Many like to post about a first successful ferment (or first all grain mash), or first still built/bought or first good run of the still. Tell us about all of these great times here.
Pics are VERY welcome, we drool over pretty copper
So I have this mate right, that has oodles of blackberry on the property. So I got to thinking that hey, this might make a really good drink.........
I never really realised how hard it is to harvest blackberry. For the amount of work put in it seems I came up with pittance. But that is ok because enthusiasm is a great cure all. So I have some blackberry now, which is great, and I have some scratches, which is not. So I am now looking at all the stuff on making a great fruit wash. I will document and let you all know how I am doing.
Starting off by getting some yeast (one that is suggested for fruit wines, I don't have the actual brand or # handy) and some campden (?) tablets. Have a whole bunch of sugar and a fermenter cleaned and ready to go
i dont have blackberrys but i have several mulberrys and boisenberrys. i just rigged up a 15ft. rake and spread a tarp on the ground and shake the branches. just pickem up off the tarp when yer done. makes a good wine or brandy.
How much of a digi-idiot can one become ... I read the post for the first time and thought "really, throwing your Blackberry in your wash? What's next ... my iPone?" And then it hit me.
Odin.
"Great art is created only through diligent and painstaking effort to perfect and polish oneself." by Buddhist filosofer Daisaku Ikeda.
Never done one, but have read about it round here. +1 on Mr. Piss's post (as usual) but I also read that it's important to somehow remove all of the stems or you'll get some nasty flavors in there. Maybe try a food mill that will remove seeds and stems? You could also make a neutral and do an infusion.
"It's hard to argue with the government. Remember, they run the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, so they must know a thing or two about satisfying women." --- Scott Adams
As a kid I used to harvest a lot of blackberry's so my mom could make jam. Having a long board dropping it on the berry bushes to smash them down let's you get into the larger patches and it doesn't hurt the stickers they just keep coming back each year.
I made some mulberry wine last season. It's turning out great by the way. Anyway some info in that thread not help you. And read about the mead experiments that I did with the trub from the mulberry wine. It to is turning out to be great. http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... t=mulberry
Cool, thanks for that. So I gather the idea is to ferment straight blackberry juice rather than mixing lots of water in with it? Man that means lots and lots and lots of picking, what the hell have I got myself into here!!!!!!
More berries less water and sugar will have more flavor of the berries. So I would try to get as much as possible. But we wont tell if you cheat a little. I did just a little.
"More berries less water and sugar "
this depends on what your making,if wine to much of a good thing can taste like cough syrup.
white grape juice concentrate works good.it raises the SG and does not water the flavor down.
Dnderhead wrote:"More berries less water and sugar "
this depends on what your making,if wine to much of a good thing can taste like cough syrup.
white grape juice concentrate works good.it raises the SG and does not water the flavor down.
I should have mentioned that. It slipped my mind. Good think we got you around Dnderhead.
I have blackberries in the paddock now. My plan was to harvest some (if it ever stops raining) and then just soak them in my linker for a month or so then strain and dilute with some sugar syrup. Probably pop in a little lemon juice too.
forrestgump wrote:I have blackberries in the paddock now. My plan was to harvest some (if it ever stops raining) and then just soak them in my linker for a month or so then strain and dilute with some sugar syrup. Probably pop in a little lemon juice too.
forrestgump wrote:I have blackberries in the paddock now. My plan was to harvest some (if it ever stops raining) and then just soak them in my linker for a month or so then strain and dilute with some sugar syrup. Probably pop in a little lemon juice too.
Yep, that's where I took the idea from. I don't see why it shouldn't work (dunno whether it will still work as a PD though)
Next time I see cheap strawberries at the market I will have a go at a strawberry pd.
Put down my first limoncello last week and did an arancello today. Now I just need the patience to wait the 80 days. Meantime just getting better and better at running my still (yes, birdwatchers) and accumulating a stock of spirit.
Tried a commercial gin essence and have to say that it's not too bad at all. Can't say the same for the bourbon. It's okay for drinking drowned in coke but is certainly not sippin' quality. (I didn't expect it would). I'll try letting some sit on some oak chips to see if it improves at all.
Sadly, I think I have caught some sort of virus. I find myself thinking all the time about how to improve my process, what equipment I want to buy next and which still to build next (devouring the boka details).
Well I have some more blackberries now, all in the freezer, well, freezing would be my best guess. It could be that they are doing something else but then when I open the freezer lid they revert to what they ought to be doing. I could install some cctv equipment in the freezer, but I noticed the freezer light only turns on when I open it. So whatever deviousness they may or may not be up to is at this point in time proving to be a dilemma for me. I shall forget that and just for the moment assume that they are freezing like good blackberries should.
So now, after, I must say, an enthusiastic bombardment of advise have deduced the following;
Don't put to many blackberries in, but put lots in.
Far be it from my novice status to convey my utter confusion at the whole shebang......
But I like the talking of a load of old toot as much as the next fulla.
No really, you are all to be applauded for your input! Unless I end up with a green mouldy concoction and egg on my face. In which case you still all deserve much applauding and todoing and so on and so forth and I should just stay out of the hen house.
I have not decided what the point in this post was, perhaps it can be relegated to the place where internet posts have no point?
I have done some blackberry panty dropper. My buddy gave me two one gallon bags full that he picked from his back yard. It has a light blackberry flavor when I was done. I first filled the jar to the top and then added 6oz of 188 proof and a bit of water to cover them. Stored it for two weeks and poured off and then added sugar to the jar. After a few days I poured off the blackberry sugar syrup. The flavor was VERY light but a great color. So I took the blackberry's that been soaking and put them in my juicer and got about another 4oz of juice out of them. The juicer worked so well I just juiced some more to get more blackberry flavor.
I had pre-treated the blackberries with 6 crushed campden tabs to (US 6.6 gal) and left it to sit for 24hrs before I pitched the yeast, so now two days into fermentation it is smelling a little like Sulphur. I figure that the SO2 (?) is doing its job. The barrel is still open to air at the moment and I am punching the cap and stirring it three times daily.
Any considerations I need to be making or is it all sweet and dandy?
campden makes sulphur dioxide..sulphur dioxide+copper makes copper sulphate .then in time will drop out of solution.
this is basically the same reason copper is used in a still. usually sulphur dioxide gasses off.the few times it dont then stiring
with copper/racking threw copper,or as the big boys do add copper .with wine this usually comes from late spraying for mold/insects.
