Weird Things Happening with my Strawberry!

[Skywise]

Hi

I started a gallon of strawberry wine a few weeks ago - my first ever attempt at winemaking. The fermentation went fine and I ended up with an SG of 995. Fermentation appeared to have stopped (I gave it a couple of extra days with no bubbling) so I thought I was OK to do a first racking.

The wine was pretty clear with just a light haze in it and it was a beautiful pink strawberry colour. I happened to have a little taste of it whilst syphoning it out of the demijohn and it tasted delightful - very strawberryish and light.

After syphoning it into the clean demijohn, I added the stabilising powder as instructed on the pack - 1 tsp/gallon - and then watched as my beautiful pink, strawberry flavoured liquid turned a wee-like orangey-yellow. I smelled it and the strawberry scent (and flavour) have almost completely disappeared.

What have I done wrong please - does anyone know?

I'm gutted because, although it wasn't very alcoholic, I was looking forward to drinking it as a spritzer with some sparkling white next summer.

I've got another gallon of peach and banana bubbling away at the moment and I'm worried in case the same thing happens to that!

 

[DoctorCAD]

How much time between starting and stabilizing?

 

[Skywise]

3 weeks.

The book I've been using said that once the airlock stops bubbling, take the DJ into a warmer room for a few days to see if it starts bubbling again. That's what I did but there was absolutely no movement whatsoever (it was in the living room in my line of sight to the TV so I could keep a beady eye on it.)

 

[mmadmikes1]

Yep, Stabilizing chemicals will do that to Strawberry.

 

[jswordy]

It's probably k meta that bleached it. I use k meta and k sorbate as separate chemicals rather than a single stabilizing chemical.

How to fix:

1.) Wait. It may come back around red or reddish in a few days time.

2.) Back flavor. Use frozen strawberry fruit concentrate, all-strawberry jelly or jam (check label carefully), strawberry juice, or even strawberry sno-cone flavoring to add back some flavor and color. Then allow it to settle out again before racking and bottling. If you use the fruit concentrate, run it through a food processor first to make particles smaller. They will eventually settle to the bottom of the carboy. Remember that you are adding sugar, too, with most of these ingredients. It can take time to re-clear, but it will have color and flavor.