Help with Blueberry wine

[Mike]

I am about to make blueberry wine (fresh berries are at peak here in
Michigan). Do I need to add tannin? My assumption is that the dark skins
have enough.
Also, which yeast would you pitch? I have red star brand readily available.

thanks

Mike

[Jack Keller]

Mike, I just returned to Texas from Buffalo and the northwest corner
of New York. Blueberries, red and black raspberries, blackberries,
and both sour "white" cherries and sweet bing cherries are at their
peak of ripeness right now (the bing cherries are especially good this
year). As you guessed, blueberries contain enough natural tannin for
taste, but if you want it to last a while (for aging a blueberry port,
for example), I'd add 1/8 teaspoon of dried grape tannin per gallon.

As for yeasts, I'd use (in order of preference) a Burgundy yeast
(Lalvin RC212, Gervin No. 2, or SB2), White labs WLP760 (Cabernet), or
White Labs WLP 740 (Merlot). Personally, I think the Bourgovin yeasts
are the best for most dark berries (my Best of Show Black Raspberry
was made with RC212, as was my Grand Champion Marion Blackberry), and
that includes blueberries.

Of the Red Star cultures, I'd use Montrachet Red or Pasteur Red in
that order, although I know I am in a minority on this newsgroup for
continuing to like (and use) Montrachet. Having never experienced the
problems with that yeast that are widely reported in this newsgroup (I
suspect as hearsay rather than from experience), I'll stand by this
strain until experience directs me to abandon it. It is fast, very
tolerant of SO2, and utterly reliable at producing solid dry wines
from 22-24 Brix musts.

Good luck, and let us know what you do.

Jack Keller, The Winemaking Home Page
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/index.asp

[J Reiter]

personally, I would use a Lalvin K1V-1116 yeast for any and all fruit wines.
But if Red Star is readily available, then go for it as long as it is not
bread yeast. As to tannin, I prefer not to, but in doing so, I must use
bentonite fining at the end to stabilize the wine.
Joanne

Mike <email...@home.com> wrote in message
news:O_r57.25386$JN6.5...@news1.rdc1.mi.home.com...

[Bill Baker]

Do you ever use Lavin EC 1118?
I'm starting to really like this strain myself
Bill

[Greg Cook]

On 7/19/01 11:11 PM, in article 7cO57.1770$yk1.3...@dfiatx1-snr1.gtei.net,
"J Reiter" <jmre...@gte.net> wrote:

> personally, I would use a Lalvin K1V-1116 yeast for any and all fruit wines.
> But if Red Star is readily available, then go for it as long as it is not
> bread yeast. As to tannin, I prefer not to, but in doing so, I must use
> bentonite fining at the end to stabilize the wine.
> Joanne

Wait a minute. Didn't we just have this conversation? I thought tannin
helps to take out some of the protein. Your post sounds like you especially
need bentonite if you add tannin. Now I'm really confused.

----Greg
prairi...@hotmail.com
http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/instruct/grcook/wine/
http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/instruct/grcook/garden/

[J Reiter]

uh huh. I believe it's their strain of Cote des Blancs. Good for Chardonnay.
K1V-1116 is also a vigorous 'eater'. It also retains more of the berry
characteristics whether it be grape or fruit. A better selection for a fruit
wine, I think.
Joanne
Bill Baker <Bilbo...@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:3B57BDA3...@worldnet.att.net...

[Guy]

It sounds as if she has to use bentonite if she doesn not use tannin!
Guy
"Greg Cook" <prairi...@hotmail.com> a écrit dans le message news:
B77DA206.1BC57%prairi...@hotmail.com...

[Greg Cook]

Yes, I see now. It's that darn English language. It is so confusing
sometimes!

On 7/20/01 12:02 PM, in article FwZ57.13338$dC1.6...@wagner.videotron.net,

[Jack Keller]

Joanne, EC-1118 is Lalvin's Prise de Mousse. K1V-1116 is great for
what I call pastel-fleshed fruit (peaches, nectarines, yellow- and
pink-fleshed plums, yellow- and green-fleshed kiwis, and even
star-fruit, although the acidity of the latter suggests that other
yeasts might be better suited to it), but I disagree it is best for
dark-fleshed fruit and berries. I have made blackberry wines, for
example, with just about every yeast I have ever gotten hold of
including yeasts specifically recommended for white wines and meads
(but not ciders). I simply think Burgundy yeasts work better on
blackberries, blueberries, black raspberries, huckleberries, black
haws, and most other dark-fleshed fruit and berries.

At this very moment I have eight different batches of blackberry wine
fermenting, finishing or aging (one 6½-gallon, three 5-gallon, and
four 1-gallon batches). Four of these are using different Burgundy
yeasts, two are using Bordeaux yeasts, one is using WLP-760
(Cabernet), and one is using a "super" yeast from Germany. I also
have two batches of blueberry fermenting and one aging (a port). My
last batch of blackberry made using Montpellier (K1V-1116, in 1997)
was not that great and did not place well in competition, yet the
berries were hand-picked (by me) at their peak of ripeness and flavor
and were crushed within two hours of picking.

I know that blueberries and blackberries are not the same, but neither
are star-fruit and peaches. I would not use RC-212 on peaches and
would not use K1V-1116 on blueberries. However, the beauty of home
winemaking is that there is someone out there who would and would love
the results. I'm certainly not going to say they (or you) are wrong.
I just don't recommend it.

[ECWine]

Ive been making blueberry wine from a local harvest for several years.
I have always had success with Pasteur Champaign yeast.

I also had tannin and for the past 3 years have not cold stabilized
and haven never had any color, tartrates or protein instability.

I already have this years blueberry wine in a storage tank,, I am
making changes to my recipe so if anyone has any coments on this wine
I am interested. Blueberries are a tricky fruit to work with.

ECWine

> >

[Mike]

What are the problems related to Montrachet wine yeast?

Mike

On 19 Jul 2001 15:46:21 -0700, winem...@lycos.com (Jack Keller)
wrote:

[J Reiter]

Jack,
no offense taken, and thank you for the correction. There are so many
yeast strains out there, sometimes I do get confused. And actually, never
having done a blueberry winemyself, I would defer to your experience. My
experience has been, as you call them, with the 'pastel-colored fruits'. I
find it interesting and marvelous that you have found a working connection
between color and yeast strains.
Joanne

Jack Keller <winem...@lycos.com> wrote in message
news:cb6045a1.01072...@posting.google.com...

[Jack Keller]

Mike, since I haven't experienced any problems with it, I'm simply not
going to repeat the claims others have made. If others want to do so,
that is fine, but since the thrust of my earlier comments is that I
haven't had any problems with Montrachet in 36 years of winemaking, it
would be inconsistent of me to now report claims of problems. I think
it is a fine yeast if used at the appropriate time with the
appropriate must at achieve certain styles of wine. If you have ever
tasted any of the many wines from the village of Montrachet, I think
you will agree that it can produce really first class wines.

I have posted many comments about various strains of yeasts at
http:winemaking.jackkeller.net/strains.asp. I suggest you look there
and make up your own mind about which yeasts you want to use for what.

[Jack Keller]

Joanne, thanks for your additional comments. The "connection" I have
observed is not totally consistent (passion fruit, for example, seems
to work better with K1V-1116), but it is there nonetheless in a
general way. I had actually never thought of this "color connection"
before until I began writing my earlier post. In any case, I have
found very little to fault with any of your posts but had to correct
the EC-1118 mistaken identity you posted.