Strawberry Wine Question

[mjdtexan]

I am doing one of Jack Keller's recipes for strawberry wine. His recipe is as follows

3 lbs. fresh strawberries
2-1/2 lbs. granulated sugar
2 tsp. citric acid
water to make 1 gallon
wine yeast & nutrient



Place all ingredients except yeast in crock. Crush fruit with hands and cover with 5 pints boiling water. Stir with wooden paddle to dissolve sugar and simultaneously mash the strawberries. When cooled to 85 degrees F., add yeast. Cover and stir daily. Strain on 7th day, transfer to secondary fermentation vessel, top up to one gallon, fit fermentation trap, and set aside. Rack after 30 days and again after additional 30 days. Bottle when clear. Allow to age at least 6 months. Will improve to one year.

I am not seeing anything for camden tablets or anything like that. Right now I am still a recipe follower so I am not sure when to add these things when I dont see them. Shouldn't I be using some Pectic Enzyme, Camden tablets and stuff like that? Or should I just follow the recipe to the tee? I have already got the strawberries crushed and in the primary with the correct amount of sugar and citric acid.

One more thing, I am not sure how much nutrient to put so I have not put any yet. Any ideas?

I also noticed that it will be impossible to take a SG reading because of all of the mashed up strawberries. What do you do about that?

 

[Luc]

I am not seeing anything for camden tablets or anything like that. Right now I am still a recipe follower so I am not sure when to add these things when I dont see them.

Jack expects everyone to have read his website and surely have read his winemaking basic information.
His basic information is to use Campden tablets always.
Therefore he is not listing them in all his recipes as it is standard procedure.

It is not needed to add pectic enzyme to strawberries as they will decompose fairly easy. But then again there is no harm in using it.

One more thing, I am not sure how much nutrient to put so I have not put any yet. Any ideas?

Use the normal quantity listed on the packaging of the nutrients.
I always add 1 gram nutrient for each liter must so that would be around 4 gram for a gallon.

I also noticed that it will be impossible to take a SG reading because of all of the mashed up strawberries. What do you do about that?

Take some must and put it in a coffee filter. That would sieve some clear juice out of it to take a reading.

If you have some real money hanging around get yourself a refractometer. They are about 60 USD (in euro's that is) around here. You would only need 1 drop of juice for testing the SG with a refractometer instead of filling up a test tube.

Luc

 

[Wade E]

I always yse pectic enzyme as it will help prevent any pectic haze that could form as almost all fruits contain pectin. If doing a 6 gallon batch add 1/4 tsp to the batch, if doing under that add 1 tablet of campden per gallon crushed very well and dissolved in small amount of hot water.

 

[Boozehag]

Oh Wade I have a question re pectin enzyme, what about wines like dandelion or rose petals, I know they are not fruit but would you need to use that for ones like that or are they less complex?

 

[pbyrd1959]

I have made strawberry wine and never used campden tablets. I usually sterilize the the carboy the first time. I always have excellent results. I'm certain its nearly impossible to make a bad strawberry wine if you just follow the basic steps of keeping utensils clean, racking, and allowing fermentation to cease.

Good luck!

 

[pbyrd1959]

Oh, I forgot to add that I always use one teaspoon of nutrient with the yeast.

 

[jbullard1]

I just bottled my first one gallon batch of Strawberry wine made by Jacks recipe
It has been almost 4 months since fermentation stopped and has been racked 3 times and is nice and clear.
I want to save a couple of bottles until winter but I do not think I have the willpower It's good stuff

 

[thinman56]

I think I over-K-meta-ed my strawberry wine. I used 20 lbs of berries for a 3-gallon batch so it would be almost all berry juice, and I layered in about a tablespoon of K-meta as I was dropping the berries in the bucket. Now I can't get the yeast to start, it's been three days and nothing. Used 71B yeast, temperature about 72F, but i'm warming it up to see if it'll help. Also used a little pectic enzyme, maybe 6 drops, and a little yeast nutrient. 4.5 lbs of sugar made the SG ~1.085. Too much K-meta the root cause?

