In message > , Ray
> writes
>Which ever recipe you use, I can only envy you. I use dewberries rather
>than blackberries (very similar) but they make my favorite of all country
>wines. Do try it.

AOL. I made 5 gallons or so last autumn, wished I'd made more, and was
grief-stricken (1) when the cork blew out of one of the bottles. The
main observation I'd make is that the batches done with 3lbs of fruit to
the gallon were rather thin. OTOH, the batches with 6 lbs/gallon, and
starting SG of 1105 were tremendous. The recipe I used was somewhere
half way between Jack Keller's and CJJ Berry's; in places it seems more
like a cry for help than a recipe, but it worked for me:

6 lb. blackberries
2-1/2 lb. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. pectic enzyme
7 pts. water
wine yeast, vitamin tabs and nutrient

Wash berries thoroughly in colander, then crush in bowl, transfer to
primary fermentation vessel, and pour 7 pts. boiling water over must.
Allow to seep for two days, then strain through nylon sieve onto the
sugar. Stir well to dissolve sugar, add pectic enzyme, cover well, and
set aside for 24 hours. Abandon carefully planned proportions, top up
with water to just a little over the full gallon, and throw in more
sugar to bring up to the desired SG. Add yeast, Vitamin B and nutrient,
cover, and set aside 5-10 days, stirring daily. Rack into demi-john, up
to shoulder, and fit airlock. Wrap the jar in black plastic or similar
to exclude the light. Place in cool (60-65 degrees F.) dark place for
three months. Rack, allow another two months to finish, then rack again
and bottle in dark glass. Allow 6 months to age, a year to mature.

The other point is that it dropped far more sediment than any other wine
I've made, so at least two rackings before bottling would be desirable,
and put aside a decent amount in a smaller container for topping up the
demi-johns. When it does clear, though, it's absolutely *crystal* clear,
with no need for fining, and with a beautiful ruby colour.

In fact, it's the only alcoholic drink I've ever met, which I can look
at on waking up at 7.30 am, and think "By God, I fancy a little drop".
But that's probably over-sharing.

cheers,
robin

(1) No, really.

>
>Ray
>
>"Stan" > wrote in message
...
>> I have never made wine. I am going to have too many blackberries this
>year.
>> Is there any easy recipes for blackberry wine?
>> Thanks for any help
>> Stan
>>
>>
>
>

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