Making Blueberry Wine
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- How to make 5 gallons of blueberry wine. Freshly picked high bush blueberries are transformed into a delicious dark purple wine. Recipe ingredients: 12 to 15 pounds blueberries(15 pounds in this video), 11 pounds sugar for 12% alcohol(12 pounds for 15%), enough water to end with 5 gallons, wine or champagne yeast, 2.5 teaspoons pectic enzyme powder, 1 Tablespoon acid blend(optional), 2.5 teaspoons yeast energizer, 1 teaspoon tannin(optional), sulfites, potassium sorbate at bottling if sweetening
Sir, I wanted to write a comment on your video for a long time, but I also wanted to wait for concrete results before I did that. What I mean is - last year I followed you recipe and made 2 batches of blueberry wine. I have lots of blueberries in the Summer and searching on youtube for ways to use them, I came across your video. I made 5 gallons in the beginning of the season, and 5 gallons at the end of the season. Both came out very nice, the first is 16% and very pleasant tasting, the second is 13% and slightly less sweet yet still very nice. I have talked to a lot of people about blueberry wine (some of them really into wine and know a lot about wine) and I frequently hear, "I'm not a fan of blueberry wine", or "blueberry wine is too sweet and fruity", or simply, "I don't like blueberry wine"......well, they didn't like it until now because I introduce them to something especial. I gave a bottle to several people and they were amazed. When I told my brother about the wine I made, he started laughing. We made wine from grapes back when we grew up in Portugal, and didn't believe me that I could make good wine from blueberries. I brought 2 bottles to his house for a family event.......well, he's not laughing now. I want to thank you very much!!! You have a very soothing voice and calm demeanor, which makes it easy to follow all the instructions. I've followed other instructions online, but I have to stop because either the voice is irritating, instructions are not clear, or some other reason. So, thank you again for your video and for sharing it.
I am happy you liked the video and can share the joy of blueberry wine with others. I like it as well or better than anything else I make, fruit or grapes. It was fortunate that I knew someone with many berries or I might not have made it. It is something special. I had read it doesn't age well after one year but I opened a 4 year old bottle recently and it was very good. Thanks for the feedback. I have been told I'm extremely laid back. Winemakers must be patient people to listen to me talk that long. Thanks for watching!
Wow what accolade...I will be trying this.
You took the words right out of my mouth!!! I watch this video at the end of my day just to relax. Oh and yes we have batches of blueberry wine at all times it seems and it's all because of this video.
I feel so calm and relaxed after watching this. You are the Bob Ross of wine :)
It is work but making wine is relaxing for me. Thank you for that nice compliment! I've been accused of being too laid back. :)
good post
I can't believe I've been throwing away my wine bottles 😯. Looks like I'll have to drink 27 bottles of wine so I can make this this summer 😋😜
I'll help ya! Wink, wink.. Nudge, nudge! Haha
That shouldn't be a problem... He took 90 days to make it before he needed bottles... in my house we would have 120+ bottles by then:)
Indeed
If you bare lucky, you will get 25 wine bottles filled from a 5 gallon carboy.
Perfect instructional video. With other video's I get the idea that I'm missing steps of the process. This is the first video I found that is atually clear for me what to do. Thank you!
I'm glad it was helpful. I worked in tech for years so the videos tend to be long and detail oriented.
Freezing your fruit makes it sweeter too! I freeze sour grapes all the time and it makes them a lot sweeter
Freezing the berries will allow more release of juice along with using petic enzymes.
It took mine 5 days after adding yeast for activity to begin. I was worried.
I followed this video. 😊
I am glad I found your channel. I am in Athens GA and a homebrewer and musician. Homebrewing for about 20 years. Thanks again.
Glad you like it. I'm a bit slow putting out videos, it seems there's always too much to do. I'm in far northeast Tennessee. Love the bands from Athens. I have another channel called Luffadotinfo about growing Loofah vines. It's lagging in subscribers so I'm trying to figure out how I want to merge it with this one. I need to make more beer.
@@beoracha no problem. I am too. Work gets in my way. I will be putting together a BlackBerry Wine Video soon.
It's 2023 and I'm just starting to learn about making homemade wine. Your video was so pleasant to watch and just lovely to watch your process.
Happy you liked it and thank you for the nice comment. Once you get the equipment, ingredients, and process it isn't difficult and usually turns out well. It is a fun blend of science and art. I enjoy it immensely.
@@beoracha Thank you. I'm just learning about the equipment and I want to try some pear. I've been told in the FB group I joined to get that pear chopped up and into the freezer. They are getting very ripe. I'm looking forward to it. I've learned canning, fermenting veggies and kraut, making vinegars and now I want to learn fruit wines.
Those are similar processes. Wine is more long-term. I started out making beer and still do. Pears don't have great shelf life. It sounds like you have a good plan. Freezing fruit can break it down and ferment better. You can make perry or add sugar for pear wine. The history of perry in England is fascinating. I have an apple wine making video that might be helpful. ruclips.net/video/BMzKSwwAPo0/видео.htmlsi=q8rGitJtstXPADvI@@goldiegirl6705
I've gotten into mead making. I used to make wines several years ago, but never very well. I will try again with this recipe (the lower alcohol version, as my wife is opposed to rocket fuel wines). Thanks for the video. Also, I appreciate how you take us through the entire process in one single video. It's a nice touch. Too often, on RUclips, creators are simply looking to make as many videos as they can out of a process. Your videos are complete and beneficial to those of us looking to learn. Thanks!
