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!