5 Gal Blueberry Wine Food

ELDERBERRY WINE

Steps:

• Crush the berries by hand, or pulse them in a food processor in batches just enough to break up the berries. Do not liquefy them.
• Pour the crushed berries into a large pot with 10 quarts of water. Add 3 pounds of the sugar. Bring to a simmer, then turn off the heat. Heating elderberries makes them easier to digest, and helps set the color of the wine.
• Pour the juice into a freshly cleaned 5-gallon bucket and let it cool to room temperature. Test the juice for acid and sugar. Both may be a little low, so be prepared to add another 1 to -3 pounds of sugar and possibly tartaric acid. Add tartaric acid to get the juice to about 7 grams per liter. You might not need to add any - I've had elderberry batches that needed no additional acid and, others that needed a lot. We're dealing with a wild food, and wild foods are variable.
• Add the pectic enzyme (and tannin, for blueberries and blackberries and blueberries), and chill to below 50°F in the fridge or with ice packs. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap on the juice to keep out air. Keep the juice covered and at this temperature for up to 3 days. The longer you cold soak, the more flavor you extract. (But you run a higher risk of oxidation, which will turn the wine an unappetizing brown, or of spontaneous fermentation, which can ruin the whole batch.)
• On the third day, bring the juice up to room temperature. Add half the yeast nutrient as the juice warms. Once the juice is at room temperature, hydrate your yeast and add it in, then follow the above directions from here.

BLUEBERRY WINE RECIPE

Steps:

• Wash all your tools and sterilize to your desired level of cleanliness. Maintain this level of cleanliness throughout the process.
• In a big bucket, a large jar, or specifically designed fermenter, add the frozen fruit, cane sugar, and pectic enzyme (if using). Cover and let sit out until the berries are defrosted and the entire mixture is quite juicy-at least four hours, up to 24 hours.
• Using a potato masher or clean hands, mash the berries to crush them. No need for it to be a smooth puree.
• In a small bowl, combine about a cup of water with the yeast, set aside to wake up for 10 minutes.
• Add the acid blend or lemon juice and yeast nutrient to the blueberry mixture. Add in enough water to bring the total volume of the mixture to about 1 1/3 gallons-no need to be perfectly accurate.
• Pitch the yeast water into the mixture, and stir well to agitate. Close the lid on the fermenter and fit with an airlock.
• Place the fermenter in a spot out of direct light, but where you can keep an eye on it. Agitate the mixture well at least once per day by stirring or swirling.
• The fermentation should start within 1-3 days. Continue to stir or swirl thoroughly throughout the entire primary fermentation stage.
• When the bubbles slow down considerably in the airlock (usually around the 10-day mark for us with this wine, but it'll vary based on the heat of your house), your primary fermentation is done.
• Fit a funnel with a mesh sieve into the neck of a sterilized carboy. You can also use a special brewing funnel with a strainer if you choose.
• Using a large ladle, scoop out the whole and mashed blueberries and pour them through the sieve and funnel.
• Press the berry puree into the sieve to get as much of the early wine out as possible.
• When the sieve fills up, dump the spent must into the compost, and replace. Keep repeating until the majority of the fruit is out of the wine.
• Pour the remainder of the wine through the sieve and funnel.
• You want the wine to come to the bottom of the neck of the carboy. If you have too much, you can pour yourself a glass of not-yet-finished-but-still-delicious wine. If you have too little, you can top it off with more non-chlorinated water.
• Fit the carboy with an airlock. All this agitation will restart any sluggish fermentation quite actively, so I recommend placing the carboy in a place where you can keep an eye on it easily (but still out of direct sunlight).
• Once you know it's not going to geyser wine everywhere, you can then move the carboy to a dark, out-of-the-way spot to do the longer secondary fermentation.
• Secondary fermentation is complete when the wine is "still," meaning there is no carbonation in the wine, no bubbling in the airlock, and the wine has cleared. This can take anywhere from a couple of weeks to months, depending on a number of factors. Do not bottle until the wine is still.
• Using a siphon, transfer the finished blueberry wine-leaving behind the sediment-from the carboy to the bottling bucket (or the primary fermenter if it has a spigot).
• Fit the bottling container spigot with a bottle filler, if using.
• Fill clean, sanitized bottles using the bottle filler or just the spigot.
• Cap, cork, or close the top of the bottles. Label the bottles.
• Store in a cool dark spot (if using corks, turn the bottles on their sides to keep the corks wet) and age for at least 30 days, but preferably 6-12 months for the best flavor.