This batch was large. Lots of berries, alcohol and too much in the bucket. It stored well. I found a bottle of it recently. Blueberry mead is good too.
Starting my second batch today! Last years came out amazing! Can't wait to get started. I'll be making a cranberry wine alongside it this time and am going to do a cran-blueberry blend with a few bottles at the end of it. About 2/3 blueberry wine 1/3 cranberry.
Forgot something. Second time I purchased a $3.99 Cabernet Sauvignon I stopped and really thought about the taste, sugar, oak and acid content. I liked the acid level this time, so I put aside a little wine and used my acid testing kit so I could match the acid level to my own Cabernet Sauvignon wine kit I was getting ready to start.
Just pointing out that if you find a wine that you like, do a little testing and you too can come up with a wine you really like. Salute!
To add to above, for your information, the acid level was .60. I plan to finally bottle the wine that has been aging in the 5 gallon carboy (with other additions along the way) for over 1 year in about 2 days. Been tasting it as I aged it. Yum.
I don't recommend a gasket solid cover with a air lock during your primary fermentation. I recommend a cloth cover over the primary bucket. The reason is the yeast needs air to grow while in the primary fermentor.. After about 7 days, siphon the wine to a carboy, leaving most of the dead yeast cells behind. From thereon, keep as much air away from the wine. Top off your wine with spring water to about 1 inch from the top of the carboy outlet (this is important to always top up so not to oxidize your wine). Also suggest that you cover secondary fermentor to keep light from the wine (especially florescent lighting). I use a paper shopping bag with a "X" cut in the top to clear the air lock.
That should read: "Cut a ""X" n the 'Bottom of the bag"' to clear the air lock..
Thanks for your instruction. I'm making my first wine ever following your procedures. I used 15 lbs. freshly picked (mix of blueray, bluecrop and jersey) and 10 lbs of sugar. Starting gravity was 1.124. After 7 days (today) it's bubbling at a rate of about 1 per 1.5 seconds. It was a more aggressive ferment for a few days, as I needed a small blow-off to account for the froth, but has been nice and steady since. I push the bag down every other day and gently stir it -- it's a beautiful intense purple-blue color. I haven't taken another gravity reading, but taste it each time I open it, and it now is delicious. It's still sweet, but now tastes like wine rather than yeasty juice. Yours was a clear and helpful video. Thanks again.
That sounds like orderly progress. It is interesting how the taste changes. Those are 3 good varieties to grow. I started those 3 along with many others and they are the only 3 left alive. The berries I've been using for wine are from large old bushes of unknown variety. I'm happy the video helped.
I live in Oregon across from a large, organic u-pick farm. I just waited until they had the most different varieties ripe (probably 6-7 at that time) and did a taste test. I wanted varieties with a real good "blueberry flavor" but also at least one (I think it was the bluecrop) because the berries were fat, juicy and sweet.
That's extremely convenient. So far the blueray bush is producing the most but still getting established here in Tennessee. I just grow a few to eat, so far. The wine gets made because I know someone that knows someone with a plot of land that has 8 foot bushes. I am really glad too. Wonderful stuff.
Update, if you're interested: Primary fermentation has been going for about 10 days. OG was 1.124, now down to 1.055. It's fermenting at about a bubble per 6 seconds, which seems slow to me (as I'm a brewer first) considering how much sugar is still in solution. But I know you've stated elsewhere that blueberries can be a slow ferment. Color is spectacular: Vivid purplish blue - it's murky, but clearing. Smells like inexpensive, fruity table wine. Tastes like a slightly tart, blueberry wine cooler.
I'm hoping the primary fermentation will be done (like yours) at around the 3 week mark, then I'll rack to a glass carboy.
I *think* everything is on track... what do you think?
That sounds about right. It varies widely. Beer fermentation is much faster than wine and blueberries are slower than most wine. Keep stirring occasionally and it should keep stepping along. It may bubble for weeks. Blueberry wine does taste good by bottling time and very good after one year.
My best go to wine making video. Started my batch in Sept 2020 and going to bottle this weekend. Thanks you so much for sharing your knowledge. Gonna call it Backyard Blue. All my guinea friends are clammering for end results. None of us knew this was 6monthish process b4 product. Thanks again. V
I am glad it was helpful. The waiting is the hardest part. Just keep making it and time goes by. Sometimes I lose a bottle and find it years later. It's like finding treasure.
That was a informative article, here are a few more tips for how to make wine…
Use the right equipment. Things like plastic buckets and bins come in different grades of plastic. You must use the food-grade plastic products not the cheaper buckets you might use to clean the floor!
If plastic buckets and bins start getting scratched and grazed, replace them. The grazes will start harbouring microbes and eventually you’ll have a spoilt batch of wine.
If stirring the must (the initial mix of fruit and water etc.) in a bin, scald the spoon with boiling water first to quickly sterilise it.
Fill and top up airlocks with cooled, boiled water - not straight from the tap.
Avoid metal spoons and sieves with fermenting wine - i.e. after the yeast has been added. Sometimes they can taint the wine. Avoid wooden spoons, which are hard to sterilise - plastic is far better.
Reusing wine bottles is fine, ask friends to save them for you and check with local bars or restaurants who are often willing to give them to you. Wash out immediately as a clean bottle will be a lot easier to sterilise when you come to use them.
Rack your wine to clear it before bottling. That is, using a syphon tube, suck up the wine from one demijohn into another leaving the sediment (called lees) behind. The tubes with a base and valve are cheap enough and a make this easier. Allow the wine to settle for a week and repeat if necessary before bottling
Never judge your wine by the taste as you bottle it. Most often you will think it is a disaster. Some wines can take two years to mature. As a general rule, perhaps try a bottle after six months. If it tastes harsh, leave the rest for at least another six months.
