This method will help you make 6 bottles (that’s 1 gallon or 4.5 litres) of amazing blackberry wine fast. From adding your defrosted or fresh blackberries into your fermenting bucket, to putting the corks in the bottles takes just 2 weeks with this method.
Blackberry wine tastes amazing. Lots of rich dark fruit flavours, smooth, yet slightly dry and nicely balanced with a little sweetness. The yeast adds a light spiciness too.
You will need some basic brewing equipment:
Jug
Kettle
Ingredients to make 6 bottles (4.5 litres / 1 gallon)
1.36kg (3lb) Blackberries
Red Wine Yeast - Mangrove Jacks R56
2 pints Boiling water
4 pints cold tap water
1/2 tsp fermentation stopper
It If you want to make a larger quantity just simply scale it up.
Method
1 - Remember to sterilise all equipment before use.
2 - Take the blackberries and put them in a fermenting bucket.
3 - Use a potato masher to squish them slightly to help release all of their lovely juice. If you don't have one, then get in there with your hands, but be warned, you'll have pink coloured hands for a few days.
4 - Add the sugar and stir until thoroughly dissolved.
5 - Pour on the 2 pints of boiling water and stir thoroughly.
6 - Now add the Cold water and stir.
7 - Check the temperature. If it's between 18-22°C, if not, leave to cool / warm up until it is in this range.
8 - Take a hydrometer reading and save this for later.
9 - Add 1 tsp of Pectolase and stir.
10 - Add the yeast and stir. This yeast contains the nutrient. If you are using a different yeast you will need to add 1tsp of nutrient.
11 - Put the lid on loosely and transfer to somewhere warm (approx 20°C) for 7 days.
12 - After 7 days, take a sample and check it with your hydrometer. It should be around 0.996. If 0.996 or lower move to step 7. If it is higher than 0.996 then put the lid back on and put it back in your warm place for another 2-4 days. We are dealing with living organisms and depending on their conditions, they may sometimes take longer than expected to eat the sugar. If it is close to 0.996 and is not moving when you check it again, then you can assume it has finished and move to step 13.
13 - Put a straining bag over a second bucket and pour the wine through the straining bag to remove the blackberries.
14 - Give the blackberries in the straining bag a good squeeze to get out all the juice and wine.
15 - Now put in the Fermentation Stopper following the instructions on the packet and stir.
16 - Crush 1 campden tablet between 2 desert spoons and add this to the wine and stir. This will help prevent the wine oxidising and will also help the fermentation stopper kill the remaining yeast.
17 - Degassing. We need to remove the carbon dioxide that is dissolved in the wine - think a can of fizzy cola, if you shake it, it goes flat - well that is what we need to do. Vigorously stir the wine to knock out the CO2.
Stir the wine for 5 minutes, 3 times a day for the next 2 days. This helps knock out the CO2 and also give time for the fermentations stopper to kill the yeast.
18 - Add the finings to the wine following the instructions on the packet.
19 - Put somewhere cool where the bucket will not be disturbed for the wine to clear. This should take approximately 48-72 hours.
20 - Syphon the wine off the sediment into a clean sterilised bucket.
21 - Bottle your wine and then cork the bottles.
22 - Put on a label and a shrink cap to make the bottles look pretty.
23 - Leave the bottles stood up for 48 hours to allow the corks to set, then lay them down and leave them for 3-6 months to bottle condition. Ideally 12 months to allow the tannins in the blackberries to soften.
24 - Pop open a bottle at room temperature and enjoy an amazing glass of blackberry wine.