going to go berry picking saturday, and I am of divided mind... should i lambic it for acouple days, to have a strong blueberry flavor, or boiling and pectin to have a very clear result?

opinions, experience, and just conjecter are welcome

Go for the flavor Jeff ... over distilled fruit is just tasteless rocket fuel with little character ...

BTB - if you appreciate distilled berries then get a bottle of Killepitsch for a comparative experience ...

i am aiming for a low abv, like 12% .. i have had ONE blueberry wine that tastes LIKE blueberries
i suspect that i'll have to flavor this one, after stablized

May want to send a PM to Huttey, a friend of mine on this forum that makes a good blackberry brandy!

talking to some of the winemakers in the brew club .. seems i need 3# per gallon, and THEN sugar

WOW ..
sure, i can do that .. going to go pick saturday

15# at $1.50 per, $22.50 for a 5gallon batch ... fine, I'll do a thimble sized one

The back half of my property is high-bush blueberries and red and black huckleberries. I make wine from all three. The blueberries don't have a lot of sugar and are very astringent but lots of flavor. The huckleberries have more sugar, are less astringent and less flavor. The wine is best after at least a year in the bottle, but the longer the better. The best I've made was some we uncorked after 9 years (we forgot it was there - lol).

We usually make a full bodied blueberry wine with 2:2:1 Blueberries to Sugar to Raisins + water to make 3.5 gallons in the 1st ferment. We make a lighter wine with 3:1:2 Blueberries to Sugar to Concord Grape Juice + water to make 4 gallons in the 1st ferment. That second ratio is what we use for black huckleberry, but we haven't come up with a red huckleberry recipe that keeps the beautiful red color and also tastes good. All get yeast nutrient, pectic enzyme, acid blend, and Campden.

thank you sir!
tell me, is the full bodied strongly blueberry flavor?

i am thinking of
blueberries through a food processor, to about an sg of 1.03 in 5 gallons, then 1/2 of that weight with pulped rasins, whatever that SG becomes, bring the sugarl (honey?) up to 1.06, pectic, adjust pH to 4-4.5, a nice "fruity" yeast, and then aim for a 1.015 FG, and if the yeasties go much past that, a good resugaring ...

i am looking for a wickedly dark, strong blueberry flavor, and that might require me to let the pulped BB and water "lambic" overnight

Jeff,
This sounds interesting and I think we should start planning a hunt to coincide with the uncorking of your newest endeavor. Seeing as how it is going to take a year to ferment I think we can come up with a good place and company to try it out.

Michael J

Mike,
Man, you are welcome, anytime, to try some ... I'll start a batch saturday afternoon or sunday morning ... I should know if its going to be worthwhile in 3-4weeks, and then go pick MORe berries.

Stop by when you are headed to your new gig!
jeffe

Get you some ripe berries, filter and ferment. Bottle and age and enjoy. If in a hurry, run down to your local store while your stash ages!!!

quote:

Originally posted by gas57:
If in a hurry, run down to your local store while your stash ages!!!

great advice

so, the batch started today
yeast starter at 6am ish

15# of blueberries - run through a food processor
14# of sugar
1.5# of flaked oats

adjusted pH to 4.5 or so
added oat flakes
brought to 150 degrees for 30 mins

added 14# of sugar

added ice to crash back to 80deg

added peptic to break it down

little yeast nutriant

put the pulp into sparging bags, and the whole mess into a primary fermenter ... we'll see in a week

and every brewer I know will be STUNNED that I didn't have an OG reading ..

Have you been to Jack Keller's Winemaking site?

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/

I read about a recipe for Blueberry Braggott that sounds great. I tried it but messed it up. You may have better luck. I've seen many people rave about it on homebrew sites all over the world.

http://home.comcast.net/~mzapx1/FAQ/BlueBraggot3.pdf

thanks for the link -- i need to find hie braggot, as i had seriuosly thought about doing this as a mel.. but i've made several braggots, ,even hopped, and none of them turned out great ... so, i was thinking of using honey to make it a mel, rather than honey and malt

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:
thanks for the link -- i need to find hie braggot, as i had seriuosly thought about doing this as a mel.. but i've made several braggots, ,even hopped, and none of them turned out great ... so, i was thinking of using honey to make it a mel, rather than honey and malt

Oh hey let me clarify what got messed up on my attempt at the Blueberry Braggott; I miscalculated the timing in going to secondary over crushed blueberries. I thought I had a stuck fermentation. I was getting ready to pour 7 gallons of syrupy sweet mush down the drain tonight and just for kicks, I took a gravity reading. It was just a tick over 1.000. It fermented damn near to dryness. Sssssso I think I'll keep it. Let me know if you want a sample when I bottle it.

