I have been picking about 20 lbs of blueberries a couple times a week-- selling most to friends and neighbors at wholesale prices-- But I have been thinking about making a blueberry wine-- has anybody made or tasted a blueberry wine? Do they make a good wine and does anyone have a good recipie if they do?

They're to die for!

What do you want, sweet or dry?

basic recipe

to make 5 gallons dry blueberry wine

20 lbs blueberry
10 lbs white sugar
15 tsp yeast nutrient (blueberries have low nutrients for yeast)
10 tsp acid blend
10 pcs KmbS campden tablet (if you are a fan of sulfited wines)
4 tsp pectic enzyme
3 tsp grape tannins
1 packet Lalvin 71B (very good at extracting blueberry flavor)
enough water to make initially 5 1/2 gallons total.

You have to run the blueberry through a crusher or blender, ferment with pulp and all.

another variation:
What I love best is to use 15 lbs blueberry, I would freeze them first and wait until the cabernet grapes are ready to harvest. I would then use 15 lbs frozen blueberries and 10 lbs cab s and adding the sugar is now done with hydrometer to have a reading of 1.095, then I call this wine Blue Cab.


For sweet version of wine, use total of 14 lbs equivalent sugar. Split into 8 lb for primary, then 6 lbs for secondary.

Joe
Can you make wine from any fruit? I know of wines made from grapes, muscadines and even watermelon, but what about a fig? Does the fruit need a certain sugar content or is there some part of the raw flavor of the fruit that after fermenting translate into a better product?
Karl

Well, almost any fruit. The wine from figs, I haven't done that yet as I don't have time to pick up figs. The fig that I have is not that sweet, and it has absolutely no acid. So it could be one rancid wine if ever. But it could work if I can taste other types of figs and are able to find the taste that might translate well. But for now, perhaps adding acid blend would have to be about 3 times than what usually is used.

Thanks Joe-- I will assemble the necessary ingredients and let you know how it turns out.

Karl, one of the guys where I used to work made a fig wine--the one he made was sweet, but it would have made a good dessert wine. From what I know about making wines, you can make wine from just about any fruit, but grapes are the only fruit that does not require the addition of sugar to support the fermentation. Like Joe said about the blueberries not having sufficient nutrients for the yeast, some fruit may need other ingredients like additional acid or pectinase to help make a good wine.

Ok, I got it. It’s to do with acidity like berries being the favorite wine making ingredient

For sure we can make good wine out of figs, but sometimes the acid that I add may alter what the taste and aroma of figs should be. In other words, although acid will enhance proper fermentation, but the wine produced will not accurately represent the almost acidless figs. Most acids go well with berry type wines because acid enhances their flavor. For the acidless fruits, sometimes I am caught with this dilemma of to add or not to add acids. But wine from figs can be done for sure port style or sherry type just like what I do with bananas and other fruits that have low acids or are associated with low acids.

I just ordered all the ingredients (except the blueberries) and I will start the wine as soon as I get the supplies.

Joe, how do you separate the wine from the berries after the ferment is over? How long do you age the wine before drinking it?

Skeet,

you can buy the nylon paint strainer from Home Depot. It fits the 5 gallon bucket perfectly, very durable too, and you can wash and reuse that paint strainer several times.

I would strain it after 6 days of fermentation in the primary and then I would press the strainer to extract more juices too, that is okay with blueberries (but don't do the pressing to peaches and other more pulpy stuff). You would be surprised how little is left of the original blueberries.

Transfer to the secondary fermenter (5-gl carboy) after straining, allow some 6" clearance from the top, then seal with air bubbler. I also have an extra glass gallon jug to store the excess (remember we did not fill the carboy to the brim because of overflow control) for filling up during the later racking.

If you go for sweet wine, it would be drinkable after 6 months. With dry wine, you would wait longer for best results, like 9 months to a year.

Thanks Joe, -- So you do the primary fermenting in an open bucket? Reminds me of how I used to do beer-- I used a diaper pail that I lined with a couple layers of plastic bags--clean-up was easy--just throw away the bag.

I have an old 5 gallon glass carboy that I used to use for wine. I have an airlock for it as well. Does temperature of the ferment matter? The inside of my house is fairly warm-- around 82 in the middle of the day--mid 70s at night. I would have to freeze the berries and wait til fall for cooler temps.

Yes, I use the 6 gallon fermentation bucket for primary step. I stir it twice a day vigorously on the primary, that is why it should be a bucket. Although 82 deg F is on the high side, it is still possible to ferment it if you use a stronger yeast like Lalvin EC 1118, in case you need to have wine sooner. But for higher quality, I would freeze it and wait until the temps are around 75 deg F. the main reason I freeze the blueberries is I love to combine it with some Cabernet Sauvignon grapes when they become available around the fall season.

But at that max temperature of 82 deg F, the fermentation would be faster, you would need just 4 days then strain and transfer unto glass carboy. I have fermented wines under 100 deg F, but our night time temp gets down to 58 deg F, so it averages out to around 78, which is good.

Thanks Joe, We have enough blueberries I may do both just to see how much different the wines are. I guess I will order some of the Lalvin EC 1118 if you think that an average of 78-80 is going to be too warm for the 71B.

Also-- I picked a very large blueberry today, but it is not very tart. It is mildly sweet, but not as much flavor as many of the berries. I am guessing that for wine the more tart the berry the better--do you agree?

Later in the season there will be a lot of berries that are beginning to shrivel-- they will be sweeter but won't have as much juice-- how do you think they will do in a wine?

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