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    Home » Recipes » All Recipes

    Blackberry Wine Recipe [Fresh or Frozen]

    Published: Aug 12, 2020

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    Jump to Recipe -

    Blackberry Wine Recipe!

    A glass of deep purple blackberry wine in front of a tray of blackberries.

    Ripe blackberries are a great summer treat... and they make a fantastic wine! Here's my Homemade Blackberry Wine Recipe - A bit of work, but worth it!

    Two wine recipes in as many weeks! Well, get used to it for the next while - I've been digging through all of my wine notes, and pulled out a bunch to blog!

    Until recently, we haven't really done any wine making in several years. We sold off most of our equipment - and gave away our huge collection of homemade wine - before we moved back to Canada a couple years ago.

    Also, as we'd known we would be moving, we stopped making wine a few years before the move. As it takes a year or so to make, it didn't make a lot of sense to keep increasing the size of our collection, after all!

    Before we moved, however, we made a TON of wine. Far more than we would have ever been able to drink, but hey - it was a fun activity to do together, and it makes a great gift!

    Some of the recipes we'd developed back then have been some of the most popular recipes on this blog. Watermelon Wine and Banana Wine in particular are usually in our top 3 posts, with Mango Wine being not far behind!

    Anyway, we recently re-purchased some equipment to go back to making SMALL batches of wine. We don't know enough people here to justify making 5-6 gallon batches anymore, and - frankly - the pandemic situation is not making us want to expand our meager social circle!

    But hey, at least we'll have wine on hand, right?

    Anyway, you can expect a new wine recipe every week for the next couple of months, at the very least. That'll get me past the bulk of the backlog, and give you a ton of variety to play with!

    A glass of deep purple blackberry wine in front of a tray of blackberries.

    How to Make Blackberry Wine

    If you haven't attempted making wine before, don't be intimidated! Check out our 3 part primer to home brewing:

    - Wine Making at Home Part 1: Why

    - Wine Making at Home Part 2: Equipment to Get Started

    - Wine Making at Home Part 3: The Brewing Process

    - Wine Making at Home, Part 4: How to Stabilize and Back Sweeten Wine

    Just a small handful of entries, and you'll be good to go!

    Blackberry Wine Ingredients

    This wine recipe requires only a few ingredients to make - super simple! Here is some information about those base ingredients that you may find helpful.

    A tray of fresh blackberries in front of a white background.

    Blackberries

    You can use fresh or frozen blackberries to make this wine. There are just a few differences in how to use them, and things to keep in mind:

    Fresh Blackberries

    When using fresh blackberries, be sure to use ripe berries, and pick through to remove anything that's not ripe, is moldy, etc.

    I like to whirl the blackberries in the food processor to break them up a bit, and let them sit in the sugar for a bit before starting on the wine making, as this process - maceration - draws the juices out of the berries.

    It isn’t totally necessary, but I enjoy it. There’s something satisfying about seeing the juices pool around the fruit early on, rather than waiting for the brewing process to draw them out!

    Frozen Blackberries

    When using frozen blackberries, you can skip the maceration process. Freezing and thawing the berries breaks them down in a way that ends up with a result similar to maceration.

    A glass of deep purple blackberry wine in front of a tray of blackberries.

    Sugar

    While sugar is technically optional when making wine, NOT adding any sugar will result in an INCREDIBLY dry wine.

    Sweet tooth aside, I find that pretty much any fermented fruit /fruit juice beverage (wine, mead, cider) just tastes better when there’s some degree of sweetness there. It really brings out the fruit flavour.

    When it comes to the darker fruit wines - this, my blueberry wine, etc - it IS ok to let them go dry, if that’s more to your taste.

    As a general rule of thumb, the lighter coloured wines (Mango, watermelon, strawberry, etc) don’t really taste like anything if they aren’t sweet.

    Type of Sugar

    In terms of type of sugar, we prefer to use plain white granulated sugar for this wine.

    If you’d like to substitute honey for the sugar (we usually just swap it out 1:1 by weight), you will brew a nice blackberry mead

    Alcohol Content

    When it comes to sugar, flavour isn’t the only consideration - there’s the matter of alcohol content.

    Your wine’s final ABV will vary wildly dependent on a few things: The initial sugar content of the blackberries you use (which can vary!), how much sugar you add, and what kind of yeast you use (more on that in a bit)

    Any amount of sugar will result in a higher alcohol content. Sugar - both in the base wine itself, and from the added sugars - is what feeds the yeast, the yeast eats up the sugars and gives off alcohol as the byproduct of that process.

