# Time for some BlueBerry Wine



## mike johnson (Dec 7, 2013)

O.K. all this is my first attempt at making real wine. I started with a can of blueberry mix picked up at the home brew store( makes 2 1/2 gal.  and added about 5 lbs. of blueberries that I had in the freezer to make a 4 gal batch. I will transfer to secondary's about 5 days after adding the yeast. One 3 gal Carboy and one 1 gal jug. Right now its all sitting in the fermentation bucket getting Happy Happy. I have added the Camden tablets and will pitch the yeast in 2 days. Heres the pics I have so far.

Everything sitting in solution to become sterile. The racking cane wasn't necessary for this but since the bucket was full I figured I would rack a gal of Oceanspray wine into a secondary.













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__ mike johnson
__ Dec 7, 2013






I didn't get a picture of the O.G. but I brought it up to 1.090 for a finished wine about 14%.













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Here it is sitting in the bucket while the Camden tablets do their work for 48 hours.

This already smells amazing. Its going to be hard to wait so long to drink this.













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__ mike johnson
__ Dec 7, 2013


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## leah elisheva (Dec 7, 2013)

This is so exciting!!!! Add it to the Winos group as well, and/or update us as you go!!!

How fun!!!!!

Cheers!!!!! - Leah


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## wes w (Dec 7, 2013)

Mike that looks awesome, but I know damn sure there is a still in them mountains somewhere that them blueberries would do better in...... 

Not that I would know anything about it  but yeah, blueberries are good in just about anything.....


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## mike johnson (Dec 7, 2013)

I would love to have me one of those copper beauties.


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## disco (Dec 7, 2013)

I've been making wine for decades and blueberry is on of my favourites. Enjoy!

Disco


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## mike johnson (Dec 7, 2013)

Disco said:


> I've been making wine for decades and blueberry is on of my favourites. Enjoy!
> 
> Disco


If there is anything special that you do I would love to know your secrets. I am planning on adding some diced raisins into the secondary for the first 2 months since from what I have read adds body to the wine since blueberry can be a bit thin.


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## disco (Dec 7, 2013)

There is no doubt that blueberry wine made from fresh fruit can be a little thin bodied. When I make it from fresh fruit, I add raisins or grape concentrate. However, if you are making it from a wine concentrate, I suspect they already added something to make it more full bodied. Regardless, if raisins are going to be added, you should add them with the initial ferment. If you are going to add something at the start of the secondary ferment, I would not add raisins. You could add grape concentrate which you could likely get from the wine making store. However, if it is your first go and it is a commercial kit, I would go with their instructions. If you want to try blueberry from fresh fruit, PM me and I will send a recipe and some instructions.

Disco


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## disco (Dec 7, 2013)

Sorry, I just reread your initial post that you added 5 pounds of fresh blueberries and increased the volume. I would definitely add some grape concentrate from the brew store. Ask the owner how much to add considering concentrates come in different strengths.


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## mike johnson (Dec 8, 2013)

LeahOceanNotes said:


> This is so exciting!!!! Add it to the Winos group as well, and/or update us as you go!!!
> 
> How fun!!!!!
> 
> Cheers!!!!! - Leah


I will Leah. I just gave it a stir and the smell off the blueberries is AMAZING!! From what I have read once I pitch the yeast tomorrow morning and it starts to ferment my whole downstairs will be smelling like blueberries :)  . I should end up with about 16 bottles that should be ready to drink right about summer time. But Im sure I will open 1 or 2 a bit early just to see how they are progressing.


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## mike johnson (Dec 9, 2013)

The wine has set for 48 hours since adding the Camden tablets. I have added the yeast to the water. let it sit for 15 min. then pitched it into the wine.

Here is the yeast just after giving it a stir.













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Here is the yeast after sitting for the15 min.













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Here is the future wine with all the yeast added into it. Now the fun stuff gets to happen.













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__ mike johnson
__ Dec 9, 2013


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## leah elisheva (Dec 9, 2013)

So fun!!! It's wonderful seeing the process!!! Thanks for this!!! Cheers! - Leah


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## mike johnson (Dec 10, 2013)

Well its been 24 hours since pitching the yeast and it is going to town. As you can see in the pic. it is bubbling away nicely and making that part of my kitchen smell wonderful. At this point I give it a good stir every day to push the top layer back down into the mix. I wont bore you all with the same type of picture for 5 days so I will post again when I rack into the secondary.













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__ mike johnson
__ Dec 10, 2013


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## leah elisheva (Dec 10, 2013)

It's getting EXCITING!!!!!!!!!!! I love following the progression! Cheers! - Leah


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## mike johnson (Dec 12, 2013)

Well its been 3 days since pitching the yeast so I did my first reading on where the wine sits currently. My reading was 1.049 so the yeast has eatin about half the sugar so far. It is currently about 5.5% alcohol. The smell is becoming more like wine. The taste is  rough right now. You can REALLY taste the yeast but the finish is a lovely blueberry taste. Here's the pics of what I did this morning.

Gravity reading of 1.049       The color of the wine is looking real good.

   













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__ Dec 12, 2013






The wine I used for the reading. Since I cant put it back I thought Id drink it. But as I just took another sip I think ill wait on the finished product. 4 day old wine is horrible...













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__ mike johnson
__ Dec 12, 2013


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## leah elisheva (Dec 12, 2013)

But that looks really stunning in your glass! Such beautiful stuff!!! It sounds like you're having great fun! Cheers!!!!!! - Leah


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## mike johnson (Dec 13, 2013)

Just started a 6 gal. batch of apple/cherry from juice concentrate. I wanted something quick and easy to drink before the blueberry is done. 60 days till this will be drinkable.


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## leah elisheva (Dec 14, 2013)

YAY! The excitement continues!!!! Cheers! And Happy Saturday!!! - Leah


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