Have a strawberry wine plan, need feedback

[arcticsid]

Okay, this is what I propose to do. I am following madrivers grocery store strawberry and am going to roughly follow it x4. Do these numbers look about right?

13# Strawberries(have 3#additional # for fpac)
Sugar to 1.085-ish
1 tsp wine tannin
3 tsp Pectin Enzyme
6 tsp acid blend
(?) yeast nutrient
1/4 tsp K-Meta
Water to 20 quart mark

I have Premiere Cuvee and Lalvin K1-V1116 on hand and would like to use one of them if so adviseable.

Do I even dare to try to make this in a 5 gallon fermenting bucket?

I hope some of these questions don't seem redundant, I want to do it right and as you know, I trust the guidance from you all.

Please Advise.

As always, Thanks a bunch.
Troy

 

[Wade E]

Looks good to me. If you should have a little extra wine from the juice of the strawberries which is a good thing, Do you have a small bung to keep this wine in a small bottle for later topping off?

 

[arcticsid]

I do, Took me a bit to realize the importance of making that little extra. Really need a bigger fermenter, but I'll get it.
Thanks
Troy

 

[Wade E]

I highly dought you are going to fit 5 gallons of water plus fruit in a 5 gallon fermenter and if you do and that fermentation has any amount of activity you are going to have quite a mess to clean up!

 

[Tom]

Okay, this is what I propose to do. I am following madrivers grocery store strawberry and am going to roughly follow it x4. Do these numbers look about right?

13# Strawberries(have 3#additional # for fpac)
Sugar to 1.085-ish
1 tsp wine tannin
3 tsp Pectin Enzyme
6 tsp acid blend
(?) yeast nutrient
1/4 tsp K-Meta
Water to 20 quart mark

I have Premiere Cuvee and Lalvin K1-V1116 on hand and would like to use one of them if so adviseable.

Do I even dare to try to make this in a 5 gallon fermenting bucket?

I hope some of these questions don't seem redundant, I want to do it right and as you know, I trust the guidance from you all.

Please Advise.

As always, Thanks a bunch.
Troy

I thought this was gonna be a 3 gallon batch? The #'s of fruit is not enough for 20 qts (5GALLON).

 

[arcticsid]

Tom, please advise, I was trying to roughly follow mads recipe, what I posted was by 4, I quess I wasn't thinking, I meant to do my calculations x3. Mads recipe is a one gallon, and after adding the fruit, he added enough water to bring it to the 5 quart mark, thats where I came up with the 20 qt figure, though I meant to ask for x3, NOT x4, my error.
Troy.

 

[Tom]

Did you make this already? If so go and get some frozen strawberries from one of the Wholesale clubs (Sams if you have them) and adjust. You will need at least 10#'s if you and now making 5 gallons. Keep in mind you want alot for the f-pac now (another 5#). so plan acordingly

 

[Luc]

13# Strawberries(have 3#additional # for fpac)
Troy

Troy not trying to attack you as this is a general thing concerning all.

I had to think twice before I knew what you meant.
Fpac is something used in kit wines.
And I am still not sure wether it is used for sweetening or filling up after racking.

There are some out here who never make kit wines so do not know what an fpac might be.

So please do not use terminology from kit wines in winemaking recipes as people might get confused.

Luc

 

[Madriver Wines]

With all the fruit pulp you need to add alittle extra water to get the 3 gallon of wine off of it. I used a 1 gallon jug the first racking (1 gal recipe)and then went into a 3L a week later due to all the pulp that got sucked up even though I tried hard to avoid any. I didn't use a strainer bag due to the small size of my primary if you do then it wont be needed so badly. I would still over fill the water alittle so you can top off with it. My understanding of f-pacs is they are used to sweeten at bottling time.?? I have flavoring I got at the wine supply store but am thinking about going to the fruit method of flavoring and back sweetening. Thanks for keeping us straight Luc we count on ya to keep us from making a disaster instead of a drinkable wine.

 

[Tom]

For the confused;

f-pac is a Flavor Pac that is used to add flavor only. Yes there is some sweetening from the fruit. You can make and use a f-pac and not backsweeten. Most often is used in fruit wines. Some "kits" also include their own f-pac.

Backsweeten is when you add a sugar syrup (simple syrup) to sweeten your wine. Some wines only need to be sweetened and no f-pac is needed.

Both are used for different reasons. Both should be added AFTER you added k-meta and sorbate. Otherwise you may restart fermentation.

 

[Madriver Wines]

Thanks for the clarification Tom. I was going to do both at the same time by adding sugar to the f-pac when cooking it down. I will want to sweeten some what but adding flavor and color is the primary goal.

 

[Tom]

A rule of thumb on f-pacs
I would use at least 20% of what you used to make the wine.
I.E. 25# of fruit 5# of fruit min for f-pac.
After adding the f-pac and mixed then Taste, Taste, Taste when backsweetening.

 

[Madriver Wines]

Well the 1 gallon of strawberry I posted has cleared! In only 6 weeks! I tried to degass but not sure how well I did?? I made a fruit pac with 1 lb of strawberries and added a cup of sugar to it. I strained it several times and still got alittle pulp. Tiny flecks which settled to the bottom quickly. I will check it tonight and maybe bottle if it is clear again. The f-pac added alot of color and I am sure flavor, it tasted great in the pan lol. Will up date later.

 

[Wade E]

Give it more time m y friend!

 

[Madriver Wines]

It has cleared nicely and I bottled it tonight. The taste is great and will only get better if I can leave it alone long enough. Thanks Wade and others who have helped me along the way. I am just now enjoying the fruits of my labor. No pun intended.

 

[Wade E]

How many days since you added fining agent?