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Wild Berry Wine

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le0n:
Hello, everyone.

I thought I'd document some experimental wild berry wine making that I'm going to be doing this month.

Let's start with the berries that I have available to me. I'm 90% sure that these are the ones that are going to be used because I really wanted to make a wine with only berries that I've picked in the wild. Being that our Blackberries and Muskadines didn't do so hot this year, I only have a few other choices left that I know of.

American Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana):


These are easy to harvest when you find them like this:


I have three of these bags so far (estimated 4 bags are needed):




The other berry that is accessible this time of the year is the peppervine berry. These berries are not to be eaten raw because of their defense mechanism (Calcium Oxalate needles) that can cause mouth and throat irritation. We also found that if you accidentally crush the berries with your hands while harvesting, you can develop an itch that is similar to the itching you get from handling fiberglass insulation. Respectfully, you have to process this stuff out of the juice.

Peppervine (Ampelopsis arborea):



These are a little harder to come by though. They like to grow high and out of reach it seems. There's 2.75 lbs in this bag thanks to Thunder ;)




One more berry that I'd like to get is from the Elderberry tree. I've only found one tree so far, and it doesn't have much fruit on it. I'll have to look again because I am aiming to get a gallon bag of them too.

Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis):

^^ This little tree was at my office. Also note that the illusion of my pinky finger being extra-girthy was completely unintentional.

Disregard the Virginia Creeper leaves in the foreground & background. The creeper vine has completely swamped this tree line and almost caused me to miss this little guy:


If I'm lucky enough to get any Muskadine, I'll use whatever I can find.

le0n:
This evening I started processing the Peppervine:


Removing stems and washing. This took about 30 minutes and was about as fun as de-veining shrimp, with the added itch factor:


Added some water for the boil:


Smashing and low-boiling (another 30 minutes here):

^^ I removed whatever seeds were floating. Also, 1 crushed Campden tablet was stirred in before the boiling took place.

Poured through a screen into a mason jar:


Added some bentonite slurry and a little bit of water and stirred it for about five minutes:


Closed it up an placed it in a quiet corner of the kitchen to let the Calcium Oxalate and any other willing sediment fall.


I'll check it tomorrow evening to see if it will be ready to pour off.

Del the cat:
Nice :), can't beat a bit of home made wine. I've got Gooseberry and Cider on the go this year.
Going to do my second batch of cider any day now.
Del

le0n:
^^ Neat. I've yet to come across gooseberry. It looks like an interesting fruit.

mullet:
I've never seen Beauty Berry used, I'm curious what it taste like. My Muscadines aren't producing this year either. I'm getting ready to start a 5 gallon batch of Blue Berry/Muscadine here as soon as I get the time. Sipping some Lemon Meade right now and sitting on some Hard, Spiced Apple Cider for the Holidays.

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