I had to say goodbye to a dozen bottles of blueberry wine last night. Kinda sad, but necessary. Fermentation had restarted after they’d been bottled, which is kind of a big problem. Several of the corks had been forced part-way out of the bottles, and they probably would have popped all the way out if I hadn’t put those little shrink-wrap caps on them. Instead they just sat there, building up pressure…
\n
\nAnd that was the problem, really. I was using plain Riesling bottles, ordinary corks and shrink-fit bottle tops, none of which were designed to withstand the internal pressures that were developing. If I hadn’t poured them out, there probably would have been a rather messy explosion. Blueberry stains and flying shards of glass don’t really match my vision of interior design.<\/p>\n
As it was, several of the bottles opened with a distinctive champagne-like “Pop” and a cloud of mist from the carbonation. All of them foamed when they were poured out. I tasted the wine before I disposed of it of course. A little splash in a glass to say farewell to each bottle.<\/p>\n
When I’d first bottled it, it had been very sweet. I’d thought it might make a good dessert wine. After the in-bottle fermentation it had become a little bit dry, with a much tarter berry flavor, kind of like a semi-sweet blueberry lambrusco. My wife wasn’t that fond of the bit that she’d tried, especially compared to the sweet blueberry that it used to be.<\/p>\n
Still, I may get a supply of cappable bottles for the next time something like this happens. I’d like to try to brew a sparkling wine at some point, and if it hadn’t been for the risk of blueberry detonation I might have kept some of this batch around.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I had to say goodbye to a dozen bottles of blueberry wine last night. Kinda sad, but necessary. Fermentation had restarted after they’d been bottled, which is kind of a big problem. Several of the corks had been forced part-way … Continue reading