We had our best ever blackberry haul in 2016 and September is the time to start making wine. Forty-two pounds of blackberries were dosed with K-meta thawed in two buckets.
Twenty-four hours later the berries were gently crushed and combined. SG was 1.042, and with 1.77kg sugar brought up to 1.085. pH 2.98 adjusted with 2.5t calcium carbonate to 3.28. Added 3t of pectic, 3g of Opti-Red, and we let the temp come up.
The next day we pitched a starter of 71B, and it took about 24 hours to form a nice cap. Fermaid K was step fed and after 6 days we were near 0 Brix and we pressed the must.
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| Yes, I filled the airlocks |
We got about 2.5 gallons of free run and almost 4 gallons after pressing, about 11# per gallon. The pH is 3.03, probably from the additional acid released by the blackberries. I was aiming for a little higher than that, but hey, that's blackberry. Backsweetening will hopefully balance that out. We'll try to keep this wine protected from the light to preserve its color, but last year I had to blend a little elderberry to make this wine look good.
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