to 22c over 10 days.

Further first few days visit twice a day and push fruit down into the liquid. Do not be too gentle. Use kitchen clean equipment.
Wash any utensil after use, wine sours easily.

Taste. Consider cloves & vanilla.
Consider oaking. Taste.
Consider malolactic. Taste
Once dry, consider the flavour.
Before pressing. You could add "late fruit"
Taste it.

After pressing, return to fermenter, remove heaspace airlock. Rack a couple of months later. Sulphite when ready.

Have you made wine before?

Ps. Did I mention tasting it all the way through

 

[Nicks90]

My usual method is to use 1kg fruit with 1kg of sugar per gallon
I freeze all my fruit prior to use as it becomes all mushy once defrosted and releases the flavour better.

So 1kg sugar, 1kg thawed fruit in a large biab bag and 1 gallon of water plus any additional ingredients like tanin, citrus etc (x5 or whatever volume you have). Add to fermenter with a dose of sodium metabisulphite to kill off any nasties. Stir and gently squish daily for 3-5 days.
Lift out the bag with the fruit pulp in and give it a bit of a squeeze.

Add yeast and leave for a month.

Rack in to fresh fermenter and leave for 3 months

Rack again in to demijohns or another fermenter

Leave for another 6-9 months to bulk age in a cool dark place before bottling

Always comes out super clear without the need for finings or additional preservatives

 

[MashBag]

Always comes out super clear without the need for finings or additional preservatives

Absolutely.

And good point I completely forgot about freezing..which for me is a proper poor show