Anyone who follows my blog or YouTube Channel can easily figure out that I love berries.   Blueberries, Raspberries, Blackberries and Strawberries are some of my favorite summer fruits.   In this post, I will share my Blueberry Wine Recipe, in addition to several ways to make Homemade Blueberry Wine.

Divine Blueberry Wine Recipe

Blueberries are all the rage with health conscious folks.   Whenever I see a listing of “Most Healthy Foods that you should be eating” on the web, Blueberries are always on that list.  So, why not make wine out of blueberries?   When we make wine from fruits other than grapes, we call them Country Wines. What I love about Country wines is that you can craft your own homemade wine that you can’t buy in the store.   This gives you a great variety of wines in your wine rack and they are a lot of fun to make. So, let’s get into the particulars on how I make this Blueberry Wine Recipe.

The first thing you will need is of course blueberries and a lot of them. 2 to 4 lbs of blueberries are needed per gallon of wine.   If you want to learn how to grow them, you can check out my videos on growing blueberries.   In fact, the tastiest blueberries I have ever had, by far, are the ones I grow in my back yard.   They are so much better than anything you can buy.   The hardest thing about growing blueberries is keeping them from the birds.   That is why I built my own blueberry cage, which is a net box that surrounds the Blueberry Plants.

Growing them is best, however I can’t grow enough to make wine. Well, I probably could if my family didn’t eat all the blueberries for breakfast… But… I have to resort to other means to make blueberry wine.   Here are some options for this Blueberry Wine recipe: (Remember, you will need 2 to 4 lbs per gallon)

Buy Fresh Blueberries For Blueberry wine

If you are able to get your blueberries on sale, great!   You may also be able to obtain them at a pick your own farm, which is a lot of fun! Whatever you do, make sure you wash the blueberries well, discard any nasty looking ones, and Freeze them before making wine with them.

Buy Frozen Blueberries For Blueberry Wine

This is what I usually do for wine.   BJs and Costco sell Big Bags of blueberries in the frozen section.   If you can get them on sale, all the better. The brand I usually end up with is Wyman’s of Maine, but any frozen blueberries would be fine for this blueberry wine recipe.

Wyman’s Frozen Blueberries Used For My Blueberry Wine Recipe

Buy Blueberry Puree For Blueberry Wine

You can actually get cans of blueberry puree for winemaking.   Here is a link where you can get it. What is nice about getting the cans of puree is that you don’t need to take up valuable freezer space while you are waiting to make homemade wine.

While I usually just use Frozen Blueberries in my Blueberry Wine Recipe, when I made the video for this recipe, I actually used both the frozen blueberries and the puree.   The reason I did this was simply to show on the video that there was an option.   The cans of blueberry puree work perfectly fine and if you don’t feel like using a mesh bag for the fruit and having to mash berries, then go with the cans.   I like working with the fruit, so most of the time, I use Frozen Blueberries.

Alright! On to the…

Homemade Blueberry Wine Recipe

( For 5-6 Gallons of finished  blueberry wine )

• 12 – 24 Lbs of Blueberries ( I tend to go on the lower side )
• Between 10 and 12 lbs of Sugar ( I go a little heavy with the sugar )
• 1 Tablespoon Pectic Emzyme
• 2 Tablespoons Yeast Nutrient
• 1 Teaspoon Yeast Energizer (optional)
• ½ Teaspoon Tannin
• 4 Tablespoons of Acid Blend OR the juice of about 12 Lemons OR a bottle of Lemon Juice
• Camden Tablets
• Wine Making Yeast ( I use various yeasts, but I have been using EC-1118 lately )
• 3 Gallons of Boiling Water
• Cold water to make up 6 gallons
• Optional (Bentonite)

You will also want Sparkolloid and Sorbate , but you will not need those until later in the blueberry wine making process.

Directions for the Blueberry Wine Recipe

Dissolve the bentonite in some hot water in the bottom of your fermenter. I use around a tablespoon.   Watch the video on how I do this step.

Next, I added the bottle of Lemon Juice.   In making the Dragon Blood Wine Recipe, I liked the way the sugar easily melted in it. So, I decided to use it in this recipe.

Then, I add the sugar and make sure it is dissolved.   If you are not using the lemon juice, you may want to add a bit of boiling water, but not all of it.

Add your blueberries to a mesh bag and then pour boiling water on top of them….. Remember to Ohhhh and Ahhhh as the hot water extracts color from the blueberries.   This is usually when I break out my Potato Masher and smash the blueberries… You can also use your clean hands, and many time it is easier with your hands.   After doing that, tie a knot in the bag.

Add the rest of your water and stir your blueberry wine well.   If you choose to, you may want to put in 6 crushed Camden tablets.   If you do, you will need to wait at least 24 hrs before adding yeast to your blueberry wine.   Keep this in mind, as you will want to make the addition of the Pectic Emzyme 12 hrs before the yeast. Add the tannin, yeast nutrient, yeast energizer, Acid Blend ( if you didn’t use lemon juice ) and stir that in well.     At 12 hrs before time to add the yeast, stir in the emzyme.   In the video, I chose not to use the Camden tablets…. So, I opted to put in all of these things at the same time.   Then, you will need to wait the 12 hrs before adding yeast.

I add the yeast by sprinkling it on top, however it is perfectly fine to make a slurry as per the directions on the yeast packet and then pour the slurry on top of the blueberry wine.

Then, I snap the lid on and wait for activity in the airlock, which usually takes about a day or two.   For the whole rest of the primary, I stir the blueberry wine every day and squeeze the bag of blueberries into the wine.

When my Specific Gravity reading is under 1.0, I then squeeze out the bag and discard it’s contents. I transfer the blueberry wine to a clean and sanitized carboy.   Taste the wine and see if you like the sweetness. If it is too sweet, put the air lock on and let it ferment some more…   If it is completely fermented out, not sweet enough or just at the perfect sweetness, it is time to degas and clear.

You can either stir out the bubbles in your Blueberry Wine with a drill mounted device or use the vacuum pump setup for wine making, as I am in the video.   The directions on how to make a vacuum pump for wine making is another posting on this blog.

After degasing your Blueberry wine, you can stir in 1 crushed Camden tablet per gallon and the Sorbate.   Stir that in well. Next, I stir in my hot mixed Sparkolloid and mix that in well, too.   After that is added, we need to let the blueberry wine sit for at least 10 days to clear.

After it clears, rack the wine off of the sediment into a clean carboy.   If there is a lot of sediment, you may want to rack to a smaller carboy.   Optionally, you may want to filter the blueberry wine, which I recommend. The last step is to bottle the wine. After bottling comes the hardest part in this blueberry wine recipe.   Let the wine age for at least 8 months.     The good news is the easiest part is next….   Take a bottle and drink one as part of your research and development.   I think this wine is outstanding after a year.

Learning how to make homemade wine is fun! So, I hope you have enjoyed making this Blueberry Wine Recipe.   Please let me know how you make out with it.

-Cheers