How to Make Blueberry Wine, The Perfect Summer Drink

Maybe you saw it that episode of Parks and Recreation wherein Ron Swanson approves of its high alcoholic content, maybe it’s always been one of your favorites and maybe this is the first time you’re hearing about it. Regardless, blueberry wine and the process of making it should be common knowledge for every fruit-wine connoisseur. So how do you go about making this very sweet sounding, summer beverage?

The first step in any fruit wine is the fruit itself. Fruit wine is appealing due to the fact that it can be made from both fresh and frozen fruit. Although some of you may turn up your nose at the idea of using frozen berries it is a very common practice in fruit wine as it enables you to make it at any time during the year and still produces an extremely palatable final product.

To make 19L of blueberry wine you should aim to have around 15 pounds of blueberries. This may seem like a lot, but one does not need commercial equipment to make blueberry wine even at these quantities. So what does the amateur winemaker exactly need to create a tasty batch of fruit-wine?

Equipment Required for Blueberry Wine.

For those who already have all of the necessary winemaking equipment I advise you skip directly to the next section. For those who don’t, this is for you. There are a few things one needs in order to produce blueberry wine. These range from a Fermenter to a Bottling Bucket for the final product.

I am going to take you through all of them now, a brief description of what they do and where to purchase them.

The first thing you will need is a fermenter. Basically fermenters are the homes in which the sugars in the crushed berries will be transformed into alcohol through pectic enzymes and pottasium sulfite.

You can either purchase tubs, jugs or tanks depending on the quantity of wine you want to produce, all of these can easily be found online. As another important step in the production of wine is the density of the liquid, you will want to invest in a quality hydrometer.

A hydrometer is a device that measures the relative density of a liquid. The importance of this is that the density will affect the end amount of alcohol. The hydrometer is cylindrical and generally made of glass. Once again these can easily be found online.

In order to ferment your wine you will need a Carboy in which to ferment it in. These can be either plastic or glass and it is really up to user preference.

Once fermented, you will also need a bottling bucket in which to keep the wine while it rests for a few weeks before being ready to drink.

Other miscellaneous items you will need to invest in are a mesh bag (used to separate liquids from the fruit), a siphon (for transferring the wine from one location to another) and an airlock (used to keep microorganisms from tainting your wine). These are all relatively cheap and will not set you back very much if ordered from the right websites. Once you have all of these things you’re ready to start making your wine.

When purchasing any product make sure you have done your research on all available options and are convinced it is the right product for you.

Blueberry Wine, Step by Step

Now that you have all of your ingredients the first step in making your very own Blueberry Wine is crushing the fruit. In order to keep the produce in a central location it is advisable to crush the fruit within an airtight bag, but failing this, it is ok to crush them on a clean surface or within a pot.

For this example we will assume that you have used 3-4lbs of blueberries, all following measurements will be relevant to this. Once you have your crushed blueberries you are going to want to mix in 2-2.5lbs of sugar and making sure it is completely dissolved.

Next pour the mixture into your completely sterilized fermenter. Then all you need to do is add 3 gallons of water, half a teaspoon of citric acid and half a teaspoon of pectic enzyme to get the fermentation started.

Leave it for one to two days, stirring twice daily. This is when you will use your hydrometer. You are looking for a value around 1.090 this lets you know that you’re ready to move on to the next step.

Next add your red wine yeast (amount will vary depending on brand). Let it sit, stirring occasionally for a week. After this time is up, there may be some residue on the edges, don’t worry, this is not a problem, just remove it and your mixture will be ready to be strained.

This is where the mesh bag comes in handy. By pouring the wine through this piece of equipment you will make sure to remove any residual fruit. Once you are convinced all residue has been removed, it is time to move the mixture into your carboy. Use the funnel to guide the mixture inside, apply the airlock and your wine is ready to sit for around a month.

Once the month is up, you can transfer the wine to your bottling bucket. To do this, you will want to lower your siphon tube to the bottom of the carboy. Take the other end and suck through it until the wine reaches you.

As soon as it does, place the other end of the siphon into the bottling bucket. Once the wine is transferred, leave it for another month. This process can be repeated until you are satisfied with the taste of your wine. Once you are, you can bottle it up and there you have it. Your own, homemade, blueberry wine.

Make sure all equipment is properly sterilized before use.

Abbreviated Instructions

Instruction	Time	How Often	Notes
Crush blueberries	N/A.	Once.	You can use a pot, crush them in a plastic bag or even use a sterilized surface.
Add ingredients and stir.	1 to 2 days.	On addition and then twice daily.	Add 2-2.5lbs of sugar, 3 gallons of water, ½ a teaspoon of citric acid
Add red wine yeast.	1 week.	Stirring occasionally (once daily).	Add amount of red wine yeast specified on the packet
Filter through mesh bag then transfer to carboy.	1 month.	Once.	Use funnel to transfer liquid.
Transfer wine to your bottling bucket.	One month.	According to personal preference.	Use the siphon to transfer the liquid from the carboy to the bottling bucket. Repeat as required.