Chocolate strawberry ideas

[silverbullet07]

My wife has been after me to do a chocolate strawberry. Reviewing Jack Keller recipe he adds 11.5-oz can Welch's 100% Red Grape frozen concentrate.

I was wondering if straight strawberry would be any better or adding a different type of grape like Pinot Noir or Cabernet Sauvignon concentrate To blend in?

any ideas? Has anyone tried a different grape added to the batch? what are your thoughts?

 

[VinesnBines]

A lot of Jack Keller's recipes call for a grape juice concentrate and now they are nearly impossible to find. Since strawberry is so delicate in flavor, you might try a Pinot Noir or go with store juice and adjust the water to make up for the concentrate amount. For example, if the recipe calls for red grape concentrate you figure a 12 ounce can will make 48 ounces with water so you add 48 ounces of the bottled juice (make sure it doesn't have any sorbate in the ingredients). This has worked well for me.

On the other hand, I have done as you suggested and used a cheap kit wine as the base for a fruit wine. I used Sav Blanc for the base of a grapefruit wine and used store bottled grapefruit juice. I think it is turning out nice.

I would not use Cab Sav but PN might work or the bottled store - red grape juice, not Concord! Or white grape.

Hope this helps.

 

[silverbullet07]

If you did a PN or red grape blend, what would be a good ratio starting point. 1/2 PN and 1/2 Strawberry or 3/4 PN and 1/4 strawberry?

 

[VinesnBines]

I would follow the recipe and use the ratios indicated. I think for a gallon it was four pounds of strawberries and one can of the red juice concentrate. If using the store juice, I would add 48 ounces of red grape juice. (12 oz plus three cans of water = 48 ounces) If using the PN concentrate, I would need to do a little calculation based on the amount of concentrate and amount of water added. I would guess if you have 4.5 liters of PN concentrate, you would use roughly 9.5 or 10 ounces of the concentrate.

Does this make sense?

How many gallons are you planning to make? Are you using whole strawberries?

 

[silverbullet07]

I thought about using coloma frozen concentrate. Their Qt PN makes 1 gal. And their qt strawberry makes 2.5 gals. I was thinking two PN and a strawberry to ferment 4.5 gals but May be two much strawberry. Not sure.

 

[Gene Kimmi]

If I want a strawberry wine, I’d use just their strawberry concentrate and not add any grape. I’ve used Coloma’s concentrates to make several wines with great results.

 

[Jovimaple]

I did a FWK Strawberry and it is sooo delicious and much better than the strawberry I did from strawberries.

I added a little chocolate extract (cacoa nibs in vodka for a few months) to one gallon of it. I just bottled a few weeks ago and it's awesome at this point, but if I do it again, I may add a little more chocolate extract and maybe a touch of vanilla extract.

I want to see if/how the flavor changes as it ages before I do it again.

Edit to add the FWKs are on sale this week AND if you email them after purchase, you get a lifetime 10% off (from whatever the current price is) on all FWK - just make sure to set up/log into your Label Peelers account before ordering.

 

[silverbullet07]

I did a FWK Strawberry and it is sooo delicious and much better than the strawberry I did from strawberries.

I added a little chocolate extract (cacoa nibs in vodka for a few months) to one gallon of it. I just bottled a few weeks ago and it's awesome at this point, but if I do it again, I may add a little more chocolate extract and maybe a touch of vanilla extract.

I want to see if/how the flavor changes as it ages before I do it again.

Edit to add the FWKs are on sale this week AND if you email them after purchase, you get a lifetime 10% off (from whatever the current price is) on all FWK - just make sure to set up/log into your Label Peelers account before ordering.

I was wondering about that and I was looking at the FWK as you sent this message. I did get their email about the sale. Maybe I will go that route. Wonder if fermenting it with the Dutch cocoa would be an idea?

my largest primary buckets are 6.5 gal. Could I split the fermentation up into two bucket after all is mixed or should I order a 7 + bucket?

 

[Jovimaple]

I recently opened a bottle of my strawberry-from-strawberries wine I made a year ago, and it's actually pretty good. I just checked my notes and saw I used 4 pounds of strawberries for a gallon. It came out at 13% abv but it's actually quite smooth after a year.

It looks like a rose' in color. Here's a picture sometime after 1st rack:

 

[Jovimaple]

I was wondering about that and I was looking at the FWK as you sent this message. I did get their email about the sale. Maybe I will go that route. Wonder if fermenting it with the Dutch cocoa would be an idea?

my largest primary buckets are 6.5 gal. Could I split the fermentation up into two bucket after all is mixed or should I order a 7 + bucket?