Allow time. Time is the great wine maker and you should never be in a rush. We’ve made wine that was 9 months in the demijohn before bottling and drunk it three years later. The next year it was even better!
(Reference: Pavas Grape Plan website )
Easier way to sterilize equipment is to use a steril;iant.
I used your recipe as my first attempt at making wine and I am very happy wuth fhe results. Very good quality. Thanks Teach !
Glad you got good results. Blueberries make fine wine if you can get them to ferment properly. Definitely one of my favorites. Thanks for watching!
Have you ever experimented with Partridgeberries?
I am now a couple of years into the wine making hobby and I have to say after this time your recipe seems to the standard.
Excellent video! The instructions were at a pace that was so very easy to follow. I have about 5 quarts of blueberries in my freezer. I think I'll experiment with your recipe and see if I can really make a drinkable wine. Thank you for taking the time to do this tutorial.
One of the best videos I've seen making blueberry wine myself great job sir thank you very much can't wait to taste my wine hopeful December
Glad you liked it. Good luck with your wine.
Good job. You went from beginning to end. Most other videos stop halfway in and don't explain racking. Great job. Cant wait to start my Blackberry, grape, blueberry wine.
Thank you. I try to include the entire process. It makes for long videos so thanks for taking the time to watch.
Excellent video, your explanations are very clear.Thanks
Thank you for watching.
perfect video for making wine,let me tell you tons of thanks for sharing video,i shall try in near future.
Thanks man . after having bushes for 20 years im finally gonna make some
For anyone watching this. Don’t forget to adjust the alcohol content down after you top up a carboy and/or back sweeten a wine before bottling. You are diluting the wine and therefore lowering your alc content.
The maker of this video failed to make this adjustment. This wine is likely more like 13.5% alc and not 14 point something like he stated.
I'm going to try this recipe with blackberries because that's what I have a ton of.
Opportunistic winemaking, using what becomes available, got me started doing it. Good luck with your berries.
Goodness
Thank you for posting this video. It's very helpful because there's a lot information out there on the web and it's overwhelming to a beginner. This my first attempt at winemaking ever. I've been wanting to try making wine for years, and getting a large batch of fresh blueberries finally motivated me to try it. I'm very excited to get started. Thank you again!
Glad to be helpful. I started winemaking when I got access to a large amount of grapes. In-season fruit brings opportunities and motivation. Blueberry wine is a treat. Have fun and good luck!
I have been making wine for many years, but there was an article in eckraus.com in his blog "Called A little known way to sanitize your carboys" . This has been a game changer for me. You think you know most was to make wine, but I still hear/see new ways to do it. Basically it says after you are done fermenting in your bucket or carboy clean out the container and put 3 inches of water in it along with 1/2 tsp of citric acid and 1 tsp of potassium metabisulfite. Put a cover over each container and (I put a wine air lock without any water). When you are ready to use container, you just dump out the waster!
As this was my first time to ever do this I followed this exactly,the only thing that you didn’t mention was putting water in the air lock,lol.i figured it out the next day,it’s fermenting well as we speak,about a bubble every 3 seconds
That's a funny story. If that's the worst problem things will be great! When I do videos it's hard to decide how much to talk. There are a lot of small steps. Good luck.
larry stoneberger ,
Some folks use vodka in the airlock instead of water. I'm not sure of why they do that.
Winemaking is a fun hobby which lends itself well to experimenting. One thing that I will suggest is to keep a notebook and write down every single thing that you do for each batch. If a batch comes out especially good and you want to repeat it, you'll have it all written down. Everyone thinks that they will remember what they did. They don't . If you experiment or make a change. Write it down !
Just bottled my wine using your instructions, came out great.
Glad it turned out well and happy I could help. It's one of my favorite things to make.
Thanks for sharing your process, well explained.
Thank you for such a complete video. That was a lot of sugar front to back, but that's comparing it to the grape I usually make.
Berries don't have the sugar content of grapes so they need a big boost. Thanks for watching.
You explain everything very well for every step
Thank you! Glad it was informative.
Great video, thank you 🤗🙏
Thanks for watching
Home made wine is the BEST! I love it. I made 200 proof of blackberry wine 👀That was some AWESOME WINE 🤪 > i cut it, and cut it. still kicked ass! YUM 1 swallow would take your breath away, warm feeling going down, warm going up to your brain. THEN YOU WAS DRUNK Just 1 swallow That why i cut it! it was still awesome 👍👍 The sweet flavor, of concord grape. You would swear it was concord Grape. Nope Blackberry
Made a 1 gallon batch of this, following the recipe here exactly (in proportion to the smaller volume), and it turned out really well!
Ended up at 15% ABV, just as here. FYI I used 2/3 cup of sugar to back sweeten my 1 gallon of wine - I think this was a good amount. Gave a profile like a full bodied table wine with a bit of RS, but not a dessert wine. My wife loves the stuff (as do I).
Great recipe, seems to scale perfectly.
Happy you like it. It should scale to any size. I've made several batches with this recipe and treasured every one. My background is in beer and I don't like very dry or very sweet so I aim for balance. It's a bit more alcohol than some might like but it seems OK for me. Of course the great thing about winemaking is making it the way you like it. Thanks for the feedback.
Thank you so much for sharing! The blueberry season in BC is coming soon, can't wait to give it a try this year!!! Your video is amazing, million thanks to you!
