Blackberry (Bramble) Wine Recipe

Blackberry wine is one of the easiest and most rewarding hedgerow wines you can make. It just takes a short walk to get the blackberries off the brambles in the hedges, a couple of tiny scratches from the thorns and then back home to make wine.

This is dark red, with a deep flavour, a sweetness and a good kick of alcohol.

Great on its own, or pair it with rich meats, game, or for that extra level of luxury, drizzle over a Summer Pudding and add lashings of good quality vanilla ice-cream.

Scroll to the bottom and watch our video of Davin showing you how to make Blackberry, also called Bramble Wine.

Ingredients
To Make Blackberry Wine, You will need:

3lb BlackBerries (washed)
3lb sugar
6 Pints Boiling Water
Campden Tablets
1 tsp Pectolase
1 tsp Red Wine Yeast
1 tsp Yeast Nutrient
Muslin / Straining Bag  

Method

Brambles grow pretty much everywhere, all you have to do is find a patch of land that has become overgrown and it's very likely you'll find brambles. There are over 300 varieties of Blackberries, so be sure to look for those big plump berries and pass on the small dense hard ones.

Once you have been to the hedgerows and picked your blackberries, it's time to take them home. If you are not quite ready to make your wine, pop them in the freezer and use them when you are ready.

If you have missed the picking season, but find some in the frozen isle of the supermarket, then you can use them too.

1 - Remember to sterilise all equipment before use.

2 - Take the blackberries and put them in a fermenting bucket.

3 - Use a potato masher to squish them slightly to help release all of their lovely juice. If you don't have one, then get in there with your hands, but be warned, you'll have pink coloured hands for a few days..

4 - Pour on the 6 pints of boiling water and stir thoroughly.

5 - Add the 3lb of sugar and stir until thoroughly dissolved.

6 - Cover and leave to cool to 20°C.

7 - Crush 1 Campden Tablet and add this along with the pectolase and stir.

8 - Pop on the lid and put somewhere between 18-22°C for 24 hours to allow the pectolase to work it's magic.

9 - Take a hydrometer reading and save this for later.

10 -Stir in the yeast and yeast nutrient.

11 - Put the lid on loosely and transfer to somewhere warm (approx 20°C) for 7 days, stirring daily.

12 - After 7 days, using the muslin / Straining bag, strain into another bucket to remove most of the blackberries.

13 - Transfer the liquid into a demi-john to the top of the shoulder. Fit a bung and airlock (half filled with steriliser water) and transfer to a cool corner in the house, ideally between 16°C and 20°C to allow for the the fermentation to complete.

This can take up to 4 weeks.

14 - Once the fermentation has completed, rack the wine off the sediment into a clean, sterilised demi-john. Add 1 crushed Campden tablet and stir. Refit the airlock and leave to clear.

15 - You may need to rack this wine a couple more times until it is completely clear.

16 - Once clear, take the final hydrometer reading. This will tell you the proof of your finished wine.

17 - Bottle and ideally leave for 6 months for its full flavour potential to be reached, but it is also great for drinking after just a month.

This wine is a very rich fruity red, fruitier than a rose, but without the dry tannins found in a deep red. Full of flavour, nice sweetness that balances out the alcohol.

Depending on the sugars in the fruit, this can be very strong, so you may want to check your gravity with your hydrometer at the end of stage 3 and then adjust the sugar in step 4 to create a wine around 12-14%.

Watch Our video on YouTube. Davin will take you through the recipe and the process to make one of the easiest homebrew wines that tastes fantastic!

Cheers & Happy brewing.

Home brewed wine can be very strong, so remember to drink responsibly.

View our Homebrew Recipe Videos on Our YouTube Channel

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