strawberry wine ,sg tow low??

[ctshep97]

i am making a 1 gallon of strawwberry wine ,the recipe called for 2 pounds of sugar. i mixed everything up this am, been sitting all day and checked sg and it is only 1.068 the recipe said it should start at 1.090. should i add more sugar or will it be ok with this. if i do need to add more sugar ,about how much should be added. i used white sugar at first,has any one used light broun sugar???????t

 

[gaudet]

According to wine calc you need add only 1/2 a pound to the 1 gallon to raise your sg from 1.068 to 1.090.

Do you need to add more sugar? The question is do you want a low alcohol wine or do you want a higher %ABV?

Leaving your SG at 1.068 if you ferment to dry will give you about 9%-10% ABV

Raising it to 1.090 will give you about 12%-13% ABV

Your call. As to the brown sugar, I've never used it.

 

[ctshep97]

if i add can i just stir it in. when i first started the batch i added the sugar to 3 pint of water and heated and stired till desolved??

 

[gaudet]

You could, I checked and 1/2 pound of white granulated sugar is just 1 cup. You could also bring to boil 1/2 cup of water (to sterilize it and to dissolve the sugar) and then introduce it to the must when its cooled down, stirring it in well. I have just added sugar to my must without first dissolving and have had no problems. I just stirred it well until I felt no grit at the bottom of the fermenter.

 

[Wade E]

I would dissolve it.

 

[chevyguy65]

We like to make our fruit wines around 11-12% we slowly add the sugar straight to the must,stir like crazy, check SG... then add the sulfite ... 24hrs later give it a good stir again then add the yeast.
It has worked for us with out a hitch so far!!


We just pitched the yeast on a batch of strawberry last night.

 

[ctshep97]

i added the sulfite when i first mixed upthe batch,when i add sugar do i need to add more sulfite?? i added 1 crushed campden tablet crushed when i mixed it up yesterday.

 

[gaudet]

If you plan to pitch yeast soon I wouldn't add any more of the sulfite (campden). I would as Wade suggested boil some water and dissolve your sugar that way. Then you can pitch yeast without fear of having introduced any bacteria to your must. Let us know what you do....

The sulfite should dissipate within 24 hours, so if you don't pitch your yeast today, you might want to add another campden tablet to prevent any spoilage.

 

[ctshep97]

i am going to boil a little water and add it that way, so when it cools i can add it and the yeast and get it going.

 

[u01dtj6]

ctshep97,
I've never made strawberry wine myself, but I have heard that it gives the wine a very nice colour. Adding fresh juice will alsohelp body.

 

[ctshep97]

what is the best way to strain it to get the seeds out when you rack the wine, iwas thinking about using a coffee filter??

 

[u01dtj6]

If you don't have a proper wine filter then I would say a coffee filter would suffice when using it when syphoning.

 

[gaudet]

Get some cheesecloth and a rubber band and cut a small piece of cheesecloth to wrap around the black tip of your racking cane. Use the rubber band to secure the cheesecloth to the cane and you have a crude but effective filter for small seeds and other debris you may encounter.

Please make sure to sanitize the cheesecloth and rubberband

 

[Scott]

When you make the next batch get a fruit straining bag or paint straining bag (I bought 5 gal size 2 fer $5.00) works great with seeds and what not. Could pour this batch through it too!


As Gaudet stated sanitize whatever you are using.


The smell of the must is great hope the wine turns out, my initial time making strawberry too.

 

[ctshep97]

thanks to every one for your help and advice. t

 

[ctshep97]

i have a fruit straining bag , but it looks like some seeds came through it

 

[ctshep97]

updatei added a cup of sugar dissolved in a little water and it came up to1.088+, so i am going with that.

 

[gaudet]

Sounds perfect.