I'm glad you liked it. It's a great way to preserve the fruit flavor of the season. Blueberries are awesome!
A compliment and a question.
We are following your recipe for the second time bc the first time we was an unqualified success. We served it "to the public" for the first time at Thanksgiving 2018 and everyone absolutely loved it. When we first offered it, everyone said "just a taste" and took a tentative courtesy sip bc their side of the family just made wine and it did not turn out well at all. To a person, they were all pleasantly surprised and immediately help out their glasses for more and we went through five bottles!
Now, the question. We started this new batch exactly as before but it is not bubbling yet after 5 days. The only difference is the temperature. The last batch was made in the summer when the the house temps were always in the middle / upper 70s. The yeast activated and the batch started bubbling in a day or two. This batch was started last Sunday 1/13/19. Our interior house temps in the winter are 68-70 in the day and 67 at night. We are now raising the room temps to a consistent 70-72 and wondered if the yeast will come to life once the container gets warm.
Thanks again for sharing a great recipe and video! We love it!
I would add more yeast if nothing after 5 days. Yeast do have optimal temperatures which you may have to search out for yours. Even the low 60s should yield some fermentation from wine yeast. It's possible the yeast got too hot at some point and deactivated. Stirring may get your yeast up and moving if they are too cold to come out and play. I would stir and add new yeast. Glad your other batch came out well. Blueberry wine is a treat.
@@beoracha Thank you for your reply. I found a small tear in the grommet in the lid which didn't let it build pressure hence no bubbles. We had already increased the ambient temp to about 72-73 and, with the repair to the grommet, I'm happy to say we have some bubbles and are looking forward to another enjoyable batch. Thanks again for your reply.
Good! I was concerned after that long without bubbles. Had a similar issue once with a leaky lid. @@gnhirt0712
@@beoracha We decided to be patient and everything worked out. Sealing the grommet and bringing the room temp to 73 made all the difference. It took about two days for the yeast to warm up and activate but activate it did! The peel and stick thermometer we put on the bucket says it's in the 72-75 range and it's bubbling merrily along. Do you stir every three or so days during the fermentation process to keep the berries and bag wet and rolled over or should we go longer between stirring?
Just kidding... great video I was taking notes. I have some good blueberry picking spots. Ive picked like 28 litres in a year. Alway thought about making wine. Just need to get the tools. I'll keep you posted.
Well I did it. I made blue berry wine. It was 14% alcohol volume. Very good after it aged after 6 months. I filtered the wine after I stop the yeast. Then added wild berry sweetener syrup. The bottled wine still looks very clean. Thanks for the tips.
Great video, much appreciated! I'll be using this video as a guide on a batch of my own blueberry wine soon!
made some this way last year miss bag and everyone likes it-more than i do. i needed more sugar
700th like! Thanks for the good tips and info.
Thank you, that's awesome!
I just found this channel. Thank you so much for this content
I too have made blueberry wine and strawberry wine using your recipes and tutorials and they both have turned out amazing. Just open the blueberry I bottled in Oct 2017 and it had such a deep blueberry flavor and was extremely smooth. Have you ever though or tried making a plum wine? I have a buddy that wants to try. Thanks keeping rocking out awesome wine and videos.
I'm happy things turned out well. Every batch of blueberry and strawberry I've made were different but all were good. Plum wines are nice from what I hear. Haven't tried any yet. In Japan they make a plum liqueur called umeshu.
awesome. i think the only thing different i would try, is to hold the bag down with a food grade stick or handle, wedged under the lid...
That's an interesting idea. I've used stainless steel hardware to hold down a bag of hops when dry hopping beer in a keg. Probably don't want to do that with wine, it would smash it down into the sediment. A hold down stick might work.
Use marbles or glass stones from a craft store in your bag.
Thank you very much.
Great video... nice trick with racking cane
Does he sound like Billy Bob Thornton or is it just me? 😅 I love your voice! ❤
Wow, thanks! My "broadcasting voice" 😄 is a blend of midwest and southern. Billy Bob is from Arkansas. I've lived in Louisiana and Tennessee so we may share some regional characteristics.
I use blue berry tea as a tannin
I learned something new.
I followed your Strawberry recipe to a T, twice. This time I have let it sit for almost 8 months, and I'm still afraid to taste it haha.
But we were just talking about starting a blueberry batch (obviously need to wait until fall again). So now we will have a recipe
+robert hoffman Glad you are preserving strawberries for the future. Hope they come out great. It's OK for the winemaker to test a few samples before their time. I like to ferment whatever fruit comes my way. Blueberry is really good, maybe my favorite fruit wine, but can give you a headache like a fine old red Cabernet if you drink too much. Well worth the risk. :)
+beoracha when you back sweetened, how much sugar did you use? and what did it take it to? ... on a scale from like.. a sweet dinner wine to a cab sav
+robert Hoffman For some reason the batch in this video finished sweeter than most at 1.006 and 2 cups of sugar made it what I would call on the sweet side of semi-sweet. One batch finished at .992 and was on the dry side of semi-sweet even with 5 cups added. It's best to start low and keep tasting and adding to get where you want it. It can take a long time and a lot of tasting.
I would like to see a video of you making banana wine.
You can make banana wine with white sugar or brown sugar changes the flavor completely. Maybe half white half brown. Tastes great half and half, maybe little more brown. banana wine is good, with brown sugar it taste like banana bread or close. I would really like you to try this.
Bananas are added in recipes to improve the character of fruit wines. Not sure I like bananas well enough but there's a few extra yeast packs here so who knows. Brown sugar sounds intriguing.