oh yeah, i want to try that!
I should be in austin sooner rather than later, anyway .. and can swap you for some mead

btw, i have found must stuck ferments are due either to way too high gravity and/or pH over 6 or under 3.5 .. but i mostly do high gravity stuff .. 1.1 or higher ... this is my first batch of wine/mead under 1.080 .. and other than 2 saisons, in 10+ years .. dang, i should have done another saison this spring

on the road of weird brew, i'll due a pumpkin and perhaps a watermelon this year

Strange Brew? I have a Pumpkin Ale and Cranberry Braggott also brewing up. I usually go to my sister's for Thanksgiving and she does sort of an Iron Chef thing; she has everyone bring a dish made from the same ingredient. It has been Pumpkin for two years in a row, plus she did the same for Halloween last year. I decided to make something really different. The Cranberry Braggott is simply a traditional Thanksgiving ingredient turned into an alcoholic beverage. Recipe is from Sam Calagione in book whose title I can't remember right now. I also have an Atomic Fireball Mead about to go into secondary, but I need another carboy. I have too much brewing right now.

I didn't take an OG - though adding up the points, 14# of sugar (8pts) and 15 lbs of blueberries (csll it 1pt/lb) thats 1.127 OG (not counting the oats)...
1.127
last night it wast
1.002/1.004 SG, and still bubbling
that's 16.5 or so...

I adjusted pH and gave it some more yeast nutriant (DAP/fermax)

all of the blueberries are in 3 mash bags *muslin or sheese cloth LOOKING" so in constant contact

I may take over to the secondary

taste is great, for a week old brew

It tastes great at 16.5% in primary? You're making some Nectar of the Gods. I'd love to try some of that when it's ready.

holy cow .. .992 ...

I am going to order some BB concentrate to blue it back up!

I ALWAYS wind up with brandy, unless I limit the sugars, stablize, and then sweeten... always..

I used frozen blueberries from HEB/Central Market.

What do you mean about Brandy? The strength of it, or is it distilled? Either way, I'd love to trade a bottle when they're ready.

Did you see my post about Nocino and Vin de Noix? I'll be starting those next week. Not really brewing, but they sound really good. Read more about them here:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=13996

nah -
20% seems to be the threshold for brandies, and I am at 18 as of this morning, from brewing!

i am getting 18+ out of a 10-12 yeast .. must be the water, or the sugaring (sometimes called syrup feed)

On one homebrewing forum; I believe it was HomeBrewTalk.com, I read about some guy's blueberry mead at 23% ABV. Wild.

Have you tried Samuel Adams Utopias? It's around 25%, but I hear it tastes like sherry. Seems sort of like a novelty beer.

at 19.9% ..

Look, I am going to do the sugar, let dry, kill, and sweeten .. it does chagne the flaber

got a new hydro, calibrated it, and checked.

19.8-20% .. DANG .. packs a whallup

tasted it.. HOT...

then chilled it, added some sugar.. WOW, did it taste good .. and STILL packs a whallup

jeffe

racked through a fine screen bag, added 3/4 tbsp pot metabisufite (stops yeast production) 1 camden table, 1 tbsp tannin, 1 tbsp polyclar .. this is both secondary and racking off..

i topped off at 6 gal, much less harsh.. and brought back down to 16.5% ABV ..

I have some www.fruitfast.com blueberry conc. on the way
great mouth feel, nice to deal with.. HOOCH!

Try blueberry beer instead of wine, you will keep more of the blueberry flavor. Use any light ale, wheat, or lager recipe. Add fruit or juice to the wort before fermentation. If you use fruit, put it into the wort while boiling and strain it before you bottle or keg. I had excellent results with blueberry beers when I was homebrewing for competition.

thanks much .. i have blue concentrate on order and it will be in this week. we'll see how that works, too.

right now, its REALLY pretty ... though the wine yeast reduced 15# of fresh blueberries to about 8# of skins, seeds, and sludge

Oh hey I started the Vin de Noix and Nocino tonight. One batch of each has carmelized sugar and cocoa powder. Let me know if you want to try those when ready.

1 flat tablespoon of calcium - stir
2 heaping tablespoons of acid blend
1/2 cup fructous
16oz of blueberry conc. from www.fruitfast.com
stir like mad
top off to 7 gallon
DANG!

it's turned out way too tart ... and not sweet enough for that level of tartness .. not unlike some people i know!

it'll need to sit in the bottle for at least 6 months, if not a year

oh well, the port is coming on nice