Blueberry Wine

3 1/2 - 4 lbs Blueberries
4 1/2 Cups White Sugar
1/2 tsp Pectic Enzyme
1 tsp Yeast Nutrient
1 tsp Acid Blend
1/8 tsp Potassium Metabisulphite (or 1 Campden tablet)
Water to 1 Gallon
1/2 packet Lalvin ICV-K1-V1116 Yeast

If using fresh berries, wash the fruit and place into a nylon straining bag. If using frozen berries, skip the wash, thaw the fruit, and place in the straining bag in the fermenter. Crush the fruit, squeezing to break the skin. This is especially important with fresh fruit, and in fact freezing fresh fruit first will help break down the cells and allow more juice (aka flavor) to be extracted. Latex gloves will keep your hands a little cleaner for this step and seems a bit more sanitary, but that is purely optional; after all, wine grapes were stomped with bare feet for hundreds of years and no one seemed to complain!

Boil 1 quart of the water in a saucepan and dissolve the sugar, then add to the fermenter. Stir in the acid blend, sugar, and yeast nutrient, then add the remaining water. Using the whole gallon of water will put you a little over a gallon of must in the fermenter when taking into account the blueberry juice, but you will lose some of the liquid when racking off the sediment after primary fermentation is complete, so this will help keep you from having to top up. Add the K-meta or finely crushed Campden tablet and stir well to aerate, then cover. After 12-24 hours, sprinkle the wine yeast on top of the must. You can rehydrate the yeast if you prefer, but I don't find it necessary. Cover with a tight weave cloth or a lid with an airlock. For what it's worth, I open-ferment all my wines with just a cloth cover with excellent results.

Stir the must and squeeze bag daily. After 7 days, squeeze all liquid gently from bag and discard the fruit. Transfer to a 1-gallon carboy and add an airlock. Rack after 30 days and add another 1/8 tsp of metabisulphite or Campden tablet and 1/2 tsp potassium sorbate. When wine is clear, rack at least once more, then backsweeten to taste if desired and bottle. 3 to 3 1/2 lbs of fruit will result in a medium bodied fruit wine, 4 lbs will result in a heavier bodied fruit wine. This is in fact is my base recipe for pretty much any berry wine, so substitute blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, or try a blend of different berries for a good mixed-fruit wine.