Blackberry and apple wine

Location: old and neglected orchards of North Wales

Mood music:  just spending my days mooching in the sun

Todays memories and soundbites
I spent the weekend out in the sunshine once again undertaking the final round of site surveys for the PTES.  This is a survey mapping traditional orchards as potential sites for the rare Noble Chafer beetle.  It's taken me some time to get round my quota, but the end is now in sight.  It has been quite sobering looking at neglected and disappearing orchards.  One can only hope that the increased interest in real cider does something to spur interest in maintaining and re-planting orchards.

Drinks
Anyway it became a brewing time.  Although the hedgerow fruit is very thin on the ground this year, mooching about I found a haul of blackberries large enough to put together a brew of something.  The orchard survey inspired blackberry and apple wine.  My freezer had last years apple crop saved as puree, so that did nicely for the apple part of the recipe.

Recipe
2lbs blackberries
8lbs apples
2.5lb sugar (makes dry wine)
1 gallon water
yeast and nutrient
pectolayse
vitamin B tablet

Wash apples and blackberries briefly.  Chop and then crush the apples roughly (rolling pin works well).  Put sugar in pan and add some of the water, bring to boil as clear syrup.  Pour this over the apple and blackberries in a brewing bucket.  Allow to cool, add rest of water.  When blood heat add other ingredients and allow to ferment on pulp for 5 days.  Strain into demijohn and add airlock.  Do not fill to shoulder but reserve some of the liquor to add once active fermentation process has toned down.

Blackberry fermenting view

Blackberry and apple wine must