    More sugar = more food = more alcohol... to a point, anyway. About that...

    A glass of deep purple blackberry wine in front of a tray of blackberries.

    Yeast

    The type of yeast you use will impact the alcohol content of the final product.

    Yeast organisms don’t have an *unlimited* capacity to process sugar into alcohol. At some point, the environment they’re living in - the brewing wine - becomes too high in alcohol for the yeast to survive. They die off, the fermentation stops.

    Different types of yeast have different tolerances for alcohol in the environment. That is, some yeast will be able to survive higher amounts of alcohol in the wine, so they’ll continue producing it longer than some other types.

    Some types of yeast will bring you to something like an 8% ABV, while others will let things run wild until close to 20% ABV.

    It’s good to know what you have in mind, when you choose your yeast.

    Note: I’m going to refrain from using brand names, as what’s available varies wildly between suppliers and regions! Ask your local homebrew supply shop for recommendations based on what you’re looking for.

    If you want a sweet wine with a low-ish ABV - without having to back sweeten it (more on that in a bit) - choose a yeast with a lower tolerance for alcohol.

    If you’re looking for a dry wine with a low ABV, choose a yeast with a lower tolerance for alcohol, and don’t use a ton of sugar.

    If you want a sweet wine with a high ABV, use a bunch of sugar with a high-tolerance yeast... and be prepared to backsweeten it.

    If you want a dry wine with a high ABV, use a fair amount of sugar and a high tolerance yeast.

    A very close up view of a dark purple wine, in a glass.

    Back Sweetening Your Homemade Blackberry Wine

    Sometimes, you’ll find that the yeast went a bit too far, and you end up with a Blackberry wine that’s not as sweet as you’d like it.

    ... and that’s when you back sweeten it! You can read my How to Stabilize and Back Sweeten Wine post for information on how to back sweeten it.

    More Home Brewing Recipes!

    While you've got your current homebrew fermenting away, why not consider putting a batch of something else on, to occupy your wait time? Here are a few of my other wine, cider, and mead recipes:

    Wine Recipes

    Banana Wine Recipe
    Blackcurrant Wine Recipe
    Blueberry Wine Recipe
    Cherry Wine Recipe
    Cranberry Clementine Christmas Wine Recipe
    Cranberry Wine Recipe
    Faux Lingonberry Wine
    Lychee Wine Recipe
    Mango Strawberry Wine Recipe
    Mango Wine Recipe
    Mint Wine Recipe
    Lychee Wine Recipe
    Partridgeberry Wine Recipe
    Passionfruit Wine Recipe
    Peach Wine Recipe
    Stone Fruit Wine Recipe
    Strawberry Wine Recipe
    Ube Wine Recipe
    Watermelon Wine Recipe

    Mead Recipes

    Black Cherry Mead Recipe
    Blueberry-Clementine Mead Recipe
    Blueberry Mead Recipe
    Clementine Mead Recipe
    Pumpkin Mead Recipe
    Wildflower Mead Recipe

    Cider & Miscellaneous Homebrew Recipes

    Hard Apple Cider Recipe
    Home Brew Hard Iced Tea Recipe
    Maple Hard Apple Cider Recipe

    A glass of deep purple blackberry wine in front of a tray of blackberries.

    Share the Love!

    Before you drink up, be sure to take some pics of your handiwork! If you Instagram it, be sure to tag me - @CelebrationGenerationCA - or post it to My Facebook Page - so I can cheer you on!

    Also, be sure to subscribe to my free monthly email newsletter, so you never miss out on any of my nonsense.

    Well, the published nonsense, anyway!

    ANYWAY. Let's get to that recipe, shall we? The sooner you get on it, the sooner you'll be able to enjoy some Homemade Blackberry Wine of your own!

