Cherry Berry Wine

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The fruits I used in my wine. (I also used frozen grape concentrate.) They look tasty, huh?

Walking through my supermarket produce aisle, I frequently think, “I could ferment that” about various fruits and vegetables. This weekend, my supermarket was having a sale on strawberries, cherries and blueberries and I changed my thinking from “I could ferment that” to “I will ferment that.”

Recently, I posted an article on why most wines are made from grapes. The gist of the article was that grapes have everything you need to make good wine. However, you can make wine from other fruits if you just make up for any deficiencies. So, upon seeing the fruit sale, I loaded up on strawberries, cherries and blueberries, but also got some raspberries and a can of frozen white grape concentrate to round things out. When I got home, I looked around at country wine recipes and decided on the proportions of the fruit and last night, I made the wine.

I’m posting the recipe now and will give updates as the wine ages. (I actually used tartaric acid instead of a wine acid blend, but I put the latter in the ingredient list because I think it’s a better choice.)

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They ain’t pretty no more. The mashed up fruit in my must. The larger, more intact pieces have floated to the surface. The pectic enzyme and a couple punch downs should break these up within a day or two.

Cherry Berry Wine

English units

by Chris Colby

 

DESCRIPTION
Here’s my mixed fruit country wine recipe. The mix of fruits was determined by a sale at my local supermarket; the proportions of each were based on published recipes.

 

INGREDIENTS (for 3 gallons)

 

Fruit and Sugar (for an OG of around 1.075 or ~19 °Brix)

5.0 lbs. strawberries

4.0 lbs. sweet cherries

3.0 lbs. blueberries

2.0 lbs. raspberry

1 (12-oz.) can Welch’s white grape juice concentrate

3.5 lbs. sugar

Additives

1/4 tsp. grape tannin

3 1/2 tsp. wine acid blend

1 1/2 tsp. pectinase

3 Campden tablets

2 tsp. Fermaid K (yeast nutrient), divided

Yeast (at dryness, this should yield about 10% ABV)
Lalvin EC-1118 yeast

 

PROCEDURE

Mash up fruit, add grape concentrate, dissolve sugar in water and combine to make 3.5 gallons of must. Add tannins, acid and pectic enzyme, then stir in 3 (crushed) Campden tablets. The next day, add 1/3 of the yeast nutrient and add the (rehydrated) yeast. Allow to ferment at room temperature. Add second 1/3 of yeast at peak of fermentation (next day?). Add final 1/3 the day after that. I think I’ll let it ferment out to dryness, then maybe backsweeten it to semi-sweetness. I don’t want it to be like boozy fruit punch, but I think a little sugar will improve the fruit flavor.

 

 

Cherry Berry Wine

metric units

by Chris Colby

 

DESCRIPTION
Here’s my mixed fruit country wine recipe. The mix of fruits was determined by a sale at my local supermarket; the proportions of each were based on published recipes.

 

INGREDIENTS (for 11 L)

 

Fruit and Sugar (for an OG of around 1.075 or ~19 °Brix)

2.3 kg strawberries

1.8 kg sweet cherries

1.4 kg blueberries

910 g raspberry

1 can (355-mL) Welch’s white grape juice concentrate

1.6 kg sugar

Additives

1/4 tsp. grape tannin

3 1/2 tsp. wine acid blend

1 1/2 tsp. pectinase

3 Campden tablets

2 tsp. Fermaid K (yeast nutrient), divided

Yeast (at dryness, this should yield about 10% ABV)
Lalvin EC-1118 yeast

 

PROCEDURE

Mash up fruit, add grape concentrate, dissolve sugar in water and combine to make 13 L of must. Add tannins, acid and pectic enzyme, then stir in 3 (crushed) Campden tablets. The next day, add 1/3 of the yeast nutrient and add the (rehydrated) yeast. Allow to ferment at room temperature. Add second 1/3 of yeast at peak of fermentation (next day?). Add final 1/3 the day after that. I think I’ll let it ferment out to dryness, then maybe backsweeten it to semi-sweetness. I don’t want it to be like boozy fruit punch, but I think a little sugar will improve the fruit flavor.

Comments

  1. Chris Colby says

    Mini update: I sanitized a potato masher and rehydrated the EC-1118 yeast. I punched down the fruit with the potato masher. The fruit pieces still looked fresh — probably because the sulfites from the Campden tablets are keeping things from oxidizing — and hadn’t turned to mush yet. The must smelled strongly of berries. I pitched the yeast and swirled it into the must a bit. So far everything seems to be going well.

  2. Any updates on this? The recipe sounds quick and easy.

    • Chris Colby says

      The fermentation has slowed to a crawl now. I did punch downs the first four days and it smelled strongly of berries and had a deep red color. I’m going to transfer it into a carboy in a few days and I’ll post a comment here when I do.

      So far, everything looks good.

  3. Whatever happened with this wine? Did you bottle yet? I would be interested in what you decided to do as far as sweetening goes. I’ve made a blackberry wine and I’m bottling up a mint wine in the near future. One note on the pectic enzyme, I’ve read that you should not added the pectic enzyme and campden at the same time, as the campden will inhibit the pectic enzyme action. I think I’ve read that you should wait 12 hours after campden addition before adding the pectic enzyme. Note, this is based on my internet trolling and not on proffesional expertise!

    • Chris Colby says

      It’s still in the fermenter. I sort of forgot about it. I need to either rack or bottle it soon.

      • Stephen Nelson says

        Hey Chris the whole world is waiting for the outcome. It sounds delicious and I would like to try making some.

  4. rich weaver says

    Are we there yet? 🙂

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