Sale on Strawberry

[Tom]

I see next week ALDI has Strawberries for 1.19 a pound. GREAT price if you want to make Strawberry Wine.

 

[winemaker_3352]

They were $0.89 here

 

[Tom]

I hope you got 30-40#'s at that price

 

[winemaker_3352]

Nah - that is about normal - they were $0.99 all spring.

 

[Tom]

Not around here. Much higher..

 

[djrockinsteve]

Fresh u-pick strawberries here were 1.99 a pound. I know Aldi's had them cheaper but I wanted to see if they would be juicier. I was an experience picking them, my knees are back to working again.

I would up picking 30 pounds and cleaned and sliced 21 1/2 pounds for wine. I have them in the freezer awaiting 10 pounds of fresh peaches to make a peach-berry wine soon.

 

[ffemt128]

Thats a great price on strawberries. May have to consider it.


Steve, where did you YOU PICK the berries.

 

[djrockinsteve]

Thats a great price on strawberries. May have to consider it.


Steve, where did you YOU PICK the berries.

"BBB" (Triple B) farms in Elizabeth. Strawberry season is basically over. They are picking Black Raspberries or berries now and you may pick Red Raspberries either now or in a week.

Peaches are soon to follow. You can check their website. I asked to be put on the e mail list but haven't seen anything yet.

If you'd like to go we can go some day. Nice place and only about 30 min. drive. Cheaper than Trax and Simmons.

 

[ffemt128]

Got my Aldi flyer in the mail yesterday. Sale starts today. 99 cents a pound. May have to run up at lunch time and get some berries.


Off to the recipe section to look for a good recipe. How many pounds do I need per gallon?

 

[ffemt128]

Found this recipe in the wine makers recipe handbook that came with my equipment kit.

3 1/2 lbs strawberry
7 pts water
2 lbs sugar
1 tsp acid blend
1/4 tsp tannin
1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
1 tsp nutrient
1 campden tablet crushed
1 pkg wine yeast

starting sg 1.090 - 1.095

what yeast would you recommend?

 

[Tom]

Found this recipe in the wine makers recipe handbook that came with my equipment kit.

3 1/2 lbs strawberry
7 pts water
2 lbs sugar
1 tsp acid blend
1/4 tsp tannin
1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
1 tsp nutrient
1 campden tablet crushed
1 pkg wine yeast

starting sg 1.090 - 1.095

what yeast would you recommend?

1st Bump up the fruit to 6# per gal
2nd Use your hydrometer to figure amt of sugar to add
Download Wine Calc from Google. Good tool will tell you exactly how much sugar ta add.
Shoot for 1.085 TOPS.
3rd Use your TA test kit for acid
4th I would leave tannin out. (just my taste)
5th I use Cote des Blancs (Red Star)
Get extra for a f-pac.
Freeze fruit for 24-48hrs then usr

 

[WineYooper]

Great prices! Picked up some in my travels thru Wi., for 5# I paid $14. Thought it wasn't too bad but at that price jam is where they went. The stores here, Mpls., are about $3/#. Will keep watching here for better prices but nearing the end of strawberry season.

 

[ffemt128]

1st Bump up the fruit to 6# per gal
2nd Use your hydrometer to figure amt of sugar to add
Download Wine Calc from Google. Good tool will tell you exactly how much sugar ta add.
Shoot for 1.085 TOPS.
3rd Use your TA test kit for acid
4th I would leave tannin out. (just my taste)
5th I use Cote des Blancs (Red Star)
Get extra for a f-pac.
Freeze fruit for 24-48hrs then usr

Thanks Tom, I was planning on bumping up to at least 5 lbs per gallon and checking as we go for sg. I have wine calc, great program. Was thinking of getting fruit today, destemming then freezing until the weekend. What does Cote des Blancs equate to in the way of Lavin? I can make trip to LBS if need be. Didn't see any Red Star last time I was there though.

 

[Tom]

lalvin 1116

 

[ffemt128]

Thanks for the info. I was planning on picking up 30 lbs and making a 4 gallon batch initially so that I had extra to top up with in hopes if ending with 3 gallons. Extra berries would be for fpac.

 

[midwestwine]

Their going to get expensive around here
http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/news/state-and-regional/iowa/article_8c970f22-7ebe-11df-b9ff-001cc4c002e0.html

 

[Arne]

A quick bit of info. Just made a batch, you mite need a bigger primary bucket than planned. The berries took up a lot of room, then went to add water as myrecipe called for, didn't need near the water the recipe said. The berries were fresh picked out of my garden, froze for a week or so til I had enough and put into the primary. They seemed to have a lot of liquid in the berries and I wound up diluting things a little more than I wanted. Good luck with it, only made a Gal. last year and it was great. Gonna Have a strong 5 gal this year so maybe some will last long enough to age out. By Valentines day it was getting pretty good, but not much left. Take care. Arne.

 

[ffemt128]

Ran out at lunch time and picked up 32 lbs of berries. Will wash, de-leaf and cut in half before putting into ziplock bags of 5 lbs each.

I now have 32 lbs of srawberries in my freezer. Of the 32 lbs I tossed about 7-8 due to being way over ripe. The berries have good flavor. I'll let these sit til the weekend then take out and thaw. I need to pick up some sugar at costco.

Looking forward to this in a couple months.

 

[winemakerrookie]

Haha yeah I just hit that up today got 12 pounds...please see my other thread and you can see if i am in good shape or not

 

[ffemt128]

Off to get more strawberries for an fpac and sugar. Will have this started this afternoon sometime.