    Blackberry Wine Recipe
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe Save Recipe Saved!
    4.32 from 16 votes

    Homemade Blackberry Wine

    Ripe blackberries are a great summer treat... and they make a fantastic wine! Here's my Homemade Blackberry Wine Recipe - A bit of work, but worth it!
    Prep Time2 hrs
    Cook Time40 mins
    Resting time365 d
    Total Time365 d 2 hrs 40 mins
    Course: Beverage
    Cuisine: French
    Servings: 1 Gallon
    Calories: 6924kcal
    Author: Marie Porter

    Equipment

    2 gallon fermenter bucket and lid
    1 air lock and stopper
    Siphon, siphon tubing.
    1 - 2 1 gallon glass carboys

    Ingredients

    • 4 lbs fresh ripe blackberries
    • 3.5 lbs white sugar
    • 1 gallon spring water
    • ½ teaspoon acid blend
    • ½ teaspoon pectic enzyme
    • 1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
    • 1 packet Red Star “Montrachet” yeast
    • Wine stabilizer of choice optional

    Instructions

    • Rinse and pick through blackberries, removing any that are moldy, etc.
    • Place in a large pot, along with the sugar. Using a potato masher or VERY clean hands, stir and mash blackberries.
    • Add water, stir well. Heat to ALMOST boiling, then simmer gently for 30 minutes. Stir in acid blend, enzyme, & nutrient.
    • Pour mixture into a freshly sanitized fermenting bucket. Cover with sanitized lid and air lock, allow to cool to room temperature (overnight).
    • The next morning, give the mixture a quick stir with a long, sanitized spoon, and – using sanitized equipment – take a gravity reading of the liquid (strain out any blackberry pulp). Keep track of the number! (This is an optional step, but will allow you to calculate your final ABV %)
    • Sprinkle yeast into fermenter, cover with sanitized cover and air lock. Within 48 hours, you should notice fermentation activity – bubbles in the airlock, carbonation and /or swirling in the wine must. This means you’re good to go!
    • After a week or so, use your sanitized siphon setup to rack the must into a freshly sanitized carboy. Put the carboy somewhere cool (not cold!), and leave it alone for a month or so.
    • Using sanitized equipment, rack the wine off the sediment, into a clean, freshly sanitized carboy. Cap with sanitized airlock, leave it alone for another 2-3 months.
    • Rack one more time, leave it for another 3 months or so.
    • When your wine has been racked a few times and shows NO more fermenting activity for a month or so (no bubbles in the airlock, no more sediment being produced, you can move on to bottling. **
    • If stabilizing, follow the instructions on your selected type of wine stabilizer to stop fermentation. For potassium sorbate, this needs to be done 2-3 days before bottling.
    • Using sanitized equipment, take a gravity reading, then rack the wine into clean, sanitized bottles. Cork.

    Notes

    ** If you're sampling as you're going, and your wine reaches the right sweet/dry level for you, you don't need to wait for the fermentation activity to end. Just skip ahead to stablization!
    IMPORTANT:
    Software generates nutritional information based on the ingredients as they start, and is unable to account for the sugars consumed in the fermentation process. As such, the calories, sugars, and carbs are shown WAY higher than reality.
    Additionally, the listed value is for the entire recipe, NOT per serving.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 6924kcal | Carbohydrates: 1762g | Protein: 25g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 223mg | Potassium: 2939mg | Fiber: 96g | Sugar: 1673g | Vitamin A: 3883IU | Vitamin C: 381mg | Calcium: 656mg | Iron: 12mg
    ... And hey, if you're interested in cooking with alcohol, you should definitely check out my first cookbook, The Spirited Baker. It’s FULL of fun, tasty recipes using spirits and liqueurs for flavour.

    Cover Image for "The Spirited Baker" cookbook.

    Combining liqueurs with more traditional baking ingredients can yield spectacular results.Try Mango Mojito Upside Down Cake, Candy Apple Flan, Jalapeno Beer Peanut Brittle, Lynchburg Lemonade Cupcakes, Pina Colada Rum Cake, Strawberry Daiquiri Chiffon Pie, and so much more.

    To further add to your creative possibilities, the first chapter teaches how to infuse spirits to make both basic and cream liqueurs, as well as home made flavor extracts! This book contains over 160 easy to make recipes, with variation suggestions to help create hundreds more! Order your hard copy here on my website, through Amazon, or through any major bookseller.

    Related posts:

    A close up view of a wine glass with with a deep red wine. There are cranberries and orange peels at the base of the glass, against a white background. Christmas Wine A glass of blueberry wine in front of a pint of fresh blueberries. Blueberry Wine Recipe [Fresh or Frozen] A glass of pale peach coloured wine, with 2 fresh peaches at the base of the glass. Homemade Peach Wine Recipe A glass of white wine is shown next to a small bowl of lychee fruit and a can of lychees. Lychee Wine Recipe
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Kirsten

      January 04, 2021 at 4:43 pm

      So, if I want to use frozen blackberries, how much do I need? Do I follow all of the instructions just the same way? Earlier it says to skip the maceration process. Thank you.

