Freezer Full

Blueberries and Blackberries have come and gone.  We're at 45# of blueberries and 90# blackberries. Elderberries are still coming in, and we are at ~35# and counting. I can harvest from the yard, and I don't have to run out to my secret spot. Just as well, someone else discovered it this year and we would have been competing for the berries.

We've run out of room in the freezer. With this amount of elderberries, I'm looking for a way to make elderberry rosé without doing the first run so that I can get more of the rosé per pound of elderberries. I don't have the magic formula yet.

The surprise of the day was Barlett pears. I found these on the ground today and we have another 4-6 still on the tree. This is the first year we've had any pears, and I'm going to have to do some pruning of this tree to keep them within reach.

If I count this as a berry, I'm back to quad-berry estate wine

The persimmon wine has cleared quickly and easily.  I racked it today, we have about 2 and 1/3 gallons. There is hope for this wine.

Making Room in the Freezer

The freezer is filling up. I estimate we've got 40# of blueberries, 76# of blackberries, and the elderberries are just starting to ripen up. Presently we're still bagging 1.5-2# per day from the backyard.

Part of this mornings blackberry haul

So to make room in the freezer I had to remove some leftover persimmons. I have never made a drinkable persimmon wine. But having had some luck with bananas in second run wines, and not having tried bananas in persimmon wine, I decided to give it a try. This will be a 2 gal batch.

10# persimmons
24oz white grape concentrate
All of the leftover frozen overripe bananas I can dig out of the freezer (only four)
Sugar: ~4#, aim for OG 1.085
GoFerm
Fermaid K
Tannin: 1/2t
Pectic enzyme: 8t divided
50/50 mix of citric and tartaric acid to pH of 3.5 preferment
1/2 cup oak chips 
3 gal water
Optiwhite
Bentonite on day 3

The fruit is thawed, hit with Kmeta, bagged, and then heavily dosed with pectic overnite. Using K1-V1116. Smells like bananas. Stay tuned.

I'm calling this caramel colored.