Mixed Berry Wine


In April 08, my wife and I was grocery shopping in Sam's Club and spotted some bags of frozen Townsend Farms Triple Berry Blend (raspberry, blueberry, blackberry) in the frozen food department. The mixed berries come a 3lb bag, so we purchased enough bags to make an 5 gallon experimental batch of this wine and after letting it bulk age for six months, we was thoroughly surprised how good it tasted when we sampled it prior to bottling the wine. When we gave some of this wine away to some of our friends and co-workers, we received very good feedback. The recipe below makes one gallon of wine.

 

INGREDIENTS

  • 5 lbs of frozen mixed berries
  • 4.5 oz of Cranberry juice concentrate
  • 2 lbs of granulated sugar
  • 2 tsp Acid Blend
  • 1 tsp Pectic Enzyme
  • 1 tsp Yeast Nutrient
  • ¼ tsp of Tannin
  • 1 Crushed Campden Tablet
  • Enough water to make one gallon
  • 1 pkg of Lalvin EC-1118 Yeast

Starting SG: 1.090

 

Directions

  1. Dissolve sugar in very hot or boiling water and set aside. Allow sugar water to cool down to room temperature.
  2. Just as a precaution, when the berries have defrosted, pick over the berries carefully and watch for mold or rot, though I doubt you will find any. Discard anything that looks bad.
  3. Put berries in nylon straining bag, mash and strain out juice into primary fermentor. Keeping all pulp in straining bag, tie top and place in primary. Add crushed Campden tablet.
  4. Stir in all other ingredients EXCEPT yeast. Check S.G.. Cover primary.
  5. After 12 hrs, add yeast and cover primary. When fermentation starts up, check the S.G. daily with an hydrometer. Also as fermentation picks up, the straining bag with pulp will rise to the top of fermentor. Be sure to punch down the bag in the must on a daily basis.
  6. When ferment reaches S.G. 1.020 (about 5 days) strain juice from bag and discard pulp. Rack wine off sediment into a clean jug or carboy and attach airlock.
  7. When fermentation has ended the S.G. will have dropped to 1.000 or less. Rack wine off sediment into a clean glass jug or carboy and reattach airlock. To help wine clear, rack again in 2 months and again if necessary.
  8. When wine is crystal clear, age it for 6-8 months or longer before bottling.
  9. If you want to sweeten wine, add ½ tsp of stablizer (Potassium Sorbate) before bottling

 

 

Page updated 09.07.09

 

 

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