First Try at Strawberry

[Dend78]

Getting ready to fire up a strawberry once i juice my berries and I get some more. Im currently sitting at 24lbs I plan to try to get that many more again today if they have them in stock.

one question for you seasoned strawberry vets whats a good yeast? I am looking to go somewhere around 11-14% and I am guessing I will turn this into a semi-sweet, to sweet wine. I was thinkin Lavlin D-47 or some Red Star Montrachet, but i dunno never made strawberry before, recommendations?

 

[UBB]

what lb of fruit/gallon ratio are you using? I'm wanting to try a strawberry this summer if I can source enough fruit.

 

[Dend78]

im gonna try for 10lbs/gal if i can get my hands on that much, at .99 cents per lbs i cant argue to much

 

[UBB]

im gonna try for 10lbs/gal if i can get my hands on that much, at .99 cents per lbs i cant argue to much

Good luck, I'll be interested to hear how it turns out for you.

 

[Dend78]

Good luck, I'll be interested to hear how it turns out for you.

THANKS! Hopefully it turns out as nice as several have talked about on here

 

[Scott]

I have always used the Red Star Montrachet with good results. Maybe someone with alot more yeast knowledge will come along if there is any better one to use?

Good Luck

 

[Turock]

Don't use D47 on strawberry. We experimented with it one year and it did a great job on color but the flavor was blah. Montrachet is our favorite yeast for strawberry.

I hope these berries have very good flavor. The whole secret to great flavor in strawberry wine is highly flavored fruit and the use of no water. We always use 10# of fruit per gallon.

 

[Norske]

We have good luck with 71B. You may want to try several 1 gallon bench tests with several different yeasts and see which one best suits you.

 

[winemaker_3352]

71B has done really well for me. But turock is right. You need to make sure your berries have great flavor

 

[Dend78]

thanks for all of the input guys but it appears fate (and dangerdave) have stepped in to change my strawberry plans hahaha see thread below.

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum...awberry-coastal-white-wine-competition-37454/


I will still probably pick up a bunch more of these strawberries and give a strawberry wine a shot, the flavor is awesome and the berries are some of the biggest ive ever seen and 0.99 cents per pound cant be argued with either.

 

[Turock]

So is this adding the berries to the kit or making the wine seperately and blending them?

I forgot to talk about PH control on strawberry. I think our last strawberry wine--which was 2011-- has a PH of 3.4 But the wine tastes slightly too acidic. The plan this year is to get the PH adjusted to about 3.5 Be sure to always take PH readings on your musts---and adjust them PRE-FERMENT for the best results. Be aware that higher PH wines will then need a little more SO2.

 

[Dend78]

adding berries to the kit is what im going to do, thanks for that info i will keep a check on that!

 

[Dend78]

got a test kit, packet of yeast and 48lbs more lbs of berries last night ima do just a strawberry batch as well

 

[Turock]

Sounds good Dend. Since this is your first strawberry wine, be sure to use NO water in the ferment. Adjust the PH pre-ferment using calcium carbonate. You might want to bag this fruit because if the seeds get over into the secondary, they can cause off-flavor problems. We use Leggs knee-length hosiery for bags--if you don't have a nylon bag.

 

[Dend78]

will do now im questioning if i got the right acid test kit, cause im seeing a 3.4 - 3.5 on your post above and the instructions i was looking at said something like 0.15 or something see link below

http://www.greatfermentations.com/Acid-Test-kit/productinfo/5400/

is that what i am looking for?

 

[Turock]

Dend--what you REALLY need---especially if more fruit wines are in your future---is a PH meter. They aren't that expensive and PH control will make a big difference in your wines. Unfortunately, I can't recommend a meter because I never bought the type sold today for home winemakers. I have a professional PH meter used in water treatment, picked up many years ago that probably cost closer to $1000. Ask around on the forum--many others will be able to recommend a meter to you if that is what you choose to do.

 

[Norske]

I agree, purchasing a ph meter and a refractometer are 2 tools you will use a lot. The hand held digital ph meters cost around a $100 each and around $6 for calibration solutions. With proper care this will last a long time. They also have replacement probes when it goes bad. A handheld refractometer goes for about $50-$60 or so.
Look up morewine, they carry these items. http://morewinemaking.com/category/ph-meter.html

As far as buffering the ph, we use potassium carbonate instead of calcium carbonate. Everyone has their own opinions on either of these two, just thought I'd mention the other option for you to look into.

 

[Dend78]

PH meter added to my wish list

 

[xcaret]

I just started my strawberry wine last night, Well sorta , I had bought 9 ,2lb containers on sale at superstore here in Calgary for 75 cents a container. I froze them but last night ( a day later ) I took 5 boxes ( 10 lbs ) and cut the green stems off, then tossed them into a 4 gallon DairyQueen pail. I got 22 lbs of sugar today and all I have is bread yeast ,so after reading the above stuff about wine yeast tomorrow Im going to a wine making store and get some of each thats recommended here . I have still got 4 boxes left plus another almost full upstairs that are frozen from before . I can have 2 pails going at once ,with different yeast. I dont follow the usual technical recipes, just boil the water, pour the sugar into the water and when its all disoved let it cool a bit and pour it over the mashed up fruit ( in this case it will be strawberries) then add the yeast. put an airtight lid on and next day stir it ,then put the airtight lid back on for 3 weeks or longer and strain it and start drinking it. I used this method with pineapples ,it works great. I dont use the camden tablets or worry about sg or acid blend, pectin and any other thing. I like it old fashioned ( or I think it is ) . I think I'll go boil up the water now and add the sugar tomorrow I can add the yeast.
Neil

 

[Dend78]

Neil,

I totally understand here is one question i have, how much are you making gallon or liter wise? reason i as I used 24lbs of berries in the kit i have going, I used the juice from the kit about 1L of water and the rest is juice from the berries and got about 5 - 5.5 gallons once i removed the berries. you may not need to add to much water is what i am getting at. As for sugar content with the above mentioned I was sitting with an SG of 1.200 which is kickin it up pretty good. for sure keep us updated on how it turns out. Also this stuff is explosive it bubbles out of the bucket after about 48hrs and does that for another 24-36hrs after that. so make sure you are in a sink or somewhere easy to clean up.