The Urban Survivalist

So I decided to press my blueberry wine. The berries have been sitting in a bucket for a week now so it was time. I don't have an actual wine press so I decided to just make a ghetto press out of some buckets. It's pretty easy, actually. You just need two buckets. One has to have a bunch of little holes in the bottom. Put the grapes/berries/fruit/whatever inside of a 5 gallon nylon paint strainer bag in the first bucket. Put the bucket with the holes in it on top of that. SLOWLY push down on the bucket with the holes and let the juice drain into it. If you go to fast it will just spill out over the sides of the bottom bucket. Not pretty. Ask me how I know. Once you've pushed the top bucket down as much as you can just pour the juice into your fermenter. Pictures speak a thousand words. Here's the first bucket with the berries in a bag. And here's the bucket with a bunch of little holes drilled into the bottom. And here's the finished product after ...

Blueberries are coming into season and these days they're cheap as dirt. I've heard that they make awesome wine so I'm going to give it a shot. I'm making 5 gallons. Here's the recipe and the process: 16 lbs blueberries 9 lbs sugar 1 tbsp pectic enzyme 2 1/2 tsp yeast nutrient 1 tsp acid blend 1 tsp pectic enzyme 1/2 tsp potassium metabisulphite Wine yeast First you crush your berries. You also need to boil a couple of gallons of water and dissolve the sugar in it. Once your berries are crushed add the boiling water to them, top up with water to 5 gallons (I did 5.5 gallons) and mix in your potassium metabisulphite. You can also add a few pounds of chopped raisins or a can of frozen grape juice concentrate if you want your wine to have more body. Let the must sit covered for a few days. I use a lid with a hole in it. Some people just lay a cloth over the top. After a day or so add the pectic enzyme, yeast nutrient, yeast and acid blend. You can also add so...