Blueberry WIne

I'm having a go at blueberry wine. I love blueberries and think blueberry wine would be just delish. I finally started some up today. Bleached and Starsan'd all my stuff and think I should be good to go. I couldn't find a mesh bag to put the fruit in so it will be a bit messy, but it should be OK I think. I'll just have to be careful when I rack it off later and lose a bit when I rack it. Such is life...

My recipe is as follows (for 3 gallons):

8Lb blueberries washed and cleaned and skooshed up.
5 Lb sugar + 10L water (boiled 2 minutes) and pour over the fruit
Stir in:
1 1/2 t pectic enzyme
1 1/2 t yeast nutrient
1 can welches grape juice concentrate (~1.2 cups)
2 t acid blend
3 crushed campden tablets.

Tomorrow ~ 24h later, I'll take the S.G. and then pitch the EC-1118 yeast and let her bubble away until it gets down to racking S.G. and tuck it away into the  carbuoy and let it sit until it clears. I may have to rack it again before bottling in a few months...then I have to pretend it's not there for a while. Tricky. I see now why winemakers make lots of small batches. Often.

I picked up a 1 gallon carboy today...think I'll try out some peach wine or maybe saskatoon berry next weekend as an experiment.  In my head it seems like a lot to do for just 1 gallon, but I need to experiment a bit. I want to try just one gallon (4-5 bottles) and see how it tastes. I'm waiting for my supervisor to give me her final sign off on the thesis tomorrow so instead of fidgeting, I'm trying to keep busy and adjust to having less things to do. Instead of munching on everything in sight (I eat when I'm happy/sad/stressed/mad/glad/anything),  brewing may be my pastime for a while. I still have my defense to work on but it's not manic like before. It's all a bit odd...it will take time to adjust. I haven't defended yet so it's not over, but once my final thesis goes to the external on tuesday it will be quite the   relief...

We don't drink a tonne, so I'm trying to stick to smaller wine batches and by next summer we should have a few options to choose from. My Dad keeps pestering me about banana wine. I made him some as a christmas gift when I was 13 and he still remembers it. I recall very little about the wine Mom helped me make, but I'm going to try and find something and have a go at it. I recall it had lots of bananas and raisins. Once the blueberry is bottled I'll have a go at it. :)

As for now I'm starting some muffins and a getting a batch of India Pale Ale underway. It should be ready to bottle in a few weeks.
Mee hee.
Kitchen science :)

Went to the farmer's market this morning and have some yummy looking heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, baby potatoes for supper. Trying to think of how to yum them up. I may make some Foccatia. We shall see. God I love this free time business.
Nom. nom.
Ah.