Must see "how to" brew Blackberry wine, pulp fermentation

"How to" make Blackberry wine. A fermentation on the pulp.

Easy step by step instructional video on the processes for the first week or so (up to but not including transferring the brew to demi-johns)

This is an ideal wine for the novice, you can get the main ingredient free from foraging. It's a great way to pass a couple of hours in the autumn/fall. You'll probably meet others foraging too, for making pies or jam most likely. Some pulp fermentations require the use of muslin or nylon bags, some need lots of careful processing of ingredients, this one doesn't require either.

You can make this wine from frozen berries, infact freezing and thawing makes mashing berries easier, therefore better juice extraction. So you can pick berries in batches and freeze them until you're ready to brew and have enough.

The finished wine is a big big rosé, or an easy drinking red. It'll be good to drink from about 6 months after you start it. If you want something that's good to drink in 6-8 weeks then check out my other vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2cUmQ1gMFQ

and I have a blog, nothing but home-brewed wine talk and piccies
http://homebrewedwines.blogspot.com/

Don't worry if you can't find GV1 yeast. There's loads of good alternatives. Look out for brands like Ritchies, Gervin, Lalvin, Vintner's Harvest. Read the notes on the sachets and you won't go far wrong. Pick something that suits your wine (red/white etc) and you conditions (especially temperature). You'll still have heaps of options. Do steer clear of general purpose high alcohol tolerance yeasts if you want better quality.

Very many thanks to "The Lucky Wonders" for permission to use their music
find out more here
http://www.myspace.com/theluckywonders
and here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=278BZzByDoA
and also here
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Lucky-Wonders/107340469297046

Video was recorded on a CCCD Panasonic PV-GS65 digital camcorder.
Editing done with imovie HD version 6.0.3

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• how to
• homebrew
• home brew
• quality blackberry wine
• fruit wine
• pulp fermentation
• quick
• easy
• cheap
• instructional video
• tasty
• fun

[RuinsOfConscience]

How much water did you use in the recipe? I am calculating roughly 6.5 litres of water after using conversion from a 4 pound, 7 pint recipe.

[critterwines]

@RuinsOfConscience

hi and thanks for your question. This batch makes 2 gallons of wine and as you can see from early on in the video the mashed up berries barely cover the bottom of the fermenting bin. I make sure that the total volume of must (everything added together to get your brew started) is somewhat over 2 gallons. Say 2.5 gallons. This is because you'll lose some of that volume when you remove the pulp. Hope this helps. Thanks again.

[leftwingnazi]

It seems like old school European recipes would have included honey rather than sugar for making their wines since sugar was not around in europe over 500 years ago. have you tried using honey? does it suck?

[critterwines]

@leftwingnazi

hi, nice comment. What you're describing is blackberry mead. I've never tried making any meads. On my budget i just can't afford honey as the sugar source. From the little i know of mead making aging is lengthy. However it is worth the extra wait, mead is delicious. With blackberries the strong flavour of the berry would probably overpower the honey. But if full-on tradition or natural is important for you then go for it, be patient, reap great rewards.

[critterwines]

@alexfnoble

sounds like you're well on the way to sorting this. homebrew is easy tho to the novice there is always room for plenty of doubt about something being wrong. I think you've found the happy middle ground. Post a comment on my blog, they all go through moderation before getting published. i won't publish yours so you can post your email address there. i'll write back to you with mine. glad you asked, i was going to suggest it. looking forward to hearing from you.



[alexfnoble]

is there another way i can contact you, i tried to find something on your site, like an email address but couldn't

thanks again

alex

[alexfnoble]

now have it in the only really warm place in my house. and thats a small cupboard where all my electronics are... id bet its around 22 to 24 in there. i cant leave it in there too long for humidity. even tho i do have a lid on.. but the seal is not airtight.... now i just wanna see if it takes or not. if it does im going to have to come up with a way of heating it

sorry my posts are back to front i cant write more than a few hundred letters in these boxes so had to keep posting..

[alexfnoble]

its 10 °C outside and im in an old granite building. my kitchen floor is like an ice box and it was sitting on that. i doubt the temperature was much above 10 c . it might have reached as high as 18 in the room with my heating on for a few hours each day but i doubt the must changed by more than 1 or 2 c , even then only for a few hours.

[alexfnoble]

@critterwines it smelled fine. so took your advice and gave it a good stir. yes the yeast is fine just bought it.. and also when i put in a starter i can tell its working. gets frothy and hear it bubble. i mixed a starter mixed up at 4, ive had it in a warm place since then and gave it a good stir a few times. was bubbling away and smelling like cider. so ive just added that.. the yeast had written on it 21 c to 24 c im thinking, and hoping this is the cause.

[critterwines]

@alexfnoble

ok, looks like that yeast isn't going to start. The campden should have kept your must in good condition, the smell should inform you that it's ok. Give your must a really good sloshy stir to get air into it (i use a whisk for this). Then add your yeast (did you check the "Best Before" date?). Your gravity is a little high at 1090 but shouldn't be a problem. Perhaps try a different yeast if you have one handy.