Programming the start of my first strawberry wine...

[geek]

I ordered somestuff from Morewine (d254 yeast, opti-red, etc) and will be getting them tomorrow.
My plan is to buy the frozen strawberries at Costco (6lbs. bag for $8.99).
I haven't decided if a 3gal or 5gal batch yet.

I am trying to time this right due to the shipping of some ingredients coming tomorrow..

I'm thinking about getting the frozen berries this evening (4pm or so after work) and start to thaw them. I have pectic enzyme at home but not sure if I should wait for the berries to really soften up by tomorrow.

Since the Booster Rouge, Opti-Red and Lallzyme EX-V are added when the berries are soft/mashed/thawed, I am thinking that getting the frozen berries this evening will take the thawing process many hours to get them to room temperature so by the time they are thawed the above components will arrive tomorrow afternoon but then the yeast won't be pitched until Thursday, I could pitch in the morning to make it a 12-hour window after adding the ingredients.

In summary:
1-get frozen berries late this afternoon: open all bags and placed all berries in an open plastic bucket to start thawing. Add pectic enzyme now? how about sugar or wait until thawed?

2-tomorrow afternoon: when berries are soft add Booster Rouge, Opti-Red and Lallzyme EX-V and some sulfites (k-meta).
Take PH reading and adjust as needed using potassium bicarbonate I have at hand.

3-Thursday (morning?) hydrate D254 with ferm-k (what I have at hand) and then pitch......or do this in the afternoon about 24 hours after adding ingredients from step 2.

Thinking about putting all berries in strainer bags once thawed and ingredients added but before pitching yeast. I think I am buying 6 bags of frozen berries for a total of 36lbs for a 3gal batch.

..any suggestions please chime in....

..

 

[Deezil]

I responded to your PM, but I'll post it here as well, to stay current with this thread... Made some changes, after thinking it over a bit more;


1 - Get your frozen berries late this afternoon; start thawing them and add SO2/Sulfites to keep it protected. This will buy you some time as well, as pectic enzymes dont work in the presence of a lot of SO2. Let them thaw to room temp with the sulfites protecting them. I'd use 1/4 tsp of sulfites.

2A - Is there a way to add the Lallzyme EX-V before work, or in the morning? 12 hours after starting the thaw/sulfite addition. It's a specialized pectic enzyme, so no need for the generic stuff.. This EX-V is going to do a better job than the generic.

2B - Tomorrow afternoon, add your Booster Rouge, Opti-Red; Measure and adjust the acidity and sugar levels

3 - Pitch your yeast when its been over 24 hours since the sulfite addition, over 12 hours since the EX-V addition, and you've adjusted the sugar and acidity..

Dont rehydrate the yeast with the Fermaid-K, you only use Go-Ferm for that, but Fermaid-K will feed the yeast/must once there's visual signs of fermentation.. You want to wait for the 'lag phase' to finish though - the time after you've added the yeast but before you see fermentation happening, thats the lag phase.. Wait for that to be over before you add the Fermaid-K to the whole batch.

 

[drumlinridgewinery]

Thinking about putting all berries in strainer bags once thawed and ingredients added but before pitching yeast. I think I am buying 6 bags of frozen berries for a total of 36lbs for a 3gal batch.

..any suggestions please chime in....

Dont think about it. Just do it. Made a strawberry once without the bags never again. Sounds like it should be good.

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

You have a lot of faith in the delivery of your winemaking supplies, I would vote for a little patience and wait until you have everything at hand before starting so your must isnt sitting there not doing anything waiting for something that has been delayed due to a storm. WVMJ

 

[geek]

shipment is definitely coming with mail man this afternoon.

I checked the berries and they started to be soft after 12 hours but still very cold; last night I split the batch into 2 buckets to better move them around and get them separated.
I think the berries will still be as a whole piece this afternoon so my plan is to start mashing them into a mush while in the bucket, then add the Lallzyme EX-V, then possibly later tonight add opti-red and Booster Rouge, and check for PH (Ok to add the lallzyme, Booster Rouge and opti-red at the same time??)....

Based on the juice extraction then put them in strainer bags and pitch yeast tomorrow morning....

The reason this is a bit different for me is because I've done many dragon blood which use lots of water and the fruit bag can be placed in and sort of floating in the water but since this is all-fruit I wasn't sure how one would add the yeast if there's not enough liquid surface........

