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Re: time for making blackberry wine
From: NotNobody@nohow.com (Marshall Jose)
shbailey wrote:
On Aug 26, 6:26 pm, Marshall Jose <NotNob...@nohow.com> wrote:
I picked my blackberries from my neighbor's plants, during a hot, dry
summer. The sugar content was still abysmal, as usual (juice SG =
1.020). I washed the berries and inserted them in a women's knee-high
nylon stocking, and proceeded to squeeze out the juice in that manner.
To the juice from 6.5 lbs of blackberries was added 1.5L of sugar and
3.3L of water. Also added the usual pectic enzyme, etc. About 1.4
gallons made it to secondary.
Two problems were experienced in turn: #1 was a hydrogen sulfide problem
from heck. As in, "Oh my God, I can't breathe down here it smells so
bad." I "fixed" it by using an aquarium pump and bubble stone, and
aerating the wine for an hour at a time (making the basement
uninhabitable). The idea is that the O2 reacts with the H2S to form SO2,
which is more apt to leave the solution. POOF! no H2S contamination anymore.
Problem #2: A final titratable acidity of 0.7%. I added KCO3 to take it
down to 0.35%, making it at least drinkable.
Final result: a thin, unremarkable berry wine with an uncomplicated nose
reminiscent of of Manischewitz. *sigh*
Your mileage may vary,
Marshall
Marshall,
You don't have any body because you only used watered down juice. All
of Jack Keller's recipes call for either fermenting with the pulp or
at least giving a "cold soak" period after pouring boiling water over
the crushed berries.
A TA of 0.35% is really low. Jack recommends a final TA of between
0.5% and 0.6% for non-grape red wines.
It wasn't necessarily supposed to be drinkable immediately. It needs
about a year to come into balance. Adding sugar would seem to be the
preferred method for "instant aging" to make something drinkable
immediately.
I'm glad your H2S remedy worked. Did you add yeast nutrient when you
started? That usually serves to prevent H2S problems.
Good luck next time.
Stephen
Stephen,
Sorry for the delay in responding. I'd not thought about the percentage of berry juice. As mentioned, it was a dry year and the crop was meager, but it never occurred to me to reduce the juice/sugar ratio.
At any rate, when I said undrinkable, I meant undrinkable, as in straight lemon juice acidity -- this stuff made you pucker. I knew that not even added sugar would help it, so I knocked the edge off it with KCO3.
I may still be able to acquire the multiple pounds of berries for another shot at a gallon batch this year, so I may give it a go, and this time I'll lay off the rehydration. :)
Thanks,
Marshall
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