Blueberry jelly and wine

Discussion in 'Sportsman's Paradise' started by jvalhenson, Jun 18, 2016.

  1. jvalhenson

    jvalhenson Founding Member

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    Blueberry bushes are loaded more than I think I've ever seen em. Me and the kids picked over 8 gallons in about 2 hours. Just grabbing big handfuls of em at a time look like grapes hangin there more so than blueberries. Went a little light on the jelly since I already made almost 39 pints of blackberry and gonna made a dozen or more pints of pear later so only made up 14 pints of blueberry jelly. Plus I had 6 pints of blueberry left from last year. Also did the usual 5 gallons of blueberry wine and plan to do 5 gallons of pear wine later as well. Got about 12 cups of pure blueberry juice left to make some pies with. Can't even tell we picked any off the bushes they still loaded.
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  2. KyleK

    KyleK Who, me? Staff Member

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    How many bushes do you have? I have 10, and they are freaking loaded too. Been giving tons of berries away. I just can't use them all. I don't know how to make the jelly or wine, so pretty much just use them for pies, smoothies or straight up with strawberries and such. I've probably picked about 4 gallons with tons of them still out there.
     
  3. Bengal B

    Bengal B Founding Member

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    I like to mix them in the batter for waffles and pancakes
     
  4. jvalhenson

    jvalhenson Founding Member

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    We have 10 as well. I picked over 8 gallons in just 4 bushes and didn't clean em just picked the big groups. Jelly and wine are both easy to make.
    For Jelly boil the berries for 20-30 minutes covered by at least 1" of water. Let cool and squeeze through a pillow case or cloth of some kind. Measure juice you end up with. Every 4 cups of juice makes a batch of jelly. Put 4 cups juice, 7.5 cups sugar, 1/4 cup lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons butter in a pan and bring to boil. Soon as it's boiling add in 2 packs liquid surgel and bring back to boil for 1 minute. Skim foam off the top and ladle it into jars to seal. For the jars I use 1 pint mason jars and each batch of 4 cups juice comes out to 4.5 pints of jelly. Have the jars and lids hot too by boiling them while the juice is boiling. Once jarred just leave em sit till you hear the lid pop as they seal.

    For the wine a gallon of berries makes a gallon of wine. I do 5 gallons at a time but can do less. Grind the berries first. I use a blender now rather than a grinder. Put them into a clean bucket. Add 1quart of water per gallon of berries. Cover with a cloth let it ferment 3 days in a dark place. After 3 days squeeze the juice. Once squeezed you will add 2lbs of sugar for every gallon of juice you end up with. Also add in a pack of wine yeast and stir till all dissolved. Put in a jug with an airlock type seal and set it in a dark room and leave it alone for 4-6 months till it stops working. Once it's done bottle it. Can kill it with some powder stuff that I can't recall the name of to make sure you don't get a secondary fermentation that can push out the corks or even bust the bottle if you don't use champaign bottles and put in clarify tablets if necessary but I never do those. You can rack the wine every month or 2 if you have some sediment in it which is just transferring it to another jug by siphoning from the top and leaving the sediment in the bottom couple inches each time. If you strain it good at the start though that will be minimal. Blueberry I never rack but if I make sculpanine i rack it monthly.
     
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  5. KyleK

    KyleK Who, me? Staff Member

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    @jvalhenson , thanks for the info. I may try some jelly this weekend. May have to wait a bit on the wine since I just don't have the jugs and such and am too busy these days to get them. I wonder, could I use some of my frozen berries to make wine?
     
  6. jvalhenson

    jvalhenson Founding Member

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    Don't see why not
     
  7. LSUTiga

    LSUTiga TF Pubic Relations

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    There's a masterpiece in here.
     

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