@@beoracha yes it does surprise me, hahaha
I am in day 5 of primary fermentation, this is my first time making wine the correct way. I've taken a few readings and samples and it's very light colored although I used 13 pounds of blueberries and 10 pounds of sugar. I don't know why it's so light colored but it does have a great taste so far.
It takes time for all the color to leave the skins. Keeping the skins pushed down in the liquid will help.
I had a couple questions, it's starting to taste great and darken a little. it's on day 8 of primary fermentation. Is it supposed to have kind of a "yeasty" smell to it in primary? And my hydrometer is reading 1.050 about is that normal? My recipe says it needs to be at 1.030...
Thanks for the original response!
Blueberry can be slow and take weeks to finish primary. If you started around 1.090 or so then 1.050 is not far off where it should be. The presence of yeasty aromas and a slight acidic bite to the flavor at this point would not be unusual. There's many strange aromas when fermenting fruit. Blueberry is fairly tame and may let the yeast aroma be more noticeable. That's unlike strawberry which makes an intense chemical solvent smell that covers everything else. It's weird smelling stuff.
Thanks for the nice video. I really love wine, especially when it is made at home in a natural and healthy way. My question: After the fermentation period is over Does wine contain toxic methanol, does fermentation produce methanol??
That's a complicated subject that I'm not qualified to answer...fermentation can produce small amounts of methanol, generally far below toxic levels. Problems occur when lots of woody materials are fermented and especially when distilled. Search and read more from experts if you have concerns.
Only suggestion to others would be to add sulfite and pectic enzyme. But don't add tannin, or yeast food until the next day before pitching yeast. Tannins can bind with sulfites.
That's why I stopped using a bag.. I just scoop out the heavy solids. And I don't use all the additives.. sometimes I'll use a nutrient. But rarely..
I always add one pound of sugar per pound of fruit price if you add in the natural sugar at your fruit already has at a very high alcohol content about 18% retention alcohol
Suggest you use a hydrometer to tell how much sugar to add to get to the alcohol level you want. I have some strawberry wine that has so much alcohol it burn going down.
Thing I've noticed about EC-1118 Is it takes off like wild fire my ferment was done in 2 weeks but was still producing Co2 it was explained to me that it is a a Champagne yeast so it will keep on making Co2 I let mine go for 3 weeks and still making Co2 not alot but still.
Yes it will go up to about 17% as long as it can find sugar. I use it for blueberries because they can be difficult to ferment completely.
For the record: if you do not add yeast nutrient and energizer the primary fermentation will be like 1 month. However my blackberry wine with no added nutrient or energizer only took 2 weeks. Blueberry wine absolutely needs the nutrient and energizer do not skip these! specifically for blueberry wine.
blueberries are the most reluctant fruit to ferment I've tried, usually have to stir them to keep them from stopping even with proper additives
I've been crazy. Mine been sitting at 1.006 for over week. If I'd just listened closer, I'd racked a week ago. My blueberries must've been sweeter *backyard berries) bc used 11 lbs sugar and looking at 16%. Its good though
That's a good number, some residual sweetness
I love the video Sir. Really appreciated your effort. A couple of questions: What size is your straining bag? And what if I don't use the sulfate? I love wine but, sulfate gives me migraine.
That may be an 18" x 32" bag. if you don't want sulfites then either use heat to sanitize, as in pouring very hot water over the fruit, or use a large amount of yeast to hopefully overpower any bacteria. You can make an active yeast starter by starting yeast in a small container to build up the numbers before pitching into the must.
It could be sulfites...but a lot of time that is not what gives people headaches in wine. But it could be for you I suppose.
I prefer using the natural yeast, no sulfites, and natural as possible. If you have good berries the white coating on the berries is the yeast. Just add a Box of raisins for the booster.
Thanks for a great video. Looking to mix Concord grapes and Blueberries in one 5 gallon batch. Have you tried this in the past ? any advice on things to look out for.
Not tried that. It might be good. Concords are acidic but ripe blueberries are likely less so it might make a good blend. I would taste to make sure the grape acids are not too much. Grapes will ferment faster than blueberries and the berries may ferment at a low level for a long time so make sure it is done before bottling. May need to adjust sugar and water to get the starting gravity you want. Shouldn't be too hard to do. I use an acid reducing yeast with Concords like 71B. Good luck.
I just started a 25 litre batch of this
I made the recipe I added 3 kg of depitted black cherries..turned out like port
I have seen on other books to shoot for about 10% alcohol for blueberry wine. This supposed to bring out more blueberry flavor.
This batch was on the high end. Lower alcohol levels let the fruit flavor be more prominent. 10% is pretty low, I don't know if that is high enough to preserve it well for long term storage.
Would it be possible, or even desirable, to replace part of the sugar with honey? And if so, what sort of ratio?
Would brown sugar do as well?
Yes you could use different sugars. Winemaking is sometimes dependent on what is available. There are differences. One pound of honey gives about 75% the start gravity of white or brown sugar which are both about the same. Blueberries and honey make an excellent mead.
Thank you for the quick reply! will likely experiment around. Also great video
This year we seem to have a bumper crop of blueberries. Do you have this recipe written down . I’m new to making wine and out of all the ones I’ve you tube this looks the simplest one to make .