      Reply
      • Marie Porter

        January 04, 2021 at 5:36 pm

        You use the same amount of berries.

        You skip the maceration process and just put it all in the pot and got from there.

        Reply
    2. Amie

      February 27, 2021 at 12:12 pm

      My blackberry wine seems to be done fermenting before the first month. I racked it into the second carboy (step 8). The alcohol content is about 15%. (1.102 - 0.986 * 131.25)

      Should I have added something to get it to ferment longer?
      The flavor seem a bit "alcoholly"...but it's not horrible. It smells great 🙂

      Should I just let it sit for the 2-3 months like recommended in step 8, for settling? And another 3 month like recommended in step 9? Any suggestions would be great 🙂

      Reply
      • Marie Porter

        April 23, 2021 at 5:46 am

        Yes, definitely let it sit / rack it as noted. The racking can set off more fermentation, and the sitting will smooth out that alcohol smell.

        Reply
    3. Megan Caiella

      August 16, 2021 at 8:15 pm

      At what step do I put the sugar in?

      Reply
      • Marie Porter

        August 18, 2021 at 9:20 am

        2

        Reply
    4. michelle

      August 18, 2021 at 10:30 am

      Hi, I've currently making your blackberry wine recipe and peach wine recipe. When it's time to stabilize after fermentation, do you personally use potassium sorbate and metabisulfite or just the potassium sorbate? Thank you,

      Reply
      • Marie Porter

        August 30, 2021 at 2:23 pm

        Personally, we end up mailing it in, not doing either, and just hoping that we don't end up with bottle bombs after we backsweeten them!

        Reply
        • Kevin White

          September 01, 2021 at 7:56 am

          What do you mean, when you say "Bottle Bombs?"

          Reply
          • Marie Porter

            September 01, 2021 at 8:01 am

            If fermentation hasn't actually stopped, the bottles of wine will become pressurized and can explode.

            Reply
    5. Roger Hayes

      September 12, 2021 at 7:09 pm

      Hi Marie,
      Do you actually have any recipes for blackberry and mango wine making please?

      Reply
      • Marie Porter

        September 16, 2021 at 10:29 am

        Well you posted this on the blackberry wine recipe, so yes!

        The mango wine recipe is here: https://celebrationgeneration.com/homemade-mango-wine-recipe/

        Reply
    6. Westy

      August 05, 2022 at 11:24 am

      Hi,
      Can you confirm all the blackberry pulp is to be removed at stage 5. Bit confused as you refer to the must in stage 6 @ 7
      Thanks

      Reply
      • Marie Porter

        August 06, 2022 at 9:38 am

        No, the blackberries stay in the fermenter until the first racking. You just want to strain any pulp out of the liquid you use to take the gravity reading.

        Reply
    7. DavidO

      August 06, 2022 at 9:23 am

      5 stars
      Hi, Marie,

      How about a link to a seller of carboys? Whatever they are.

      Reply
      • Marie Porter

        August 06, 2022 at 9:36 am

        Hi!

        Carboys are the big glass bottles that secondary fermentation happens in. There's a link to my post about equipment early on in this post, and there's a photo and link to buy them in the equipment section of the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

        Reply
    8. Jules

      August 18, 2022 at 11:59 am

      Hi there,
      If I make this now, in August, can we drink it for Christmas?
      And if that’s too soon, is there a recipe that only takes 3 or 4 months until it’s ready?
      Many thanks

      Reply
      • Marie Porter

        August 18, 2022 at 1:18 pm

        I wouldn't recommend drinking any berry wine at 3 or 4 months - it's not a recipe issue, it's a matter of the time needed for the fermentation and clarification. 3-4 months will taste like yeasty jet fuel, no matter the recipe.

        Reply
    9. Jocelyn

      March 19, 2023 at 9:59 pm

      5 stars
      I haven’t tried this recipe yet, or any for that matter. But am wondering if there are any differences in the process if I choose to make mead instead of wine? Thank you

      Reply
      • Marie Porter

        March 20, 2023 at 5:59 am

        Not in the process, just use honey instead of the sugar.

        Reply

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