Strawberry wine questions

[yakhunter]

So the strawberry wine has stopped fermenting at about 1.001. I just realized that I forgot to add the bentonite, and now I have 7-8 gallons of strawberry smoothie (with a kick).

Also I was planning on adding more yeast nutrient, but I am thinking that it may be completely done fermenting. So I have 2 questions.

1. is it too late to add the bentonite?
2. if I add the yeast nutrient and the fermentation is already done, will this hurt anything?

Thanks!

 

[seth8530]

I prefer to use super-klear as my clearing agent, after fermentation has halted, so I can not comment on bentonite.

I think this late in the game it is too late too add yeast nutrient. Especially DAP based nutrients. The problem with adding nutrient too late in the game is that the yeast might not use it and then you end up leaving left over nutrient for spoilage bacteria.

 

[jamesngalveston]

if its done fermenting forget the yeast, and the bentonite.
rack it, clear it, stabilize it,bottle it.

 

[BernardSmith]

My question is how do you know that it is done fermenting? How long has it been stable at 1.001? What was the starting SG and what yeast did you use? What is the ambient temperature of the room? What was the maximum temperature that the wine got to? If it has in fact stopped fermenting at 1.001 OK. If you leave it to age won't it clear by itself when all the CO2 has escaped or been removed? When did you pitch the yeast?
On a separate note. Might adding pectic enzyme help even now? I believe that fermentation interferes with the action of the enzymes in breaking down fruit proteins but if (and I don't know that it has) the fermentation has in fact stopped then might the addition of enzymes to break down the remaining fruit particles work?
Lastly, I often add bentonite when I pitch the yeast but I know of no good reason why it cannot be added after fermentation has been completed. The action of the production of CO2 during fermentation works to keep the bentonite in suspension and so aids its action in forcing fruit and dead yeast particles to drop out of suspension and fall as lees but I cannot see why you could not add bentonite now while gently stirring the wine in the carboy or perhaps introducing a vacuum for a few minutes each day for a week or two to encourage some CO2 to bubble up and with it take some of the bentonite back up to the surface to fall again after encouraging more of the particles to clump together and drop to the bottom of your carboy.. In short - I think it may be a wee bit premature to write off your strawberry wine as a smoothie with a kick.. I would suggest that time and some simple action may be all that the wine needs.

 

[jamesngalveston]

if you get the same reading after three days, it has stopped fermenting according to all here...so i would watch for three days.

there is things you can do , if you want to make an early drinker out of it.
there is things you can do, if you want long time storage..
first and foremost, you have to know if it has indeed stopped the fermentation progress..................

 

[btom2004]

You can add Bentonite at anytime. As stated above check SG for three days in a row, if it has not changed fermentation is done or stuck.
You can add more yeast and attempt to restart it.

 

[jamesngalveston]

i think bentonite helps a lot during fermentation.
i have tried it to clear my wines after ferment, did not work good for me
i have tried sparkoloid it was no better.
i dont have much patience.
i use super-kleer all ways now, it usually clears in about 2 days.

 

[Turock]

I would get into a carboy and let it bulk age for at least 6 months before trying any other clearing attempts. You may find that you don't need it. Strawberry done with no water yields a dense strawberry that bentonite in the primary will certainly help. But if you diluted with water, it may clear well on its own.

Besides, even if the strawberry is kind of dense, you don't really need the bentonite, it just makes it prettier in the glass, which is why we bentonite--that and the fact that we use no water dilution.

When deciding to use additional clearing methods, you should always give the wine at least 6 months to see if it's going to clear on its own first. Then go to alternate methods.

 

[yakhunter]

Update

Holy Fruit paste Hell.

First of all, thank you everyone for your helpful suggestions and your great questions. I will try to answer them as necessary.

It was stable at the SG noted for several days. I do not know the original gravity (long story) but I can estimate it with some calculations if need be. I know what it was and I know how much sugar I added. That said, I don't like to do unnecessary math.

When it was fermenting it had a perfect cap that I pushed down several times daily. However, when it stopped fermenting and just sat for a few days (life happens) it went all strawberry smoothie on me.

It was so thick I could not rack it so I ended up scooping it through as sieve, working it with a a spoon, and duping the sludge into a paint strainer bag. Lots of mess and wringing and other nastiness later, I ended up with about a gallon of strawberry pulp and about 6 gallons of a wine-like liquid that was so tart it makes instant lemonaide powder taste like a pixie stick (anyone remember those? They are sweet. The wine wasn't).

So I dumped all of the "wine" into a primary and have let it set for a couple of days. I am hoping to rack to a carboy this weekend and see if I can leave some lees behind.

I refuse to believe that this is normal strawberry wine behavior. If it is and you all did not warn me, that's just mean.

If it is not, what the bleep did I do wrong?

To be fair, it smells wonderful, looks "real purdy" and tastes ok if you add a bunch of sugar.

 

[Turock]

If the must was really thick, it seems you didn't use any pectic enzyme in the beginning. You really have to break down the fruit. The pectic enzyme continues to work for about 3 days and that, along with the ferment, breaks down everything. When you have dense and viscous must, it's a good idea to use Lallzyme C-Max instead of regular pectic enzyme. It rapidly de-pectinizes the must and aids in clarity.