I looked in my records and the recipe for this batch appears to be this:
about 15 pounds blueberries, 12 pounds of sugar for 14%+ alcohol, 2.5 tsp pectic enzyme powder, 1 TBS acid blend, 5 tsp yeast nutrient, 2.5 tsp yeast energizer, 1 tsp tannin, 5 crushed Campden tabs at start and 5 at bottling along with 2.5 tsp potassium sorbate and about 2 cups sugar for sweetening. I used ec-1118 yeast. This makes a robust dark blue wine. It can be made with fewer berries and less sugar. All the additives and strong yeast are used because blueberries can be slow and difficult to ferment completely. They also lack body and tartness. The wine is very good and ages well. It is a complicated recipe but worth it.
This looks amazing! Thank you for sharing such wonderfully informative videos.
May I ask how does one scale this recipe down to do a small one gallon batch?
+Vasara Muse It should scale OK...about 2.5 pounds blueberries. I think I used 3 pounds per gallon for this batch but that is really dark. Anywhere from 2 to 3 pounds of blueberries...2 to 2.5 pounds sugar(about 12% to 15% potential alcohol), half tsp pectic enzyme, half tsp acid blend, 1 tsp yeast nutrient, half teaspoon yeast energizer, 1 crushed campden tablet at the start and at bottling. Sweeten with a few tablespoons of sugar at a time until it's where you like it and add sorbate at what the sorbate package recommends, probably half tsp per gallon.
Thank you so much!
@@beoracha I have mentioned it before but a good recipe to follow is on eckraus.com. They have much information on wine making.
40:36 Is that cat in the background a piggy bank? I have one of those too haha. :P
It's only a ceramic cat. A bank would be a more useful cat.:)
I'm on my second year of making blueberry wine using this video as a guide. My wine is so much lighter in color than yours. The first year I kept the berries in the bag. This year I froze the berries and even pusled them in the blender and fermented without the bag hoping to get a darker color. It's very light again, like a rosé. Taste is good, I was just hoping for more color. ANy thoughts?
You get more color from darker riper fruit, longer contact time for the skins in the fermenter, stirring the fruit down often...if nothing else works use more berries. I too have noticed a difference in the color of commercial blueberry wines and meads. Mine are darker. It may have something to do with the berries as they came from big old bushes of an unknown variety.
I'm going to make
john vandiver how did it turn out?
BEORACHA] it started the third day and is doing fine now , been fermenting about a week. Bubbles are slowing down been stirring about every day. Hope it turns out.
Finally decided to use my frozen blueberries and start a batch, however I do have a question, in your description you have yeast energizer (which I have used) but in your video you also used yeast nutrient, basically I forgot to buy yeast nutrient since I went by your description and already started (I just added my yeast) will it be fine or will it take too long to ferment?
Thank u for this amazing video i would like to ask if i hop to get more dry wine what should i do
Use a highly attenuative champagne type yeast with a high alcohol tolerance and start with less sugar. It should finish very dry.
great video,easy to follow,,but think you failed to suggest what temperature for best fermentation and after racking temps,,ive read 32f-35f after racking.
I don't know why you would want to get that cold unless you are cold conditioning. I do that with Concord to get the acids to precipitate. It might make it clear faster but racking enough clears it. If your berries are sour it might be of benefit to get it that cold for a while. Not sure. Ferment at room temperature. Store at cool room or cellar temps after racking and bottling. Probably best chilled to serve.
There must be a way to install 4 or 5 plastic spikes, or posts to the underside of the fermenting cover to hold the bag lower in the solution, so as not to disturb the fermenting process?
I think it helps to stir the yeast up once in a while even if the fruit is held down. It might need done less often if it was held down. Interesting topic.
I've heard people using black tea for tannin. I thought that was interesting.
Only if you like a little taste of tea in your wine.
Thank you for this, we have a blueberry farm and needed to use a lot of berries up! This is my first time making wine, one question, I ended up coming home with yeast nutrient, but not the yeast energizer. Will I be alright with just the one? Thank you again for this excellent video, its fantastic.
Happy to help you find a use for all those wonderful berries. I am envious! The thing about blueberries is their reluctance to ferment well. The yeast don't have all the nutrition they need from the berries and that's why many recipes call for both ingredients. What I have seen with blueberries is that they start fermenting and then suddenly slow down or stop. The yeast energizer gives an extra kick to the yeast. It might not be an issue for you but if it slows down or stops check the gravity to see if it is still too high. If it is then give it a good stirring to get the yeast moving. You may have to do this several times. That may be enough to get it going. If not, do a lot of reading on the dreaded topic of stuck fermentation to see what else you can try. Most other fruits are not as hard to ferment. It's something about blueberries. Good luck and have fun.
Sir do you have a written recipe and will you share
Excellent video but amount of water is unclear. Please, how much water exactly to add? Also how hot was the sugar water when you added it? And what did you use to tie the nylon bag?
Add enough water to get a starting volume about 5.25 gallons. It may vary due to size and amount of berries. The sugar water used for fermentation should be allowed to cool to lukewarm or room temperature. It may be heated hot to dissolve sugar but allowed to cool before using. The same goes for sugar added at bottling. The bag is fairly long and the open end was tied into a knot.
@@beoracha Thanks so much!
Your video is excellent!! I'm making blueberry wine and it fermented in the primary for 15 days. The starting sg= 1.095 and the end was .990. I racked wine into carboy, but the airlock continues to slowly bubble. Did I mess up by putting in secondary too soon?
Once I had grape wine bubble for months after racking too soon. I don't think you'll have that problem with your blueberries. Blueberries ferment more slowly and erratically than some fruits but it probably needed to be racked after 15 days. If it does bubble for a long time it might need to be racked and stored an additional month before bottling. Glad the video was helpful. Thanks for watching.
