Recipe; Blackberry Wine 2011

So yesterday I started the first of this year's blackberry wines. Hopefully there will still be a heap of berries around in 3 weeks so I can make some more. I'd been hogging half of our tiny wee freezer for long enough .. with blackberries alone, so it felt right to get on with it. And we're going to need the freezer space soon because we're starting our hols with a little bit of camping (a festival). This is something we do in a semi self-catering style, taking some frozen home cooked curries packed into a wool-lined cardboard box with a heap of ice/cool packs. Anyway, enough of the small talk ... you want to know about the wine.

Recipe/Ingredients 2 Gallons

• 3.5 Kg Blackberries
• 500g Elderberries
• 2 Kg Sugar
• 1 Teaspoons Citric Acid
• 1.25 Teaspoons Tartaric Acid
• 2 Teaspoons Pectolase
• 1 Teaspoon Nutrient (Brupak, Nutrivin)
• 2 Campden Tablets
• Sauternes Yeast

OG 1080

Method:

I used frozen berries because I was picking them a little at a time until I had enough to get 2+ gallons on the go. So the brew started 2 nights ago really when i got the berries out of the freezer. Next day I mashed them to a pulp with a potato masher, put them in my fermenting bin, added the pectolase and crushed Campden tablets, stirred to mix and then covered tightly. Next day I added all the other ingredients except the yeast, and used a egg whisk to get plenty of air into the mix. The yeast needs dissolved to multiply into a viable colony. Then the yeast was added.

Stir daily for a few days, or use an egg whisk, to keep dissolving air into the mix. After a few days (in this case 3, see discussion below) transfer to secondary fermentation - under airlock - after removing the pulp. Simply pouring through a sieve should do this, passing it through a colander first may speed up the process. When it stops fermenting do the usual routine. Rack, degas, stabilise and leave alone to clear. It'll probably clear all on its own pretty quickly, but if not winter will do it if you place it somewhere cool. In the unlikely event that it doesn't clear add finings. I use two part finings, chitin/chitosan based mostly. When its clear rack off the sediment and bottle when you're ready to drink it. If you need to rack again (more sediment drops) then add another crushed Campden tablet.

Discussion

This is a similar wine to last years brews either this or this. However there are differences:

• The weight of fruit/gallon is up on last year. No reason except I had a bit more fruit and figured that I would probably only be adding a little body. 
• It's about 15% Elderberries, just 'cos I had them, and again it'll add a bit of body. Hopefully it won't result in a wine that takes an age to ... erm .... age! This is something to be mindful of if using Elderberries.

Using frozen berries will do your wine no harm at all, some say it'll make your wine better. Reason being that the freezing breaks up the fruit and so releases more juice. This is also good news for your arms cos you don't need to do as much mashing! Oh and don't put it through a juicer if you want to follow my recipe. That'll mash up the seeds too, and the skins, and your wine will be more astringent due to more tannin from the skins. The pulverised seeds won't do it any favours tho and may give you some unwanted bitterness. I'll never use a juicer if I can't remove the pips or seeds from the fruit first. Anyway, make sure that you wash your berries before freezing, and pack them well so that they are sealed from the freezer atmosphere. Never know what may taint the berries' flavour. Let them defrost before mashing simply cos it's way easier that way! But also because the pectic enzyme doesn't work in the cold. Room temperature is fine tho.

I'm using Sauternes yeast because ever since first trying it I've been delighted with it. It's robust and trust worthy, is a quick starter, and this wine won't get the usual length of time for the primary fermentation on the pulp. In this case it'll only be 3 days as we go away around then, and it needs to be put under airlock before I go. This means it won't have as much stirring either. So I want to pick a yeast that I'm confident with, something that will simply get on with the job. And it won't do any harm that Sauternes also drops a small compact sediment, 'cos it may be sitting on the lees a while before the first racking.

Happy brewing ... and a big thanks to all of you who watch my How to make Blackberry wine vid. I'm getting an average of over 40 views a day now. So it won't be long before 4000 views is reached.