Blueberry & Cranberry Quickie Recipe

Wow, the year is rattling by and my total volume of wine brewed looks unlikely to reach 50 gallons. I'm off to Oz for 3 months, first time on a plane in - I think - 8 years! So unless someone in Oz wants me to drop by and brew with them, or get them started on homebrewing, then I'll be unlikely to reach that target.

With that in mind I decided to get busy and squeeze a quickie wine in before heading off. It's a repeat of one I've brewed before, indeed one I already brewed this year. But it's delicious, can't have too much of it really, and it'll be perfect for when we get back, 5 gallons of it.

Recipe for 5 Gallons

5 Litres Red Grape Juice (Vitafit)
3 Litres Cranberry Juice (Sun Grown)
2 Litres Blueberry Juice (Supermarket own brand)
3.4 Kg Sugar
3 Teaspoons Citric Acid
2 Teaspoons Tartaric Acid
4 Teaspoons Pectolase
Yeast Nutrient (Tronozymol)
Yeast Gervin Number 5 (GV5 1 year beyond BBE date!)

Original Gravity (O.G.) = 1078

Gratuitous piccy of the main ingredients

Method

Dead easy one, it's like any quickie wine.

Dissolve the sugar in about 1.5 - 2 gallons of boiled water (or very hot anyway).

Tip it into your fermenting bin, add fruit juices, water to 5 gallons, acids, enzyme, nutrient. Check the temperature, if it's around room temp or a little higher then it'll be fine, any hotter and leave it to cool down (covered). Stir very sloshily to get lots of air dissolved (I use an egg whisk for anything up to 5 minutes, but a minute also seems to work fine). Then chuck your yeast in.

Now cover it. Next day it should be on the go. Then each day, for the next few days, stir it sloshily for a minute or so, then recover. After a few days to a week transfer it to secondary fermentation, this means under an airlock. No need to be particularly careful about the sediment. 

After a few more days, possible another week, it'll probably have finished fermenting. You'll get the same reading on your hydrometer for a few consecutive days when it's finished. At this point rack it to demi-johns, being careful to leave the sediment behind. Don't worry if a bit get's carried over tho.

Now you stick the airlock on and leave it be. It'll almost certainly clear unaided, and be ready to drink 6-8 weeks from when you started it. It'll improve a little for the next couple of months, and that'll be it then. Not worth laying down cos it wont improve anymore. This is a table wine, the likes of which you'd pay a few £'s for in the supermarket. So it's quality is quite something when you consider it takes weeks to make and costs you about 30p/bottle.

Discussion

Silverspoon sugar (for you guys in the UK) is made with sugar beet. If you care about food-miles then this is a cracking choice. If you buy cane sugar, but not fair trade, and have a troubled conscience then buy this instead. (If you buy fair trade then big thumbs up to you). Some say that beet sugar tastes different and not as good, well for us mere mortals it all tastes like what it is, refined sugar, the same stuff. The only people who drink wine but don't like mine are those who are too poncey to even try it, or too proud to admit it. 

Things to watch out for when you buy tetra pack juice for making wine.

Always avoid juices with E223 (sodium metabisulphite) and/or E202 (Potassium Sorbate). They'll interfere with your yeast and your brew may not even get started. E202 stops yeasts from multiplying (budding), and E223 stuns yeasts.

Try to get pure juice, from concentrate is fine. But anything else added could take you on a mystery journey that I don't make. Things like vitamin C (ascorbic acid), lemon juice (citric acid) etc will probably be fine but artificial sweeteners, preservatives, flavourings, colours etc. I dunno what they'll do to your wine. I've never tried them. You don't need to anyway, the juices I use are not special, not hard to find, not expensive either.

This is a great wine type, the quickie. Do experiment with it, but leave some things the same.

• Always use 1 litre of grape juice per gallon of wine. (Red or white/green is fine).
• Always use 1 litre of any other juice (or combo) per gallon of wine.
• Always keep your Original gravity less than 1080. 1070 isn't even too low.

You'll probably still need 1 teaspoon of acid per gallon wine. Take your pick, or mix them up.

You'll probably want to use nutrient cos yeast needs nutrients just like we do, and these brews are usually nutrient poor because the high water:juice ratio.

You'll get better results if you use a specialist yeast, any homebrew shop has a selection. If you don't know what you're doing then ask for advice, or ask to read the labels. They'll give a clue (e.g. for red/white wines, sparkling wine, acid reducing - great if you use apple juice - , preferred temperature range of the yeast etc). You'll be able to work it out. Pick what suits you, find out what temperature your brewing room is at. Choose a yeast that suits the temperature, it makes a BIG difference. Hotter is not better. 

• Many folk instantly think of grape/pineapple for a combo. Go for it! I wasn't much impressed but that's just my taste. A friend made some and loved it, more than any other.
• Grape/Apple works well for a crisp clean white wine.
• Grape/Pomegranate is delicious

Once you started doing these wines you'll probably be hooked on them. They are cheap and easy and really very drinkable indeed. Which means you get to stock up and the other wines you make, on the pulp etc, get the time they need to condition. i.e. you're not tempted into drinking them too young. You'll soon find yourself experimenting ... hmm I wonder what happens if I use this as the base for elderflower wine? I did, and that's the only elderflower wine I make these days. Mind you I make about 10 gallons a year.

'Nuff of my ramblings, happy brewing.

P.S. If you live in Oz and want to link up, especially if you want to learn how to brew wine (or improve), then get in touch, leave a comment. I'll be Perth general area from mid december til february. November flying through Sydney, Bowral and a place whose name I cannot remember that is not a million miles from Byron Bay. If you live near a good surf beach, and have a spare bed for me and my better half, then I reckon we're close to making a perfect swap!

Hey, it's strange times we're living in so I'm sending out dreamy requests to see what happens.  ;-)