How To Make Bilberry Wine
Crush the bilberries with a potato masher or similar.
Boil 1 pint/0.5 litres water and add sugar.
Stir to make a sugar syrup.
Pour hot sugar syrup over crushed bilberries.
Make up mixture to 5 litres with cold water.
Leave until temperature of mix is around 20°C/70°F.
Add pectic enzyme (pectolase).
Add one crushed Campden tablet.
After 24 hours add yeast and yeast nutrient.
Fit lid and allow to ferment for 5 days (in warm position).
During the 5 days stir daily.
Strain the must into sterile demijohn.
If needed top up demijohn to near top and fit bubbler.
When fermentation has ceased add a crushed Campden tablet.
After a month rack wine to another sterile demijohn.
Keep racking until wine clears.
Bottle wine and leave for over 6 months before trying.
Bilberry is a wild berry native to the forests of northern Europe it is often mistaken for blueberry. It is almost impossible to cultivate bilberry. Bilberry has a high content of anthocyanins, as such its flesh is red, different to the green flesh of blueberries. The presence of so many natural acids makes it a simple recipe to make. Find more about bilberries here
The wine planner on this website suggests making this wine July to September.
Preparation time: 40 minutes
Initial fermentation time: 7 days
Time to be ready to drink: 6 months
3½lb/1.6kg Bilberries
2¾lb/1.2kg sugar
1 teaspoon wine yeast
1 teaspoon all purpose yeast nutrient
1 teaspoon pectic enzyme (pectolase)
2 Campden tablets
Sweetness: Dry
Calories per bottle: 600 approx
Yield: 6 bottles
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