# First Strawberry batch ?s



## steviepointer (May 19, 2010)

hi all,
With strawberry season here, I decided to make a batch of strawberry wine. I'm making 3gal off of a 1gal recipie. I'm assuming I multiple everything by 3x except for the yeast) I have a few questions. The 1gal batch calls for 1 campden tablet, and sit for 10hr before you add the yeast.

a)For the 3gal batch I'm making, do I want to add 3 tablets? That just seems strong to me. But, I wanted to double check.

Also, I'm having a hard time judging how much water to add, because the strawberries are taking up so much room. Do I want to add enough water (to the pulp) up to the 3gal mark (in the primary)? I'm assuming a little more, becuase of the physical pulp that will be removed when I pull the bag out of the primary. But that is just an assumption. 

b)How much water should I have in the primary (which already contains the nylon bag of pulp )?

c)Since I'm using more strawberries (5lbs insead of 3 1/2), should I up my pectic enzime? Is it ok if it sits for longer than 12hrs?

d)Since I'm using more strawberries, should I up the acid blend and the tannin?

(see recipie below)

Thanks!


fyi...I'm going off of Jack Kellers recipie. I'm making a few mods:

a)I'm using 5lbs/gal instead of 3 1/2lbs
b)No dates. I couldn't come up with any dates.

Here is the recipie:

3 1/2 lbs fresh chopped strawberries 
1/4 lb. chopped golden raisins 
1/4 lb. chopped dates 
2-1/2 lbs. granulated sugar 
1 1/2 tsp. acid blend 
2 tsp. pectic enzyme 
1/4 tsp. grape tannin 
1 crushed Campden tablet 
Champagne yeast and nutrient 
Place chopped fruit in nylon jelly bag, tied. Place jelly bag and all other ingredients except Campden tablet, pectic enzyme and yeast in crock and cover with 5 pints boiling water. Stir well to dissolve sugar. Cover. After two hours add crushed Campden tablet. After additional 10 hours add pectic enzyme and 12 hours later add yeast. Cover and stir daily. On 7th day remove jelly bag and hang over bowl to collect juice. Allow to drain thoroughly without squeezing (about two hours). Pour all liquids into secondary fermentation vessel, top up to one gallon, fit fermentation trap, and set aside. Rack every 30 days. After 3rd racking, bottle when clear. Allow to age at least 1 year.


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## pwrose (May 19, 2010)

I used 6 lbs of berries for 2 gallons and that I dont think was enough. I can't answer all of the questions but I can cover this one,,,,,, add more berries. Also dont go with a set amount of sugar. Take a SG reading of the berries and use the calculator to figure how much sugar to add. I only used 2.5 lbs of sugar per gallon and ended up with an SG of 1.120 if I recall correctly, which from what most people on here say is way to high for a starting SG.

I use the least amount of any sulfites that I can get by with, so instead of using a campden tab I use boiling water and poured over the berries. So I couldn't help with the amount of tabs to use.


edited to add link:
Here is my strawberry log from this year
http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7333


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## winemaker_3352 (May 19, 2010)

A. 1/16 tsp of k-meta per gallon - or 1 tablet.
B. Add enough water to just cover the strawberries
C. You are making 3/4 tsp per gallon (Powder) 1/8 tsp (liquid)
D. 1 tsp wine tannin per gallon - acid blend - i always test before i add any acid blend. So for me - i can't blindly say how much to add - depends on the acidity. I try to keep the fruits between .55 and .60 though.



> Place chopped fruit in nylon jelly bag, tied. Place jelly bag and all other ingredients except Campden tablet, pectic enzyme and yeast in crock and cover with 5 pints boiling water. Stir well to dissolve sugar. Cover. After two hours add crushed Campden tablet. After additional 10 hours add pectic enzyme and 12 hours later add yeast. Cover and stir daily. On 7th day remove jelly bag and hang over bowl to collect juice. Allow to drain thoroughly without squeezing (about two hours). Pour all liquids into secondary fermentation vessel, top up to one gallon, fit fermentation trap, and set aside. Rack every 30 days. After 3rd racking, bottle when clear. Allow to age at least 1 year.



I did this:
Place chopped fruit in nylon jelly bag, tied. Place jelly bag and all other ingredients except pectic enzyme and yeast in crock and enough water to cover fruit. Dissolve sugar in warm water (Take SG readings to know how mush sugar to add). After additional 2 hours add pectic enzyme and 24 hours later add yeast and yeast nutrient. Cover and stir twice daily. Rack when SG is between 1.025 and 1.035 (about 4-5 days). Allow to drain thoroughly without squeezing (about two hours). Pour all liquids into secondary fermentation vessel, top up to one gallon, fit fermentation trap, and set aside. Rack every 30 days. After 3rd racking, bottle when clear. Allow to age at least 1 year.


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## Tom (May 19, 2010)

To make good Strawberry wine use 5-6# PER gallon 5 1/2 # is way low for 3 gallons
Where did you get the recipe?
What exactly are you using? 
Did you start yet?
If using "Jacks" recipe use X 2 or 3. and use your Hydrometer for proper amt of sugar
His recipies are LOW in fruit and HIGH in alcohol


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## winemaker_3352 (May 19, 2010)

Tom - i think he is doing that:



> fyi...I'm going off of Jack Kellers recipie. I'm making a few mods:
> 
> a)I'm using 5lbs/gal instead of 3 1/2lbs



Unless i am reading that wrong - which could be true as well 


for my strawberry - i used 6lbs - and then 2 1/2 for the f-pac.


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## Tom (May 19, 2010)

yea i'm not so sure thou..


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## steviepointer (May 19, 2010)

Sorry for the confusion. For my 3gal batch, I'm using a total of 15lbs of strawberries (5lb/gal).

I've started the batch already. I froze the strawberries last week. Took them out of the freezer Mon. Let them thaw. I made sure all the strawberries were cut up. Yesterday I inverted the sugar, added it to the batch. I would let the batch cool down, get my SG, and determine if I needed to invert more sugar. My current SG is 1.086.

I did slightly overshoot the total volume. With the nylon bag of strawberries, sitting in the primary, the total volume is at about 3 1/2 gal (added too much water, as I was inverting the sugar). However, when I raise the nylon bag up (which contains the strawberry and raisin pulp), above the primary, the liquid left in the bucket is < 2.5gal. So, I'm hoping I'll be ok, as it ferments down.

My main concern was how much SO2 to add. Sounds like I need 3 campden tablets in there. I was concerned about 3 tablets being too strong.

My other question, was then regarding pectic enzime and tannin.

Do I need more pectic enzime? The recipie calls for 2 tsp/gal (but that is with 3lbs strawberries/gal). Since I have 5lbs strawberries/gal, should I up the pectic enzime?

What about tannin? With more strawberries, do I need more tannin? Or, will it be ok? I notice some strawberry recipies don't call for tannin, so I wasn't too concerned about the tannin part.

Does that help? or did I make that about as clear as mud?


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## Tom (May 19, 2010)

Pectic is ok as it calls for 1/2 tsp per gal
3 Tabs of campton is ok 
Tannin is a individual thing start with what you have and see how it "Tastes". Then, make adjustments on next batch.
Consider making a f-pac and back sweeten after the secondary


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## steviepointer (May 19, 2010)

actually, Jack's recipe calls for 2tsp/gal of pectic:

...
1 1/2 tsp. acid blend 
*2 tsp. pectic enzyme *
1/4 tsp. grape tannin 
...
Here is a link the recipe (3rd one down)

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques5.asp


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## Tom (May 19, 2010)

steviepointer said:


> actually, Jack's recipe calls for 2tsp/gal of pectic:
> 
> ...
> 1 1/2 tsp. acid blend
> ...


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## steviepointer (May 19, 2010)

No need to get defensive about it. I just thought you were reading his recipe wrong.

When you said "Pectic is ok as it calls for 1/2 tsp per gal", I thought "it" was his recipe. 

Didn't know "it" was directions on your bottle.


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## Tom (May 19, 2010)

Not defensive .. Almost ALL of his recipes are not from him. The longer you stay here the more you will find out on making wine and also find "his" recipes are not that great.
just trying to point out his recipes are missing alot.
Just shows you cant believe everything you read.


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## St Allie (May 19, 2010)

pretty much my own rule of thumb is 1 teaspoon of pectin per gallon.. I use that measure carte blanche for all recipes requiring it.

having a bit extra pectin .. will not cause any problems at all Stevie.. so don't worry about it if you have added 2 teaspoons per gallon.. it won't make any off flavours or anything.

tannin is a personal preference.. I like to add tannin to my wines, it rounds them out a bit more for me..

here's a bit of info about the purpose of tannin addition.

