Ingredients (for a 6 gallon batch):
60 lbs. of blackberries
~10 lbs. of sugar (depends on how sweet the berries are)
3 tsp of pectic enzyme
EC-1118 yeast
8 tsp. yeast nutrient (DAP)
Water (to fill to about seven gallons)
Either use a press or a nylon mesh bag to squeeze the juice from the blackberries into your primary fermentation bucket. Take about four cups of the fruit pulp left over and put it into the bucket. Fill with water to make six gallons total volume, and stir vigorously to add oxygen to the must. Check the Specific Gravity, and record the result. The goal is to get the specific gravity up to about 1.09. The best thing I can tell you is to boil water, add about 8 lbs of sugar to the mixture to make an invert sugar solution. Add that to the must, and check your Specific Gravity, if still below 1.09, add sugar directly to the must, stirring well, and check again. Stop when you hit 1.09 or a little above. Add the pectic enzyme, and yeast nutrient to the bucket. Fill with water to make six gallons total volume, and stir vigorously to add oxygen to the must. Cover the bucket and let it sit until it reaches room temperature.
Spread your EC-1118 yeast over the surface of your must. It may take a couple of days for you to have an active fermentation. Check the Specific Gravity every day, and while it is above 1.00, stir the must vigorously a day to introduce oxygen.
After the Specific Gravity reaches 1.00 or lower, rack into a clean, sanitized carboy. Allow the wine to ferment completely dry, then rack the wine off the lees into another carboy. Stir the wine in the carboy to release the carbon dioxide, then add a 1/4 tsp of Potassium metabisulphite.
Let the wine age for at least six month, preferably a year. It should clear on its own. Bottle it and enjoy!