Hi Again! We're in the second racking of our third 5 gal batch of blueberry wine according to your recipe (doesn't last At All now that Friends and Family have found out how good it is) and wondered if the recipe and process is the same for blackberries. We caught a half price pick your own sale at a local place, got carried away and now have 35 lbs of blackberries in our freezer.
You need to make wine or a lot of blackberry cobbler. Blackberrries should be similar. I'd use a less attenuative yeast that will leave it sweeter. It might be a good idea to search a few recipes. I use what fruit is readily available and haven't had the pleasure of fermenting blackberries yet. Have fun!
@@beoracha
Thank you for your reply. We'll let you know how it turns out.
@@nancyhirt3324 How did it turn out?
Great video, I used your recipe and currently making some blueberry wine. I started the wine 6 weeks ago today. I have racked it once and it has been working until a few days ago. The airlock will bubble about once every 5 minutes now. It is very dry and the specific gravity did change from 1.003 to 1.002 within the past 1 1/2 weeks. Would you allow the wine to continue working or should i rack it and add a campden tablet? Thanks for any info. I'm new to wine making and don't have much confidence. I know every batch is different but this batch worked steady for 4 weeks. the fifth week the airlock was bubbling every 1 minute. The wine was clear from the start and looks great now. Just seems like it worked for a very long time.
Blueberries can be slow and reluctant to ferment. It wouldn't hurt to rack and let sit for a while before bottling. It may need more time before the campden tablet and bottling. It can age in place. It may not get lower in gravity, the number may be good but it's hard to say if the berries have any more to give.
Can you stop the fermentation whenever you want to or do you have to wait the full time before drinking it?
Generally you want to age it for a while in the bottle. If you use a less attenuative yeast with a lower alcohol tolerance it will finish fermentation sooner and sweeter with no need to sweeten or add sorbates before bottling. You could stop fermentation early with a full starting dose of sulphites and sorbate if you wanted.
I'm at day 23 after adding yeast and still bubbling pretty good, I'd say about once every 10 seconds or so. Should I just let it keep going until it stops completely? I know you said in the video you wouldn't want it to be in primary fermentation all too long. For reference I used the 12lbs or sugar and 15lbs of blueberries. Thanks!
I've gone as long as 3 weeks without noticeable problems. I've heard different things as far as how long is too long for the fruit to hang around. It could be racked now if the bubble rate is low. It will just bubble in the carboy for a while. It may need to be racked an extra time.
Sounds good, I reckon I'll check the gravity and rack it tonight. Thanks again!
Sir, can you give me the ingredients for 1 gallon? We just need 1 gallon sir. And is it still the same procedure as the 15 gallon? We had a project on biology for making wine and our chosen fruit was blueberries. Thank you for making this wonderful video.
The proportions are the same. For one gallon, according to my records, about 3 pounds blueberries, half a teaspoon yeast nutrient, half teaspoon pectic enzyme, half teaspoon acid blend, half teaspoon yeast energizer, a quarter teaspoon tannin, 2.5 pounds sugar, enough water to make a gallon(about half a gallon), about one-fifth cup sugar to sweeten at bottling, 1 campden tab at start, 1 at bottling with half teaspoon potassium sorbate, or follow directions on sorbate package. The pectic enzyme, yeast nutrient, and energizer are optional but recommended. They help fermentation speed and quality.
@@beoracha Thanks sir!! Really appreciate it. Hope we can make it perfectly as you did.
Hi! Just one question. I'm new in wine making and notice that you add some sugar just before bottling, doesn't that make gas when you live it closed with some yeast? I made homebeer and that its the way I make CO2
Since I'm responding 9 mos after you post, I'm guessing you may have already found your answer. For the sake of any who may be wondering the same thing, this is my understanding...
He adds sulfite each time he racks and again when he bottles - sulfite kills the yeast. He also adds sorbate at bottling which inhibits yeast.
At bottling, he is adds to sugar to sweeten the wine (aka back-sweetening).
Without having added the sulfite and the sorbate prior to bottling, you are correct, any living yeast would continue to ferment the newly added sugars creating a sparkling wine, just like it carbonates your beer/ale in the bottle. Unfortunately, there is a good chance it would result in bottle bombs unless you use the proper bottle type (champagne). Not sure why/how wine is different than beer in that regard.
TheRetiredtrucker
I get migraines from aspartame in artificial sweeteners. I don't know about the potassium sorbate though.
I love this video. I made my blueberry wine for the first time today. I followed everything to the teee, EXCEPT I 1/2 to 3/4 gallon too much water so I’m sitting at 6 gallons. Should I remove and get it back down to 5 1/2 gallons or will that mess up all the other ingredients?
As long as you have a high enough starting gravity to get 12 percent alcohol, about 1.096, or higher and you have enough space in your containers it should be OK. You can add more sugar if needed.
norma Grizzard ,
Once you put something into the wine , you can't take it out.
Plus , you would be trying to remove wine. As it is no longer water. If you removed 3/4 gallon of wine you would change the ratios of all of the other ingredients to the wine. Personally I think a lower level of alcohol is okay. It depends. Are you after the taste or the kick only ?
