Trouble-Shooting

I cracked open a bottle of Cranberry wine this weekend. I bottled it last spring. I liked it - I really did. I chilled it well. It tasted slightly sweet, and slightly cranberry....but only slightly winey. It was watery. I suspect it needed more fermentation, or maybe more sugar to ferment. I'm not sure yet. I'll have to do some research. Anyways, I'm only a tiny bit disappointed, because I honestly do like it. I could sip on it all night and not get sleepy:)

Also this weekend, I moved the blackberry must into it's secondary. It overflowed the airlock. This has not yet happened to me. It was so active it just shot over the top. I emptied the airlock, cleaned it up and stuck it back on. It seems to have calmed down. The brew is bubbling nicely.

~Salut, Linny

Black to Basicberries

Ok, so here's the thing with dandelions - they all get mowed over. With my last blog I had visions of Dandylion Wine fermenting in a jug. It wasn't to be. When I went to collect the dandelions they were gone....all gone. Everyone just mows them up. I kept my eyes on all the fields and just never found anymore. Maybe next year.But, here's the thing. This summer produced a bumper crop of blackberries. The blueberries were plentiful too. The hubby and I picked 2 to 3 quarts just from the 4 wild blueberry bushes along our road. The family won't let me have them to make wine though.

Blackberries I pick on my lunch hour at work. The state arboretum is right across the street. I've gotten permission to pick berries, chokecherries and gather fallen apples.

Without further ado - Blackberry Wine.

I started with various recipes I found on the internet. I make good use of this handy-dandy 1 gallon fruit wine chart from brew supplies that is pretty awesome.

My Must Recipe:

3 to 4 lbs blackberries

2 lbs sugar

I campden table

Pectin Enzyme

Yeast nutrient

9 cups water

As always I start by boiling all my stuff I'll be using. I crushed up my Campden tablet.

Add everything to the berries. (I use bottled water. We have good clean well-water, but it's heavy in iron).

Next I moosh it all up with my hands. This was pretty fun. I thought about taking my shoes of and dancing through the berries Lucille Ball style, but my bowl was too small.

Cover with a cloth and that's it.

The must is now doing it's flavor releasing thing. I'll stir it once or twice a day. In 4 or 5 days it'll be ready for stage 2. It will get strained into it's jug, yeast added and hopefully go nuts.

Stay tuned.....

Salut, Linny