# Strawberry question



## