STRAWBERRY WINE

[Guest]

After driving past a small strawberry farm for three months and watching as they progressed, I decided to start a strawberry wine a couple weeks ago.
Next decision, was just when to get the berries.
I read a great deal about fresh fruit and determined that this weekend would be a good time since the farmer's been selling them now for a couple weeks.


I then went and after discussing my project and my needs foras ripe a berry as he had, he led me over to a small booth and introduced me to the gal tending it.


There before her, were several baskets of pre-picked berries and after a brief relay of instructions from him to her, and some elapsed time while she then sorted and transfered berries,I had 7 odd pounds of the sweetest, softest, brightly red strawberries I've had in years.


Off to the house...


The recipe was straight from Wine Maker Magazine and I doubled it for my two gallons,as were many tips on preparing the berries and composing the must.

I put all the ingredients together Saturday night and after adding the 2 campden tabs to whoop the natural yeasts, I allowed it to stand 24 hours.


This batch smells luciously of strawberry short cake now.


Yesterday, I pitched the RED STAR and today, I'm witnessing some slow but progressing activity in the airlock.


Lookin forward to playing with and watching this batch develope.

 

[PolishWineP]

On my gosh! My mouth started watering when I looked at that must! I wanna smell that!

I looks wonderful and good for you, getting the in at the farm!

 

[Joanie]

Oh man! I can smell that from here! Yummmm!

I have three gallons of strawberry I made last year and I'm about ready to bottle. I've already decided to make 6 gallons this year. It will be a lot of hulling but well worth the effort. We are several weeks away from ripe berries here but after seeing yours, Handyman, I'm getting excited! Thanks for inspiring me!

 

[moose]

We opened up a bottle of strawberry wine that was bottled last year. Friend of ours had made it. Very good! I would like to try this flavor also.

 

[Waldo]

You were very fortunate that they would pick out the ripe ones for you handyman.


You are going to have a mighty fine batch of strawberry

 

[joeswine]

hey handyman,looking good,but if i may add about ageing fruit wines(home made) one of our club members made a batch of strawberry wine it was great,,won a 1st place metal and deservedly so,deep in flavor,color and that heavenly aroma not six months old add our( f )pack to it which deepened the impact of the aroma and taste, pure fruit wines are at there best Early especially if there deep in flavor and tend to get lighter as they age after a year or so ,fruit wines in my op pion,are best drank young when they are at their brightest and most flavorful,much like the fruit you use to make them,if you notice most commercial wineries fruit wines( not all) tend either to be thin with flavor and light on flavor,or to the opposite end and there usually the seasonal fruits ,peaches,with real flavor,raspberries deep red and semisweet/tart,or there overly sweeten to add body in place of the flavor they lack,,,for me young and fruitful,,OR WHEN YOUR TASTE BUDS SAY THE TIMES RIGHT.GOOD TO SEE YOU ON LINE HANDYMAN////





http://www.sweetim.com/s.asp?im=gen&ref=12

 

[Guest]

29 May 2008 at 5:01am:<?amespace prefix = o ns = "urnchemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />
A check on my must today turned out a 1.020sg. Removed the fruit sock and resealed the bucket for the balance of the fermentation.
Funny thing about the fruit sock. I have a “medium” size, fine mesh sock that’s about 8” by 24”. When I put my 7lbs of strawberries into it, I had just enough room to tie it off. When I pulled the sock today, There was maybe one pound of material consisting of about 4 cups of matter in the sock.
Also. When I started the must, it was deep red. Now it’s mellowed out to a deep orange bordering on red. I attribute that to the white centers of the strawberries that obviously broke down to a pulp in the process.
Now it’s back to happily bubbling away down to its zero point.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Bet it does smell good.....Ascorbic acid will help hold your color....

 

[Wade E]

I hear ya about the fruit bag as here is a picture of the fresh raspberries going in and another coming out, quite the size and color difference.

 

[grapeman]

Expect the strawberry to drop a LOT of sediment. You will get 3 or 4 inches of lees on the bottom. The color will also turn a nice red color when it finally clears. Expect a good one here.

 

[joeswine]

! LOOKING GOOD HANDYMAN MIGHTY TASTEY





http://www.sweetim.com/s.asp?im=gen&amp;ref=12

 

[rrawhide]

hey hey hey and hi

I started a strawberry a little while ago and it finally slowed down to about .998 and there she sits. I decided just to let the berries go in without a mesh bag and wow was the fermentation wild - stuff bouncing all over the inside of the carboy - kinda fun to watch - lees probably 3-4 inches at bottom when done. The color was way off so I added a qt of red wine concentrate and wow what a pretty wine at this point. I have not tasted it yet so am looking forward to that. Hope it is as good as yours looks.

take care

rrawhide

Edited by: rrawhide

 

[Guest]

31 May 2008 at 9:01am:<?amespace prefix = o ns = "urnchemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />
A check on my must today turned out a 1.000sg.
I transferred to a 6 gal glass carboy, agitated to release some CO<SUP>2</SUP> to replace the O<SUP>2</SUP> in the balance of the carboy, and added 3 campden tabs, crushed &amp; dissolved in a small amount of warm water.