Comments | heathen_guy: Bramble wine

heathen_guy

Bramble wine

Nov 08, 2005 10:26

I've been more productive than usual over the past couple of days. I now have a big bowl of purple goo sitting on the kitchen counter. Eventually, hopefully, this will become bramble wine. I'm making it with frozen blackberries (now thawed of course) that I found at the Giant Eagle. Scott and Judy (his mom) are both skeptical about the source ( Read more... )

Comments 15

Mmmmmm... khrymzon November 8 2005, 16:25:35 UTC

Sounds yummy! I'm going to be working on a batch of pumpkin beer here VERY shortly. Probably this week sometime. I'm looking forward to tasting that!

cammie018 November 8 2005, 16:29:23 UTC

I have brewed with frozen fruit on many occasions and been very successful. It should be fine.

heathen_guy November 8 2005, 16:36:08 UTC

But have you made bramble wine (in contrast to plain ol' blackberry wine) with frozen berries? Bramble wine doesn't use any yeast. There's something in the berries (black or rasp) that cause fermentation, presumably a naturally occuring yeast. Judy was afraid that the freezing process, which may include blanching, may ruin the berries for this purpose.

This is all hypothetical, though. It may come out great.

cammie018 November 8 2005, 17:25:58 UTC

As long as the frozen berries do not have any additives you should still be fine. If you are worried, up your sugar by about 1/4 cup. Are you starting with a simple syrup?

heathen_guy November 8 2005, 18:00:45 UTC

Nope, no additives. I did check the label for something like that. The contents were simply listed as "blackberries".

triskele_moon November 8 2005, 17:14:38 UTC

As the brewer of fruit meads on our household I can tell you that the frozen berries actually work better than the fresh ones, although I would have put them in the mix frozen instead of waiting for them to thaw. The freezing process breaks down the tannins in the berries and allows them to release the juice better. I always, always freeze my fruit before steeping in the must. It brings out more flavor... :) I can't wait to taste your wine.

triskele_moon November 8 2005, 17:16:13 UTC

whoops! I should read the other posts before I post... sheesh...

taran_stone November 8 2005, 21:58:29 UTC

Agree with this, ice formation causes crystals which rupture the cell walls, releasing juice.

Yay!

Additionally, there is wild yeast on just about everything. You are just letting it take over instead of a wine or beer yeast.

This can be very good, or ver, ver bad.

triskele_moon November 9 2005, 01:56:02 UTC

oooo... thanks! ...good to know... good to know... Now where are those 10 carboys we brought with us from VA.... mmm.... MUST BREW!!

dawa_lhamo_9 November 8 2005, 19:51:24 UTC

"But naked and ill-behaved children? Absolutely not."

But what about Alaric (the Blond)???

teehee.

heathen_guy November 8 2005, 20:06:24 UTC

He typically keeps his britches on.

wyrdicon November 9 2005, 03:36:50 UTC

Maybe you can help me - I've been interested in home-brewing forever, but whenever I have researched it I've gotten discouraged. It seems that you either have to know somebody who does it and invest tons of money in lots of expensive equiptment that's not easy to come by...or you can buy a cheesy-looking kit for $19.95 that only makes generic lager that's probably no better than watery budwieser. I've even been a member of a Pagan Forum that had a homebrewing section on it, but they treated me like a naive kid who wasn't a part of their club.

So, I guess I'm asking you to point me in the right direction. Are there any decent websites on the subject? Or simple recipes that won't put a large dent in my wallet? I'd like to try my hand at a berry wine or a mead I guess. Thanks in advance for any info you can give me.

heathen_guy November 9 2005, 04:33:41 UTC

>>they treated me like a naive kid who wasn't a part of their club<<

I think a lot of people are discouraged by that kind of snobbery. The truth is, brewing is fairly easy and can be as inexpensive as you want it to be (within reason). I grew up on hillbilly mead, brewed in common plastic milk cartons with ordinary baker's yeast and nothing but a balloon over the top of the carton for a makeshift "fermentation cap". It wasn't prize winning stuff, but after a couple mugs it began to taste pretty good.

I'm not recommending plastic milk cartons or baker's yeast or balloons, I'm just pointing out that you don't have to convert your spare bedroom into a small laboratory or worry about having the perfect yeast, or the perfect honey or whatever. You do have to accept that some of your meads and wines will be absolute crap no matter the quality of your equipment or ingredients, but rest assured that this happens to the most talented brewers.

I suggest you check out Mead Making for the Rank Beginner. (I'm not saying you're rank, that's ( ... )