..

 

[geek]

Crap, the Lallzyme I got is only .6 of a gram and assume not enough for this.
I added it and added also a bit of the generic pectic enzyme and stirred well.

Checked temp and too low right now in the low 41 degrees F.


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[geek]

I'm adding the booster rouge and the opti-red later tonight.
I hope I can pitch yeast early tomorrow morning due to low temp in the must.


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[geek]

High PH on strawberry

I have not pitched yeast yet, all fruit and no water added.
SG was at 1.040 so made a simple syrup with sugar and added but SG only got to 1.050.
I then poured sugar directly to must and now SG around 1.080

Then I calibrated my ph55 and checked that the Ph of must is at 3.85...!!!

I thought it should be much lower for me to adjust up.

I have acid blend, can I use to bring Ph lower and if so how much for this 3 gallon batch??
Should I leave as is?
Should I've checked Ph before the sugar addition???

Sign....,
Need to pitch yeast in the morning.



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[geek]

Any quick feedback?
I need to pitch yeast within an hour before going to work.

.i guess I will use acid blend but unsure of how many teaspoons.


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[Turock]

OH I would get the PH down to 3.4 as 3.85 is way too high and the wine could be flabby. Only add like a 1/4 tsp--or a little less--then stir real good and retest. If you need a little more, use pinches of acid blend to sneak up on the PH.

 

[geek]

I hope I did not screw this up but I started small less-than-a-teaspoon additions and stirred well but it was coming down in small numbers.
I think at the end I added ~5 tsp of acid blend total and it got to ~3.47

At that point I left it alone, hydrated D254 and pitched...wish me luck....

..

 

[Turock]

Hey, that sounds good. You were wise to stop there. Good luck.

 

[geek]

I was expecting strawberry to be low in PH based on different comments that it is rarely seen with high PH....so this was a shocker and unexpected curve ball.

This is my first adjustment done (phew..!!), can you confirm that you always adjust PH after adding sugar to the must, meaning the very last step before pitching yeast?

.

 

[geek]

daughter called me saying the must smells like arm pit....

 

[SBWs]

I never adjust pH until after everything is in that's going in. I thought I was the only one with a pH55.

I also like to use only citric acid or lemon juice to adjust acid on strawberry. My opinion is the best fruit wines have as little malic acid as possible.

Citric acid gives pucker (like a lemon on the tongue)
Tartaric acid give bite (like mustard on the tongue)
Malic acid gives bitter (like unripe grape on the tongue)

That's just my opinion, I'm sure some may disagree.

 

[Turock]

It's a good idea to have at least SOME sugar on the must so that when you are adjusting the PH, you can taste the samples and see where it tastes the best to you and stop there. It's real difficult to taste the juice when there's no sugar on it. So adjusting brix first, then doing PH is fine.

This is why you always need to test your fruit--bucket juice--grapes. Because you just never know where that PH is going to be. Those berries will make a very good wine. There ARE strawberry varieties that are more acidic and these don't make the best wine because their flavor is also on the low side.

Smells like an armpit? Can you verify? Don't forget to step-feed your nutrient. Where these frozen berries and did you sulfite them while they thawed? Got to give biological control to thawing fruit because it can take a couple days to thaw alot of fruit.

 

[geek]

Yes frozen, I put a bit of kmeta and also sprayed a bit from my kmeta water solution while breaking them down.

There was not such a smell, maybe it was just the yeast smell but the strawberry smell is predominant.
This must is forming a very 'rigid' cap, squeezed fruit bag last night and stirred a bit this morning, yeast activity is not vigorous yet, will check again this afternoon and will check SG again.

 

[Turock]

Get your first half dose of nutrient in it.

 

[geek]

Ok, looks like fermentation went fast and may be below 1.000 but hydrometer seems to get stock a bit and not sinking smoothly due to a thick sediment on the bottom of the plastic bucket.

Since this is my first all-fruit wine (no water), do you guys still rack off the thick sediment? There seems to be a lot for such a small 3 gal batch.

Do you add sorbate now and back sweeten right away, or just add sulfite and let it age to then sorbate/back sweeten at another time?

..

 

[geek]

UPDATE: used wine thief and SG = ~1.000
Just a tiny bubble coming up here and there, so it seems like it is still going.

Would you stir that thick sediment back into action?