Fruit Wine Blends

Let's face it - you can ferment just about fruit that you can pick out of the garden.  My favourite starting material (I am a chemistry after all) is Himalayan blackberry (Rubus armeniacus). The fruit is large and juicy, and if you don't mind getting scratched to hell, one can pick 10 lbs in about 90 minutes.

I generally pick/freeze at least 100 lbs every summer and put them in the freezer - along with the other fruits from my garden and our neighbours. Once fall comes, it is time for making wine!! The advantage of freezing the blackberries is that they break apart into mush upon thawing, making it easier for the fermentation.

Here's a rough schedule of a batch of blackberry wine I made in August 2012.

18 lb of frozen berries plus 1/2 tsp metabisulfite allowed to thaw in the primary fermentation container (which was first washed with Javex solution and well rinsed). This was on Aug 17th.

The next day, 2 Tsp yeast nutrient, 1 Tsp pectic enzyme, 1/2 tsp grape tannin and 2 Tsp acid blend was sprinkled on top of the fruit. A total of 15 lb of sugar was added, followed by sufficient warm water (~18 L - with stirring) to bring to total volume up to ~ the 5 gallon mark (the fruit will be floating at this point).

This gave me a SG reading (hydrometer) of ~1.090.

One package of wine yeast is then sprinkled on top of the pulp and allowed to sit (with a cover on) overnight. Depending upon the room temperature, the top of the fruit will be bubbling/frothing the next day and I then stir the yeast into the solution, and stir up the pulp twice a day after that.

I racked the juice off the pulp (on Aug 22nd) into the secondary fermentation container and added a bit of water to bring the volume close to the top of the container (watch out for frothing over the first couple of days) and put on an air lock (containing a bit of metabisulfite solution). The rate of bubbling gradually slows as the amount of residual sugar in solution decreases.

I racked the wine into another secondary fermentation container (containing a bit of bentonite and some gelatine) on Sept 18th and replaced the air lock.

On Oct 12th I racked the wine a final time and then bottled it

The final result was 29 bottles of a dry, full-bodied wine.

I have also included a picture of some of the various fruit wines I currently have aging. 

Feel free to experiment on your own …. have fun and happy sipping.