Strawberry batch is WEAK!

[Tribute]

I made a 5 gallon batch of vitners strawberry and all I taste is alchohol. Very little strawberry taste at all. Any reccomendations? I followed the recipe on the Vitners can and my final alcohol percentage is 13.25% The wine is very clear and has been in 4 1 gallon jugs about 3 weeks since fermentation stopped.

 

[saramc]

What size can and how many did you use? This was their wine base or their puree?

In all reality, fruit wine really needs six months to come into its own.

If it has been at FG for three weeks, I bet it will kick back up unless it has been dosed with sorbate. You could take a bit from one jug, add some sugar and see if ferment resumes. If so, add more fruit(fresh, frozen, VH puree) and pectic enzyme while in secondary, though you would be better transferring back to primary bucket. It will bump up your ACV but you should get a better fruit profile.

Do you plan on leaving dry or backsweetening...backsweetening really brings the berries forward.

 

[Tribute]

I used one 96oz can and it was mostly juice with a small amount of actual whole strawberries. It has not been dosed with sorbate but I did add 1 campden tablet per gallon at the last racking. I also used sparkalloid to clear it. I am open to backsweeting or leaving dry. The little bit I have tasted i tried adding some sugar and it did not really help the situation. I thought about adding strawberry jelly just to see what it would do?

 

[saramc]

I used one 96oz can and it was mostly juice with a small amount of actual whole strawberries. It has not been dosed with sorbate but I did add 1 campden tablet per gallon at the last racking. I also used sparkalloid to clear it. I am open to backsweeting or leaving dry. The little bit I have tasted i tried adding some sugar and it did not really help the situation. I thought about adding strawberry jelly just to see what it would do?

Do not add jelly at this point, loaded with pectin, it will cloud horribly--though you could always play with a gallon. I would let the jelly sit on pectic enzyme for a full 24-48hrs before adding at this point. Maybe 8-12ounces, avoid sorbate/benzoate on label.

What about much later backsweetening with Torani/Monin coffee syrup, look for all natural or some use the frozen concentrate called Strawberry Breeze?
Unfortunately, most make just three gallons from the 96oz can of wine base, or use two for a 5-6gal batch.

But really, tasting it now is not really a good time to judge as it is so young. I would either add more fruit or start the process or serial racking, degassing, clearing and in five months work on backsweetening.

 

[grassybranchwines]

I just sweetened some strawberry with Smuckers strawberry syrup. It is mainly corn syrup with a lot of strawberry flavor. If you need to sweeten you can improve your flavor and also sweeten your wine.

 

[Turock]

Those Vinter's juices always make weak wines. They work the best when adding them to fruit musts at the primary. We use them to bulk up flavor--like on peach wine.

 

[jswordy]

Before you mess with what you have, be sure to draw 750 ml, stabilize it and cork it. Write on the bottle "Open in April 2015." You'll be amazed.

Natural strawberry is a subtle flavor, in the fruit and the wine, and our taste buds have been hyped up about what strawberry SHOULD taste like by the food and flavor additives industry (and that's why a boosted product like high fructose syrup is mentioned in this thread). Everybody seems to want Boone's Farm. You should taste raw alcohol in young strawberry wine. It will go away in a year. It takes about two years for a natural strawberry wine to be at its best. It grows more complex over time.

If you want to play with it, you could also add strawberry extract to it, which adds no sugar. You can get it on Amazon. Adding sugar to stabilized young strawberry wine also heightens the flavor, as does adding citric acid (or lemon juice if you don't mind waiting for it to clear again). Be careful with the acids, though, because it is easy to overdo it. "Almost perfect, just needs a little more" is exactly where you should stop adding. Draw a test glass and play with it.

Because strawberry is a subtle flavor, my personal preference is not to force-clear it. That just strips out more of the stuff you want, in my humble opinion. Time is your friend in winemaking, and especially so with subtle flavors. That's why I made 119 bottles of my last strawberry, so some would survive to two years and beyond!

 

[saramc]

Well said jswordy. I think many people think fruit wine is supposed to taste just like the fruit; they forget it has been fermented which changes it drastically. Things have come a long way with the availability of extracts, concentrates, f-packs, etc. And it is amazing how time truly will, usually, change a wine.