"Look in your trunk"

While I was at work Tuesday, Ryan stopped by my lab around 4 to "say hi" on his way to Tuesday doubles. He was a bit sweatier than normal, but it was hot out. I figured he'd been working in the yard or something. He left for doubles at the same time I left for home. In my car there was a note: "Look in your trunk." When I did, I found a huge container full of blackberries that he had been picking behind my lab. He was sweaty because he'd been picking blackberries for me to make wine with, and it was close to 90 degrees out. So, wine we did make. With Ryan's new camera phone, we took some pics of the process.

Start out by figuring out how many pounds of blackberries we have. Here are the tools of the trade, a jumbo slurpee cup, and a 16 oz kitchen scale. We had 12 pounds of blackberries. Enough for about 3 gallons of wine.

Next, put the berries in a jelly bag, tie it off, and mush the heck out of it. Good job Ryan. I'm sure you're glad you had those gloves.

So what do yeast need to make alcohol? Sugar. 6.5 lbs of it to be precise. I dissolved a 5 lb bag into some hot water and added it to the bucket with a total of 9 liters of water. The remaining sugar can be added later. Too little is better than too much. I don't like sweet wine, and I don't want more sugar than the yeast can use. Alcohol kills 'em off at around 14-15% alcohol, so it's a tricky game of adding a little at a time from here on out and testing the alcohol content along the way.

After adding pectic enzyme to break down the blackberries, and campden to kill off the natural yeast, it's a waiting game. After 12-24 hours I'll add the yeast and the wine will be on its way!