The answer is ALWAYS "buy new stuff!" 🤣

Seriously, though, if you are sure everything is mixed well, I don't see why you couldn't split it right before pitching the yeast.

It comes with 2 packs of wine conditioner that get added in 2 separate steps later (the 2nd is used to sweeten to taste and is added a couple weeks after the first). If you rack it all back into a 6 gallon carboy, you don't have to measure the 1st dose wine conditioner to be sure each half gets the right amount.

That being said, I split mine into 5 gallon + 1 gallon so I ended up doing the math and splitting the 500 ml wine conditioner and the kieselsol and chitosan 5:1.

For comparison, this is the FWK strawberry (without chocolate) at bottling in a clear bottle:

 

[Jovimaple]

I don't have experience with fermenting on chocolate so I can't answer that.

 

[silverbullet07]

The answer is ALWAYS "buy new stuff!" 🤣

Seriously, though, if you are sure everything is mixed well, I don't see why you couldn't split it right before pitching the yeast.

It comes with 2 packs of wine conditioner that get added in 2 separate steps later (the 2nd is used to sweeten to taste and is added a couple weeks after the first). If you rack it all back into a 6 gallon carboy, you don't have to measure the 1st dose wine conditioner to be sure each half gets the right amount.

That being said, I split mine into 5 gallon + 1 gallon so I ended up doing the math and splitting the 500 ml wine conditioner and the kieselsol and chitosan 5:1.

For comparison, this is the FWK strawberry (without chocolate) at bottling in a clear bottle:

View attachment 86778

Thanks for the information. I went ahead and ordered the kit and a larger fermentation bucket.

do the chocolate extract work well? I have nibs I can start making an extract With. I would like a little hint of chocolate on the backend. Ive used nibs and Torani chocolate syrup to give it chocolate flavor before bottling and it has worked well.

 

[Ohio Bob]

I found the Torani to be thick and wouldn’t dissolve in the wine even with lots of stirring. Perhaps I should have diluted in water and heated it up. Now I use Hershey’s dark chocolate powder, much easier to work with. I don’t notice the flavor difference as my intent is to make the chocolate flavor be a little in the background.

 

[silverbullet07]

I found the Torani to be thick and wouldn’t dissolve in the wine even with lots of stirring. Perhaps I should have diluted in water and heated it up. Now I use Hershey’s dark chocolate powder, much easier to work with. I don’t notice the flavor difference as my intent is to make the chocolate flavor be a little in the background.

this is the syrup I use. I’ve not had any issues mixing it in. but I only have used it as part of my back sweeting.
https://shop.torani.com/collections/puremadesyrups/products/puremade-chocolate-milano-syrup

 

[Jovimaple]

Yes, the chocolate flavor at this point is in the background. I used 2 oz extract in a gallon, at backsweetening.

I actually have a second batch of cacao nibs on vodka for about a year now - I suppose I should finish it. I put an 8 oz bag of nibs in a quart jar and filled with vodka. I shake the jar every few weeks.

When I strain out the nibs, I will put the extract in the freezer for a day or two just to make sure there's no oil to scrape off (first batch, there wasn't any, but this has sat much longer in the vodka so I don't know what all got extracted) then I will pour into storage jars.

This is after shaking the jar just now:

 

[silverbullet07]

Yes, the chocolate flavor at this point is in the background. I used 2 oz extract in a gallon.

when you made the extract how much nibs to vodka did you use. I added two cups in a qt jar and covered it in vodka. Thought I would wait 30 days then strain the extract and add another 2 cups to it.


what is your thoughts?

 

[Jovimaple]

The first time, I used 8 oz split between a quart jar and a pint jar.



I think I am going to strain my current batch and add more vodka to get a little more volume.

 

[Jovimaple]

First batch, I left on the nibs for 3 months.

 

[silverbullet07]

thank you! Keep me updated how your gal chocolate strawberry turns out with the 2oz Extract.

 

[Ohio Bob]

this is the syrup I use. I’ve not had any issues mixing it in. but I only have used it as part of my back sweeting.
https://shop.torani.com/collections/puremadesyrups/products/puremade-chocolate-milano-syrupView attachment 86779

Ahh, syrup. I used the sauce, as you would find in the ice cream topping section of the grocery store.