WINE (BLACKBERRY OR CONCORD GRAPE)

Steps:

• Make sure everything is washed clean in water, but do not ever use soap on anything that comes into contact with the wine.
• Remove grapes from stems. Either crush or beat in a food processor between 20 and 25 lbs. blackberries or grapes per 5 gal. vat.
• Pour juice and pulp into a 5 gallon vat.
• Crush 5 Campden tables and dump into vat.
• Dump 5 teaspoons of Pectic Enzyme into vat.
• Fill the vat with water up to the indented 5 gallon mark, which is about 4 or 5 inches from the top.
• Stir the mixture well and secure the lid and while pressing down to get as much air out as possible, cover the hole with scotch tape.
• Empty 1 package of wine yeast into a small glass half filled with water and place 2 teaspoons of orange or lemon juice into glass. Stir well and cover with saran wrap or plastic wrap, setting this aside over night.
• The next day, slowly dump the yeast mixture into the vat near one place at the edge. Make sure all of the yeast mixture gets into the vat. Do not stir at this time, as you want the yeast mixture to remain in one small area.
• Secure the lid and place the air lock into the hole thru the scotch tape and press down on the lid to expell the air from the vat.
• The next day begin stirring the wine twice a day, always replacing the lid and pressing out the air in the same manner. Repeat this for 7 days.
• After 7 days, remove all pulp from top of wine and strain it to save the juice through a cheese cloth or the like. Also strain the rest of the juice, so that you save as much of the juice as possible.
• Add 10 to 15 lbs. of sugar to the wine, depending on how sweet you desire the wine to be. This depends on your taste. The sugar also helps to increase the alcohol content.
• Let stand 3 weeks and then begin to rack the wine every 30 days. Racking is siphoning the wine into another vat, being careful not to siphon any of the sediment from the bottom, even if it means that you lose a little of the juice. By doing this every 30 days, the wine will become clearer.
• After about 4 or 6 months of racking, test the sweetness and add as much additional sugar as you require.
• At this time, also 1/2 oz. of Potassium Sorbate, which stops the fermenting process, and 5 teaspoons of Sparkolloid to the wine and stir.
• In 30 days rack again and bottle.

BLUEBERRY MEAD RECIPE

Steps:

• In the stockpot, simmer 3 gallons of water.
• Add honey and stir continuously so that it dissolves and does not stick to the sides and the bottom, burning.
• Continue to simmer the must. You will see white foam rise on top. Skim away the foam.
• Cut up or grate ginger and add it to the must. Continue to simmer.
• Remove the stockpot from the flame. Cut up lemons and limes into quarters or halves, squeeze their juice into the hot must, and drop in the used lime and lemon peels in as well.
• Next, add the yeast nutrient to the warm must.
• Drop in the frozen blueberries, cover the pot and let stand for 15 minutes.
• Remove the lemon and lime slices. Pour the must with the blueberries into a sanitized carboy or plastic bucket fermenter (whichever you are using). Add about 1.5 gallons of cool water to the carboy. Aerate and pitch the wine yeast into the carboy.
• Seal the carboy with airlock and stopper. Place the mead in a cool, dark place where it can remain undisturbed. Ambient temperature should ideally be about 70°F or 21°C.
• After 2 weeks, siphon the mead into a sanitized glass carboy or bottles. This process is called racking.
• Again after a week, siphon the mead into a sanitized bottle or carboy. Let the mead age for 3 months. At this point, you can dissolve corn sugar in a cup of warm water and add it to the carboy.
• Fill clean bottles with the mead and let it age for another month before enjoying.