Blueberry Jailhouse Heaven?

[oceanbrew]

I just finished adding 10lb of table sugar, 5lb of blueberries, 10 teabags, 3.75 gallons of mineral water and ec1118 into my primary fermenter. I am a little tight on cash, so I've ditched the honey and am going for broke. I'm also going to treat it like a beer, and bottle it after 2 weeks. Hopefully, I will have sparking Blueberry Jailhouse Heaven. I've made a honey wheat braggot using only ec1118 and bottled it after two weeks with no problem. Yet, I used mashed grains, with honey (find my post on it). I'm not sure about this combination. Any comments or suggestions?

 

[StoneArcher]

This may be better in the wine forum, although there is a lot of crossover anyway.

Seems to me maybe a touch much on the teabags, but who knows. It all really matters on how strong the tea is I suppose. I hope it's stellar!

This seems to me like the best way of experimenting. At least for me. Keep us posted.

 

[Kdog22]

Not too worried about bottle bombs? I think letting it complete the ferment and adding priming sugar when bottling would make it easier to guage the amount of carbonation you will get. Plus bottling after only 2 weeks will give you a hazy drink since it's had no time to really clarify.

Just some thoughts, anyway.

 

[oceanbrew]

Does anyone else have any ideas about the possibility of bottle bombs? Every time I do experiments I worry about this. When I made a braggot using ec118 I bottled after two weeks, priming it. But I was using honey and beer wort. I've never used table sugar before. I was not even sure what forum this stuff should be posted under. So please any ideas are greatly appreciated.

 

[Kdog22]

Does anyone else have any ideas about the possibility of bottle bombs? Every time I do experiments I worry about this. When I made a braggot using ec118 I bottled after two weeks, priming it. But I was using honey and beer wort. I've never used table sugar before. I was not even sure what forum this stuff should be posted under. So please any ideas are greatly appreciated.

I worry about bottle bombs mainly because I don't plan to bottle in champagne or beer bottles that can hold carb pressures. But that's my situation. You seem to want the carbonation but i'm just not sure how you can accurately guage how much carbonation you're going to get because you're bottling while it's still fermenting. The way to take the guess work out of this is to let is finish out the ferment (much longer than 2 weeks), then bottle using priming sugar or honey in measured amounts, add that to the bottling bucket and bottle. The newly added fermentables will bottle carb your brew as disired and you will know how much carbonation your are going to get. Therefore much less worry about overcarbing and bottle bombs. Plus, now you get the added benefit of a clearer drink since you've giving it more time to settle out. That's the way I understand it anyways so just my .02

 

[StoneArcher]

Whenever I bottle, I bottle all as normal, but do one in a plastic bottle. This way I can give it a squeeze to see where it is at. Of course this also means that if I need to stop carbing, my only options are: cold crashing and keeping cold for the rest of it's life, or pasteurizing.

FWIW, I have yet to carb with primimg sugar. I have only bottle carbed a few times altogether. But, when I have; I did just what you are describing with the addition of one plastic bottle.

<Edit>

Why not let it ferment all the way out, play it safe? It seems to me that your recipe may turn out to be a good wine. Just curious.

</Edit>

Edited the last, I got posts crossed.

 

[oceanbrew]

I love this input from you guys. I have beer bottles and sparkling apple cider bottles to use. Like any good wino, I just cannot wait for it to be ready. Plus, I have promised people a taste, but every time it - my meads (with honey) - come out way too sweet. So I am going to do a rush job, and give 'em Jailhouse Vino! I have read that ec 1118 takes longer to ferment that other yeasts. Not sure though, I bottled before after two weeks, left at room temp for two weeks then into the fridge it went. Possibly this is why I didn't have bottle bombs before?
I would like more opinions, as I've got a 50-50 split as to what to do. Please keep the opinions coming.

 

[Yooper]

If you're not going to pasteurize in the bottles, I'd give you a 75% likelihood of bottle bombs if you're not going to take hydrometer readings and make sure it's done before bottling. Maybe more, but you might be lucky.

 

[nitack]

I love this input from you guys. I have beer bottles and sparkling apple cider bottles to use. Like any good wino, I just cannot wait for it to be ready. Plus, I have promised people a taste, but every time it - my meads (with honey) - come out way too sweet. So I am going to do a rush job, and give 'em Jailhouse Vino! I have read that ec 1118 takes longer to ferment that other yeasts. Not sure though, I bottled before after two weeks, left at room temp for two weeks then into the fridge it went. Possibly this is why I didn't have bottle bombs before?
I would like more opinions, as I've got a 50-50 split as to what to do. Please keep the opinions coming.

Ec-1118 is one of the most energetic strains from my experience. It may go much fAster than you expect.

 

[oceanbrew]

Another question...I have never made a large batch (5gallons) like this before. I usually make a one gallon batch using 1 packet of ec-1118 dry pitched. For this batch I used 2 packets dry pitched. Will this mean that my fermentation process will take longer because of the amount of sugar water that must be fermented? How many packets should I use if I make a 5 gallon batch?
Thanks!

 

[StoneArcher]

One packet is all I use. Unless I was doing more than 6 gallons, which I haven't done as of yet.

 

[nitack]

One packet is good for 5 gallons. At around the five mark I use two just to ensure a strong start

 

[oceanbrew]

Well, I think I have come to understand what you guys meant by, "Too soon to bottle." I have never made a batch this big before (6.5 gallons approx). I did not understand that it would keep fermenting and fermenting and fermenting. It has been going strong for exactly 2 weeks without slowing down at all. With one gallon batches it usually stops or slows down to a crawl with just a week of fermentation. I will wait another few days to see if it slows up at all.

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

Just bottle it when it tells you it's ready; not when you tell it it's ready.

 

[oceanbrew]

Still bubbling away!

 

[oceanbrew]

I finally bottled it. I'm waiting to see if I get some bubbles. I'm not going to age it more than 3 weeks.

 

[oceanbrew]

Final product. It was well received by friends and family. And, got people really hammered quickly. One person didn't know it was a blueberry wine and thought it was a sweet cranberry brew. Otherwise everyone knew it was blueberry.