Blueberry Wine

Taste Notes:

Ingredients

Amt	Name	Type	#	%/IBU	Volume
16 lbs	Fruit - Blueberry [Steep] (0.0 SRM)	Adjunct	1	61.5 %	1.30 gal
10 lbs	Sugar, Table (Sucrose) [Boil] (1.0 SRM)	Sugar	2	38.5 %	0.76 gal
2.50 tsp	Pectic Enzyme (Primary)	Other	3	-	-
1.00 tbsp	Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) (Primary)	Other	4	-	-
0.50 tsp	Potassium Metabisulfite (Primary)	Other	5	-	-
3.0 pkg	Lalvin 71B-1122 (Lallemand - Lalvin #71B-1122) [23.66 ml]	Yeast	6	-	-
2.0 pkg	Lalvin EC-1118 (Lallemand - Lalvin #EC-1118) [23.66 ml]	Yeast	7	-	-
2.0 pkg	MA33 (Vintner's Harvest #MA33)	Yeast	8	-	-
2.00 tsp	Yeast Nutrient (Primary 3.0 days)	Other	9	-	-
0.25 tsp	Potassium Metabisulfite (Secondary)	Other	10	-	-
4.00 tsp	Potassium Sorbate (Bottling)	Other	11	-	-
0.50 tsp	Potassium Metabisulfite (Bottling)	Other	12	-	-

Gravity and Alcohol Content

Primary and Secondary Additions

Carbonation and Storage

Notes

2/8/2021 - "Brew" Day - Blueberries purchased from Sam's Club. Pulled them out of the freezer and allowed to thaw for 3 hours. Added to sanitized blender with small amounts of hot water and pulsed to break up a bit and poured into a sanitized bag inside a sanitized fermenter. Rinsed blender out with water and pured into fermenter. Added hot water with 10 lbs of sugar in a kettle and heated to 150 degrees to disolve sugar. Added 1 TB DAP yeast nutrient & 2 tsp of yeast energizer into sugar to disolve. Added hot sugar & water mixture to the fermenter along with .5 tsp of potassium metabisulfate to stabilize the fruit before fermentation starts. Topped up volume to around 5.5 gallons to account for fruit loss. Mixed thoroughly with the mix-n-stir, being careful that the bag did not get twisted up, which luckily it didnt. Took refractometer reading (27 brix - 1.112 SG) and placed the lid loosly on top of the fermenter to allow the potassium metabisulfate to outgas. Allow the must to sit for 24 hours.

2/9/2021 - Added 2.5 tsp of pectic enzyme, mixed, and let sit 1 hour. Sprinkled on two packs of MA33 (instructions say only one pack is needed, but the gravity is pretty high, so I pitched two) and added 2 tsp of acid blend. Mixed and put lid on to ferment. Plan to stir (punch down the cap) a couple times a day during active fermentation.

2/11/2021 - I wasn't noticing much in the way of activity, so I decided to sprinkle on a pack of older 71-B yeast and see if that started things off. I know wine yeast is a little slower, but I would have expected more visible activity by now. I'll continue to stir a couple times a day and monitor progress.

2/15/2021 - Still didn't see any activity, so I decided to make a quick starter (half must, half boiled & cooled to 90 degree water, and yeast nutrient & energizer) and pitch 2 packs of EC-1118 yeast that I use for seltzer. I read online that straight blueberry wine can be very hard to get to ferment and sometimes a starter and slowly feeding in the entire volume of must is the way to go. I let the starter go for about 1 hour until it was extremely active. I sanitized another fermetner and nylon bag and added around 1.5 gallons of my blueberry must to that fermenter, along with the entire contents of the starter. I will add about a gallon or so of must to the new fermenter until the entire batch has been trasnferred over and is fermenting as it should be.

2/16/2021 - Noticed a good amount of activity in the new fermenter in the morning, so I added another gallon of must to get that going. I checked later in the afternoon, and there was still good activity, so I added another gallon or so of must. I will check in the morning and add more if there is still a good amount of activity going on.

2/25/2021 - SG/FG=1.010 - Pulled bag of fruit out of fermenter and squeezed wine back into fermenter. This worked way better than my first batch where I didn't bag anything. Transferred to a secondary fermenter along with .25 tsp of potassium metabisulfate to age and clear. Flavor was good with some mild sweetness due to the slightly higher gravity. The tartness seemed a bit sharp, so hopefully that mellows out. I may skip the acid blend addition or reduce it on the next batch if it doesn't age out to my liking.

Follow-up Tasks:
1. Stir in fruit back into the must at least twice a day for the first 5 days of fermentation to help it ferment thorougly and to not develop mold on top.
2. After active fermentation is done, pull the fruit and gently squeeze the liquid back into the wine, being careful to not squeeze too hard to extract tannins.
3. Transfer to secondary fermenter along with .25 tsp potassium metabisulfate to age and clear
4. Transfer to final aging vessel with .5 tsp potassium metabisulfate & 4 tsp potassium sorbate & let sit 4-5 days (make sure it's very clear at this point, as the potassium sorbate coats the yeast cells and makes them drop out of solution as well).
5. Transfer to bottling bucket & back sweeten with simple sugar (amount???? -
-bottle in wine bottles along with a couple bombers to test earlier potentially