Blueberry Wine???????

[lydneyian]

Hello All

Has anyone ever made Blueberry Wine?

Was It Nice?

Was it bright Blue?

Has anyone got an idiot proof winemaking guide for this???

LydneyIan

[MKG]

I've made wine from blueberry juice (past its sell-by date, so 10p per litre - I couldn't turn that one up). The first lot I made had far too strong a blueberry taste. In fact, it tasted just like blueberry juice. The present lot was made with one litre of juice per gallon, and it's still slightly too "blueberry-ish". Next time, it'll be 750 mils per gallon. As you may have gathered, blueberry is a BIG taste.

Not blue at all, by the way - blueberries make a light red.

I've said that 750 mils per gallon would be my maximum for juice, and I reckon that would equate to 900 grams (2lbs) per gallon of fresh fruit. That's not much fruit to produce a decent body, so I'd either mix something astringent (rhubarb, for instance) or demote blueberries to the role of a "support" ingredient for otherwise insipid wines. I'd be very tempted to try apple and blueberry, but the apples aren't ready yet.

As far as actually making the wine goes, treat blueberries exactly as you would elderberries - tip in some boiling water, allow to cool, thump hell out of them with a blunt instrument (or squeeze with your hands), add sugar and yeast and ferment on the pulp for four days, strain into a demijohn, sit back and wait.

Mike

[lydneyian]

Thanks Mike

Im trying to discover if there is something that you can make wine out of - that is a bright unusual colour - do you know of any?

Ian

[MKG]

I don't know of anything fermentable which would change the normal white/yellow/amber and pink/red combinations. However, you can always add food dyes after fermentation. A deep blue rhubarb wine might be interesting

Mike