Tips on Making Blackberry Wine
This tells you how to make blackberry wine.
Image via Wikipedia
Image via Wikipedia
When the author was growing up we had a large patch of cultivated blackberries. The difference between wild blackberries and the cultivated kind is they are larger. They also have bigger, better and have longer thorns along with more of them. It was up to me to pick the blackberries. If you think you have a cross to bear, you should trying to pick cultivated blackberries. Probably the best thing to wear on this job is a full suit of armor. Regardless somebody had to pick the blackberries. I got volunteered!
There are several different things you can do with blackberries once they have been picked. You can make jellies, jams, canned blackberries, blackberry juice or wine. The last picking during blackberry season got made into wine. We used to make five gallons of this stuff a year, and even though I had been thorned so many times during the season I will admit the wine was worth all the prickles.
It takes five pounds of blackberries to make a gallon of blackberry wine, and as usual it also took a trip to the local hardware store to buy a five gallon wine keg. A wine keg differs from a whiskey keg by having its inside coated with wax rather then being charred.
The recipe for making five gallons of blackberry wine.
25 pounds of fresh blackberries
12.5 pounds of granulated sugar
2 teaspoons of pectic enzyme
17.5 quarts of water
1 package of red wine yeast
1 package of yeast nutrient
The pectic enzyme, red wine yeast and yeast nutrient can be bought at a wine makers supply store.
You have to wash the berries in a colander. After washing you can crush the berries in a large bowl. With a large quantity of berries like we have here you can crush the berries in smaller batches. After they are crushed transfer then to your primary fermentation. Food grade plastic pails are fine as long as they are clean and sterile.
Bring the 17.5 quarts of water to a boil and pour it over the crushed blackberries. Then allow it to steep for 48 hours. Strain the crushed berries through a nylon sieve directly onto the sugar. The mixture of blackberry juice and sugar should be thoroughly stirred to dissolve the sugar. After the sugar is dissolved add the ectic enzyme. Then set it aside for another 24 hours. After setting for 24 hours add the yeast and nutrient. Cover the container well and set aside for 5 to 6 days. It is important that you stir it once a day.
At the end of this period place it into the keg and fit the keg with an airlock that is also bought at a wine makers supply store. You should leave a space at the top of the keg. If there is any wine leftover you can put it in an empty wine bottle also fitted with an airlock. A #2 bung will fit most wine bottles. Top off the keg when all danger of foaming is past from the bottle of wine that is excess. Place in a cool dark place with a temperature between 60 and 65 degrees for three months. Rack the wine, and allow it another two months to finish. Rack the wine again then place it into dark wine bottles of dark glass. Allow another six months to age and 1 year to mature. Then it is ready to drink.
