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There’s an old saying that the best time to plant a blueberry bush is 5 years ago. They take a while to come into production, but once they start, crops can be huge.
Once the freezers full and you’ve made your fill of blueberry jam and muffins, there’s often still enough to fill a carboy with homemade blueberry wine.
This recipe is adapted from The Home Winemakers Companion. The author describes it as, “One of the most interesting fruit wines…The basic recipe produces a fruity, easy-drinking, nicely balanced wine. Slightly sweet, it is a match for fruit pies, chocolate cake, ice cream, and soft, creamy cheeses.”
While the recipe has you simply place the blueberries and sugar in the primary fermenter and then top with boiling water, I find it helps to use a wooden spoon or potato masher to muddle the blueberries into the sugar.
I then give them about 6-12 hours to soak in the sugar, which helps to extract their blueberry juice. At the end of this time, you should have a good amount of blueberry syrup already, before adding any boiling water on top.
That’s completely optional of course, and as the recipe is written, the blueberries, sugar and boiling water go right into the fermenter with no delay.
Another option for pulling more flavor out of the blueberries is freezing. Freezing the berries for a day or two before making blueberry wine helps to break open their cells and release their juices.
Homemade Blueberry Wine
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 lbs blueberries
- 2 1/4 lbs sugar, about 4 1/2 cups
- 1/4 tsp yeast nutrient
- 1 tsp acid blend
- 1/2 tsp Pectic Enzyme
- 1/4 tsp tannin powder
- 1 packet Cote des Blancs Wine Yeast, or other wine yeast
- water to fill
- 2 tbsp oak chips, optional
- 1 Campden tablet, optional
Instructions
- Sanitize all equipment.
- Add the berries and sugar to a primary fermentation container. Bring one quart of water to a boil and pour it over the fruit/sugar. Stir to dissolve.
- Let cool to about 70 degrees F.
- Once cooled, add the remaining ingredients (except oak chips & Camden tablet, if using) and add enough water to fill the one-gallon fermentation vessel.
- Stir daily for 5 to 7 days. Once the fermentation calms down a bit, rack into a sanitized glass brewing carboy, add oak chips if using and seal with a rubber bung and water lock.
- Ferment in secondary for 4 to 6 weeks.
- At this point, either rack the wine again to ferment for another 6 to 8 months....or add 1 crushed Campden tablet and rack into a clean fermenter for a few weeks until the wine clears.
- Bottle the wine and allow it to age for 6 months before drinking.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I made this and it’s excellent! Thank you for posting it!
Wonderful, so glad you enjoyed it!
Granulated Sugar?
Yes, just regular granular cane sugar.
This was my first attempt to make this wine. And after I racked it on the 7 the day into a by mistake…a glass jug that I had just purchased from someone and with out cleaning… Might just throw it away..this just has been sitting outside in a box…however. it looked very clean and the previous use of the jug was to store moonshine. So I’d like to think it’s not that dirty or whatever. My problem is after I racked into this jug on day seven…it seems to have stopped fermentation completely. There is no activity what’s so ever. Did I do something wrong.
Sometimes they just ferment hard and fast, and it’s possible it’s pretty well done already (though I’ve never had any finish quite that fast). Try reading this to see if it helps: https://www.midwestsupplies.com/blogs/bottled-knowledge/how-do-i-fix-a-stuck-fermentation
Other recipes say to add yeast energizer and I saw this one does not have it. Was wondering what it would do with or without that ingredient
Honestly, I’ve never used yeast energizer in any of my wines (I just use yeast nutrient) without issues. Yeast energizer is not at all required (and honestly, yeast nutrient isn’t strictly required either, but it really does help make for a better wine and a more complete fermentation).
Here’s a primer on the two in case anyone else is wondering: https://www.northernbrewer.com/blogs/brewing-techniques/nutrient-vs-energizer-which-should-i-use-and-when
Hi. Just came across your wine recipes and they seem easy to follow. Couple questions on temperature. 1) Is there a specific temperature range for the fermentation stage? What about when the wine is in the carboy? Lastly are these temperature ranges the same for the Blueberry and the Rhubarb wine making?
Thanks so much.
I ferment my wines at room temperature in my house, which is usually somewhere between 65 and 70 for primary. If I’m doing a long secondary, I put it in the basement mostly to get things out of the way and that’s around 50 degrees (which just slows things down). Most people suggest doing everything at around 68 degrees, or a cool room temperature like a back closet in your house.
Thank you That helps
can i mix blueberries and peaches if I don’t have 3# of one or the other?
I don’t see why not. Give it a try and let us know how it turns out.
Hi it was all tasting fine and got to 8 months now and just tasted it and it seems a bit dusty and a bit of! Will this be ok after I bottle it and leave it for a few more months?
Wine can go through different flavors as things settle out in the process, so I wouldn’t be too worried about it. I’d go ahead and bottle and give it a few months to bottle condition before trying it again. Good luck!
I started a batch of this wine two days ago but forgot to add the acid. Will it hurt the batch to add it now?
Nope, you can add it in after a few days if you forgot it initially.
How can I make a 20 lt. Carboy of blueberry wine?do a × all ingredients?
Yes, You can make any size batch that you want.
I have two questions.
1. For the primary or 1st fermentation (the first 5-7 days), you can leave the blueberry in, but the secondary fermentation you need to filter the blueberry out before putting into a fermentation container with airlock, is it right? What kind filter to be used? Can I use a Grade 90 Cheesecloth?
2. During fermentation, is it possible some methanol and formaldehyde can be produced? Have you ever monitored the level of Methanol and Formaldehyde during fermentation process? Any kit can be used to detect the Methanol and Formaldehyde level.
Thank you
Yes, you want to remove the blueberry sediment for the second fermentation. It’s better to use a siphon for this. If you just pour it and filter it, you will most likely end up with sediment left in your secondary ferment. I have not personally done much research on the methanol and formaldehyde question but I did find this article that you might find interesting. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/chemistry/methanol