1985 Blackberry
June 2021 – I have wracked my brains on this one. I recall that it just would not ferment out, and while it was sweeter than I liked, it was better than the bone-dry one from the year before. Yeah, I wish I kept better notes.
Ingredients
| Fruit | 10# blackberries |
| Water | 3-1/2 gallons |
| Sugar | 10# |
| Sulfite | 6 Campden tablets |
| Pectic Enzyme | 2 tsp |
| Nutrient | 2 tsp nutrient + 2 tsp energizer |
| Yeast | Red Star Epernay II |
Method
| Started | 08/17/1985 SG 1.084 |
| Yeast added | 08/19/1985 SG 1.084 |
| Strained | 08/25/1985 SG 0.990 |
| 2# sugar added | 10/15/1985 SG 1.030 |
| Racked | 11/25/1985 SG 1.024 |
| Racked | 02/14/1986 SG 1.020 |
| Racked | 04/04/1986 SG 1.014 |
| Racked | 05/16/1986 SG 1.012 |
| Racked | 05/29/1986 SG 1.012 |
| Racked | 06/10/1986 SG 1.010 |
| Diluted w/88oz 0.991 blackberry wine | 06/10/1986 SG 1.010 |
| Clarified | 06/23/1986 SG 1.008 |
| Racked | 08/15/1986 SG 1.008 |
| Bottled | 08/25/1986 SG — |
Notes
| Yield | 24 bottles |
| Alcohol | 10.3% |
| Afterthoughts | This was one of those that just did NOT want to ferment out. I finally diluted it with a bone-dry blackberry (can’t recall if that was the previous year’s or if I had made 2 batches this year).
This one came out a bit too sweet, but that’s still better than the alternative: bone-dry blackberry has a nasty, sharp flavor that just a bit of sugar eliminates. |