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Wild Berry Wine
le0n:
This morning 1.026 SG Corrected:
There is still a good amount of bubbling in the carboy, so most of the light sediments are still mobile:
(note the clarity difference)
After a swirl:
I think it's time for me to rack it off the lees. I'm getting ever so slight hints of the lees in the aroma. They come and go and its probably just because it is suspended in the wine. Once i get it racked it'll have an easier time to clear up.
le0n:
Tonight's racking 1.020 SG Corrected:
Ok, this won't be touched now until the fermentation stops. It's been through 20 days of fermentation so far.
Here's the sacrificial goo that got left behind:
bubbling away:
It's not going to waste though. Bottoms up ;)
Aside from being pulpy, the lees are really good.
le0n:
Ok. After two days of non-activity in the vessel, and a little worrying, I finally starting getting some movement on the airlock.
I may have had my storage room a little too cool, so I turned off the AC in there to get it a few degrees warmer. If it still looks good tonight, I'll turn the AC back on and see how it reacts.
Meanwhile, I went for some more berries and grabbed another 12.25 lbs:
Getting setup for the second batch. This is the boring part. But it is the only way I know to 'process' them properly and I know the end result will be free of any spiders and bugs:
Come to find out, this batch is more ripe and I may have picked the others a little too early. I'll see if it produces a better wine. They are much more aromatic and the stickiness eludes to more sugar content.
Trevor, per your suggestions, I'm planning on letting this batch sit on the lees until the fermentation stops. So I'll heat and smash the berries for about an hour at 150°F like before to get all of the good stuff out, then I'll only transfer the strained juice into the primary. There should not be anywhere near a much sediment that the current batch had. A lot of pieces just just fell through the fermenting bag.
TrevorM:
That's looking great Leon!
Wow that's an impressive haul you've got there, make's me wish I knew more about the wild berries of this area. I'd probably poison myself though :D If you're planning to make more (given your success I would assume so) you might want to invest in a refratometor, especially since you take your readings daily. A refratometor only takes a drip to tell you your brix/gravity so you wouldn't need to take large samples and you could also test the berries.
le0n:
^^ thanks.
yeah. i want one of those, mainly because i like gadgets, but also because it would give me a better idea on when to harvest the fruit too. it would aid as a double-check in the primary before pitching the yeast.
but unlike the hydrometer you can't use it after alcohol is introduced into the equation.
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