I made another batch of Raspberry Wine today. The berries were picked from our garden and then put in the freezer to store, and I used some from both last year and this year in this batch of wine.
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Process:
Began to heat a gallon or so of water in my brew kettle, and began adding the frozen berries to the pot to thaw. I also rinsed out each bag the berries had been frozen in, an poured this liquid into the brew pot. I continued stirring the pot occasionally until the berries had completely thawed.
I then used a hand mixer to break up the raspberries in the brew pot. I poured the berries and juice into my primary bucket, and then added enough water and sugar to bring the the OG to 1.090 and the volume to 5.25 gallons. I added the pectic enzyme, pitched the yeast, and sealed the bucket with an airlock.
8-31-13: Put into primary bucket. OG measured at 1.090.
9-17-13: Strained wine to remove berry pulp and seeds. Racked the filtered wine into a 5-gallon carboy. OG measured at 0.994 giving a strength of 12.6% ABV.
12-20-14: I let this wine sit for a while. I haven’t been brewing much recently because I have so much wine already sitting around. I bottled this into 2 750-mL bottles and 34 12-ounce bottles . FG measured at 0.994 giving a strength of 12.6% ABV. Tasting revealed a bit of tartness and dryness, but that may bellow over time.