 

[FTC Wines]

Seems like TOO much k-meta to me. Sat. I made a Choc/strawberry wine to JK recipe, used a heavy 1/8 tsp. per the single gal of wine. 4 lbs fresh berries & 4oz Choc, smells great & started fermenting right after I added the yeast. 12 hrs after K-meta. Roy

 

[dralarms]

I think I over-K-meta-ed my strawberry wine. I used 20 lbs of berries for a 3-gallon batch so it would be almost all berry juice, and I layered in about a tablespoon of K-meta as I was dropping the berries in the bucket. Now I can't get the yeast to start, it's been three days and nothing. Used 71B yeast, temperature about 72F, but i'm warming it up to see if it'll help. Also used a little pectic enzyme, maybe 6 drops, and a little yeast nutrient. 4.5 lbs of sugar made the SG ~1.085. Too much K-meta the root cause?

Give a good stir, getting some air into it. Yea that was too much kmeta. But it won't ruin the batch.

 

[thinman56]

Thanks, I'll give it a good thrashing tonight and see if it goes. Don't know what I was thinking.....

 

[Turock]

Just want to make a few comments here on what's been said. It's always wise to use meta, as what you're doing is getting biological control so that there are no competing organisms that could use up nutrient resources during the ferment that then could lead to spoilage. Always be aware that many animals are browsing fruit, especially coons--birds are sitting in the bushes or plants and pooping on the fruit. Can't tell you how many grapes and fruits I've seen in the field with bird poop on them. After a rain, it's gone---however.....

Always use pectic enzyme--you want all that pulp broken down and incorporated into the wine to add flavor and color.

Nutrient dose is 1 tsp per gallon. Always split the total dose in half and pitch first half when the yeast takes off and second half at 50% sugar reduction. Fermaid K has a slight difference in dosing.

We never use water on strawberry. Full strength makes a fabulous wine.

There's no value in using 71B on strawberry as the predominate acid is citric, not malic. There is no malic to metabolize. And 71B should always be used with Go-Ferm because 71B is sensitive to competing organisms, including normal flora--another good reason to always use meta.

 

[thinman56]

Turock - what yeast do you use with strawberries? Any drawback to using the 71B? It did start to go yesterday, and I gave it a good stir to encourage it. Will add a little nutrient a 1.050.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Turock]

I think that's an interesting question--I have no idea how 71B turns out in a non-malic fruit because the only time we use it is on those malic fruits that will be too harsh without it. We like Montrachet for strawberry. You also may need to do some PH adjustment on strawberry. We like a 3.4 PH on it so that it's not too tart. Otherwise you have to use too much sugar to control the acid bite.

Most slow or stuck ferments are due to lack of proper nutrient. Be sure to always step-feed your ferments. But 71B is sensitive, as I said. That's why Scott Labs always wants you to rehydrate it with Go-Ferm to give it the extra micronutrients it needs so that it can dominate in competitive environments.

 

[thinman56]

Update - it didn't ruin the batch, ready to bottle now, a month after the F-pac, tastes great right out of the carboy...

 

[Dominic1920]

Is there any reason why you cant use lemon juice instead of the acid blend, you know a strawberry lemonade kind of thing in mind here.

 

[BernardSmith]

I would think you could use lemon juice rather than acid blend but lemon juice presumably contains citric (and perhaps some malic) whereas the main acid in acid blend is tartaric with some malic and some citric. Whether acid blend uses the same percentage of each or tends to emphasize one acid over another is open to some question and some sources..
see, for example, a thread on this site from about 10 months ago:
http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f5/acid-blend-percentage-44784/

 

[Dominic1920]

Anybody else notice their strawberry wine changes color? My batch started out a beautiful deep red, then changed to a bright pink after the first racking, now its orange after about 6 months. What gives? Is this normal?

 

[barbiek]

Strawberry wine is notorious for changing colors haven't made any myself but... I would suggest asking Turock I'm thinking Lallzyme EX-V? It's designed for red wines to keep the color aging for years. But like I said haven't made any as of yet but wondering if this would work and if there is a reason why it wouldn't

 

[Dominic1920]

Thanks barbiek, I see after a search here that its is very common and doesn't effect the flavor. It just seems that strawberry wine should be red, or at least pink, not orange.