Tannin
Grape Tannin comes from the skins and of grapes. Wines that are fermented with the skins (such as red wines) usually contain enough natural tannin. For other wines (such as fruit wine), you may want to consider adding tannins. Tannins give wine the extra character or 'spunk' that it may otherwise be lacking. It causes the "dryness" in the mouth phenomenon, as it actually modifies the saliva in the mouth by removing the lubrication in the saliva. 

The chemical process in which tannins modifies saliva is actually quite interesting. The tannin molecules combine with the protein molecules in our saliva--destroying the saliva's ability to lubricate the mouth. The amount, or extent in which the tannins may cause astringency is a strong function of the polymerization of the tannin molecule. Typically, as a wine ages, the degree polymerization of the tannin actually increases for the fist few years--so wines will be more tannic in this stage. But, once the tannin molecules reach a high degree of polymerization, they actually begin to lose the capability to combine with the proteins in saliva--so the astringency associated with the tannin will be decreased, while the favorable characteristic of the tannin will be maintained. In addition, during this period some of the tannins will begin participate out of the wine. At this point, the wine has reached its ideal period in which to drink--known as the "maturity plateau". 


information was gleaned from the link below..
http://www.pressedforwine.com/ingredients/tannin.shtml

Allie


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## steviepointer (May 19, 2010)

Tom:
Thanks for the reply. I respect your posts. 

Allie:Thanks for the update on Tannin. I knew it stopped saliva production via proteins, but didn't know how it changed with age.


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## djrockinsteve (May 19, 2010)

I have found that if you use @20 drops of pectic enzyme per 5 gallons, you can do approx. 25 6 gallon buckets of wine per bottle.


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## djrockinsteve (May 19, 2010)

If you use 5 to 6 pounds of fruit per gallon of wine as a rule of thumb, then would you calculate for 5 or 6 gallons when making 5 gallons in the end. I try to start off with 6 plus gallons to ensure at least 5 gallons to bulk age.

Curious?


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## Tom (May 19, 2010)

Good question.
Here is what I do 
If making 6 gal of fruit wine I put 1/2 the fruit in 2 different buckets.
I then add 3 gal to each and treat each like a seperate fermentation. Now the Fruit will also give juice.
After adding Pectic (24hrs later) I check the gravity and adjust using WineCalc. NOW, take lets say 3/4 gal from the bucket and heat in a pot for dissolving the sugar.
You will have alot of sediment in primary and secondary. Dont worry. You want lass as you will be making a f-pac and backsweetening which will bring the volume back to 6 gal by the time its bottling time in 6 months.


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## myakkagldwngr (May 20, 2010)

Tom, I have to admit. That is one of the best explanations I've seen yet on fruit weight and water used. It's simple and easy to understand. You should make it a sticky because it will help a lot of first timers get off on the right start and have a good tasting fruit or berry wine.


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## Tom (May 20, 2010)

Thanks good to know it helps understanding fruit wines


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## steviepointer (May 20, 2010)

yeah, wish I had done it that way.


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## winemaker_3352 (May 20, 2010)

Tom - once you bottle that in six months time - do still let it age in the bottles before drinking? Or is the strawberry wine ready to drink at that point?


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## Tom (May 20, 2010)

Thats why YOU are here to learn from others who did it, Who now do it better LOL


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## Tom (May 20, 2010)

winemaker_3352 said:


> Tom - once you bottle that in six months time - do still let it age in the bottles before drinking? Or is the strawberry wine ready to drink at that point?


Let it sit at least 2 weeks (bottle shock) then go for it.
Start tasting it and see how it improves as it clears


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## winemaker_3352 (May 20, 2010)

Tom said:


> Let it sit at least 2 weeks (bottle shock) then go for it.
> Start tasting it and see how it improves as it clears


Unless i am misunderatanding - but shouldn't the wine already be clear at this point?


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## Tom (May 20, 2010)

misunderstanding
Talking about tasting from when you add f-pac and back swetening and at each racking. dont be to fast to rack when you see it settling let it go 3-4 weeks so sediment stays on the bottom. Do what Wade and others do. Once added the f-pac stick a board under one side so the sediment falls to the low side.


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## Guapo (May 21, 2010)

also remember that a lower alcohol by volume will also give you more fruit flavor!


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