2022 Blackberry
June 2022
Label Peelers did it to me again — they advertised a 72 hour BOGO sale on Finer Wine Kits, so I had to buy more kits!
Unfortunately, I hesitated. I was going to buy a Tavola Merlot and a Forte Merlot so I could compare them side-by-side. By the time I got done dithering, they were sold out. The reds sold out amazingly fast, and when I went to purchase the choices were Frutta Kiwi, Blackberry, and Strawberry, and Tavola Moscato.
I decided to go with Blackberry and Strawberry.
Ingredients
Sorbate
| Kit | Finer Wine Kits Frutta Blackberry |
| Nutrients | Nutrient packet A (must) Nutrient packet B (yeast starter) Nutrient packet C (must) |
| Yeast | Lalvin K1-V1116 |
| Fining Agent | Kieselsol 12.5 ml and Chitosan 75 ml, provided in kit |
| Sorbate | stabilizer packet (K-sorbate + K-meta) |
| K-meta | as needed |
| Bottling Sugar | 2 Global Vintner 16 oz Wine Conditioner packets, provided in kit |
| Glycerin | 6 oz |
Method
| Prepared the yeast starter by putting the yeast, the yeast starter nutrient pack B, and 1 cup water in a wine bottle. Shook to mix and put a towel over it to keep stuff out. Initial temperature is 95.8 F.
Added concentrate to the fermenter. The concentrate temperature was 72.5 F, which is fine. Rinsed the bag twice, adding the water to the fermenter. Two rinses did fine for this one. Added Packet A. Stirred for 1 minute with a drill-mounted stirring rod. I’m finding the frequent stirring during reconstitution mixes the kit much better. Filled with water to 23 liters, stirring twice for 30 seconds each in the middle and end of the process. |
06/03/2022 SG 1.091 |
| The SG was 1.101 and the must level was 1/2″ too low, so I added water to the 23 liter level, stirring for 1 minute. After the swirling stopped, the SG was 1.095. Inoculated.
Update 2PM: Checked the SG, which rose to 1.999. Will check again later. |
06/04/2022 SG 1.099 |
| Wine is still too foamy to get a good SG reading, but there is strong activity, so I added nutrient pack C. | 06/06/2022 SG ??? |
| The SG dropped low enough, so I sealed the fermenter. The listed SG is approximate, as the foam made an exact reading impossible. | 06/07/2022 SG 1.010 |
| Racked the wine. My new process is to start the siphon, add 1/4 tsp K-meta and the kieselsol packet. After the siphon completes, I add the chitosan.
My only remaining small fermenter was the 6 gallon one (which holds slightly more than 6 gallons), so after siphoning it was quite full. I didn’t dare use the drill-mounted stirring rod, so I stirred for 2 minutes with a stainless steel paddle, changing direction every 30 seconds. |
06/18/2022 SG 0.996 |
| Racked the carboy and jug, adding Packet D: finishing pack. Added 1 packet of wine conditioner. Topped with 1/2 bottle 2020 Second Run wine. | 07/09/2022 SG 0.998 SG 1.006 |
| Racked the wine, adding the second wine conditioner packet, heaping 1/4 tsp K-meta, and 6 oz glycerin.
We tried something different when adding the conditioner and glycerin — we added to the primary before starting the siphon, and then moved the hose around to break up the sugar/glycerin. When there was about 4″ of wine in the primary, started stirring for 2 minutes at low speed with a drill-mounted stirring rod. Did this again when the siphon was half done, and again after completion. We are confident the conditioner/glycerin is well distributed. Bottled, but forgot to take a final SG reading. I’ll do that when I open a bottle in a couple of months. |
10/06/2022 SG 1.016 |
Notes
| Yield | 31 bottles |
| Alcohol | 12.8% |
| Residual Sugar | 4.8% |
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