On Aug 26, 6:26*pm, Marshall Jose > wrote:
> jerry wrote:
> > I got my blackberry wine started yesterday and today.
>
> > I've been picking and freezing blackberries for the past three weeks. The
> > harvest was a little bit late this year in Oregon. I had about 32 lbs. of
> > frozen berries but I decided to only use 25 lbs. of them since my biggest
> > carboy is 6 gal.
>
> > Details are as follows: 25 lbs. blackberries, thawed and mashed in an 8
> > gal fermenter tub. Added 8 lbs. of sugar dissolved in boiling water.
> > Added cool water to bring level up to 6 gal mark on side of fermenter.
>
> > Tested SG at 1.065. Waited 20 minutes and tested SG at 1.074 (important
> > lesson here that I learned the hard way last year! Wait for awhile and
> > retest the SG.) Added another 1 lb sugar dissolved in hot water. Brought
> > water up to 6.5 gal mark. Tested SG again at 1.08 something. Added 1/2 lb
> > granulated sugar and brought water up to 7 gal mark on fermenter. Waited
> > half hour and tested SG at 1.088. (I was shooting for 1.090 but this was
> > close enough)Total sugar used was 9.5 lbs.
>
> > Added 3 tsp acid blend, 3 tsp pectic enzyme, 3 tsp yeast nutrient, 6
> > campden tablets. Stirred and covered overnight.
>
> > Today I added 1 packet Lalvin K1-V1116 yeast. Temp of must is 69 deg. F..
> > Covered fermenter with cloth.
>
> > Last year's batch also started at 7 gal. on the fermenter scale and ended
> > up with just a little over 6 gal. of wine, making 31 bottles. But last
> > year I used about 12 lbs. of sugar. Keeping written records is a nice
> > habit when making wine!
>
> I picked my blackberries from my neighbor's plants, during a hot, dry
> summer. The sugar content was still abysmal, as usual (juice SG =
> 1.020). I washed the berries and inserted them in a women's knee-high
> nylon stocking, and proceeded to squeeze out the juice in that manner.
> To the juice from 6.5 lbs of blackberries was added 1.5L of sugar and
> 3.3L of water. Also added the usual pectic enzyme, etc. About 1.4
> gallons made it to secondary.
>
> Two problems were experienced in turn: #1 was a hydrogen sulfide problem
> from hell. As in, "Oh my God, I can't breathe down here it smells so
> bad." I "fixed" it by using an aquarium pump and bubble stone, and
> aerating the wine for an hour at a time (making the basement
> uninhabitable). The idea is that the O2 reacts with the H2S to form SO2,
> which is more apt to leave the solution. POOF! no H2S contamination anymore.
>
> Problem #2: A final titratable acidity of 0.7%. I added KCO3 to take it
> down to 0.35%, making it at least drinkable.
>
> Final result: a thin, unremarkable berry wine with an uncomplicated nose
> reminiscent of of Manischewitz. *sigh*
>
> Your mileage may vary,
> Marshall

Marshall,

You don't have any body because you only used watered down juice. All
of Jack Keller's recipes call for either fermenting with the pulp or
at least giving a "cold soak" period after pouring boiling water over
the crushed berries.

A TA of 0.35% is really low. Jack recommends a final TA of between
0.5% and 0.6% for non-grape red wines.

It wasn't necessarily supposed to be drinkable immediately. It needs
about a year to come into balance. Adding sugar would seem to be the
preferred method for "instant aging" to make something drinkable
immediately.

I'm glad your H2S remedy worked. Did you add yeast nutrient when you
started? That usually serves to prevent H2S problems.

Good luck next time.

Stephen