Please Help!! Successful batch but, wine was clear with no sediment in last racking. I back sweetened and bottled with potassium sorbate and cambden tablets. After a few days in the bottle the wine appears to have floaties in it but when poured in a glass it is super clear with no floaties. Last bit out of the bottle is clear also. When poured bubbles accumulate on the top. Optical illusion? Not sure but weird. LOL. Wine is awesome though! It almost looks like berry skins floating but when poured there is no sign of anything in the glass or bottle when empty. Also I degassed the wine before bottling and there is still bubbles when poured in a glass. Any idea? Thanks,
I’m half way thru a bottle and the suspended floaters are still showing up but when poured in a mason jar it’s super clear. Suspended sulfites, I’m going with cheap Chinese wine bottles, cheers!!!
Blueberry wine starting gravity of 1.130 . 48hours slow movement in air lock can I open and add...
Blueberry wine starting gravity of 1.130 . 48hours slow movement in air lock can I open and add water to my must to lower gravity and repitch yeast very slow I am at 75 degrees and I've added a heating blanket to warm a little to get movement in air lock what should I do please help
Blueberries are not the easiest thing to ferment and that's why recipes often call for yeast nutrient and energizer type things to feed the yeast better. Adding more yeast would not hurt. Stir or shake daily to keep the yeast up and moving. It may be a long slow ferment. If you think the gravity is too high I suppose you could add some water if you have the capacity. I'd try to avoid doing that. You might dilute the flavor too. Good luck!
I need to know how to fix my blueberry wine. It was over fermented & I need to find out how to make the taste of the alcohol less in it.. PLEASE ANYONE HELP!!!!
When my wines come out too strong I sweeten them more. Sometimes you can add a can of frozen fruit juice concentrate and water to dilute. I'd rather just make it sweeter and sip it slowly.
@@beoracha, you better add sorbate in the wine or it may start refermenting again. If you donot you might have some exploding bottles.
I am actually now bottling what's left of it & it did turn out wonderful... But I'm using some of my other that came out like that, to turn to brandy!!
What is the bag that you used to put your fruit in the bucket?
Do you you distilled water or sanitizer like star san for your airlock?
hot tap water, sometimes water with sulphites in it
Where do you you buy your supplies? Bottles, yeast, enzymes, etc?
Followed recipe to a t, but still not seeing action in airlock. Should I be worried? Should I add more yeast? Only thing I can think of is maybe the water I mixed the yeast in was too warm?
Adding more yeast might be needed. It is easy to overheat rehydration water.
How much of a difference" is there between brewing blueberry wine and blackberry wine? More or less sugar/berries? Also, Do you use a particular type of sugar for certain types of wine? What I've read, said different types of sugar render different flavors of wine, i.e apple or pear wine made with brown sugar. Ever tried cantaloupe or honeydew wine? Awesome instructional video too! Definitely gonna to try wine making as the next hobby!
The recipe book I have says to use more berries for black berry wine
As far as berries, I've only made strawberry and blueberry. Otherwise peach, apple, grapes, mead. Often the same thing year after year. I use what the season provides and it keeps me busy enough.. I've had blackberry but not made any yet...
Great video! Thank you for posting - had a quick question. I noticed throughout the fermentation process you removed the cover periodically to stir and push the bag down. I assume that is OK as long as everything is clean? Coming from a brewing background, once I close the lid on the fermenter, it stays closed until it goes into the secondary for fear of oxygen and contamination effecting the beer. Just curious as I am new to wine making. Thank you again for sharing!
Just saw your reply to wrigzor - guess a few of us are concerned - lol
@@wayneha1 I was the same way at first. You can do things with wine that you wouldn't with beer.
beoracha - Thank you again, gonna give it a try this weekend!
Can you get a yeast infection if you drink your booze before it's done fermentation?
I followed your peach video and substituted plums.. Turned out amazing! Made a few more batches of random wines following the same method. Then... I got stupid confident and forgot to wait 24 hours to pitch the yeast letting the sulfites dissipate. My question is is this going to affect the wine in a bad way? Basically threw it all together and pitched yeast right away. It fermented fine but I noticed that the wine is not clearing very well. Basically just curious what happens when you pitch yeast without waiting that 24 hours in the beginning?
You must have strong yeast. Wine yeast have some tolerance to sulphites. The 24 hours is to let it fall to a level safe for the yeast. If it fermented OK then the yeast worked. It might have been slower than normal. I had a piece of Campden tablet stuck in honey at the bottom of a batch of mead once and had to repitch yeast to get it going. Took me a few days to figure out what the problem was. As far as clearing some fruits take longer than others. I rack peach wine many times more than others. Fruits vary. Give it time and maybe more racking. Some folks use finings like bentonite to help clear wine. I prefer to just let time take care of it.
beoracha, I racked the blueberry wine for secondary fermentation. I have a few questions, I forgot to degas the wine, is this okay? I have an alcohol content of 15.996% and I tasted a sample, it tastes a tad sweet, not overly sweet, but I wouldn't want this any sweeter, will this change during the secondary fermentation? I know I need to wait till October 24th and rack a second time, then wait 2 months prior to bottling. Will these rackings and time in carboy change the taste or sweetness? Thank you for all your help.
I almost never degas wines. The time they spend sitting in carboys pretty much takes care of any excess co2. The fact you have residual sweetness means you won't have to sweeten before bottling. Over time it will likely get a tiny bit dryer. How much is hard to say. Sweetness will help soften the alcohol edge. That's pretty strong stuff and will age well. The flavor will get better with time as it ages. Early in the process the individual ingredients can be tasted then at some point it all blends together.
I've noticed that people who use Camden in their wine tend to use too much! I feel that it tends to give a strong astringent taste to the wine! It ends to give my system severe heartburn! So any wines that are made with the Camden I find I can't drink!i make it with just the natural flavor of the fruits I use and have had a lot of success with what I've made!!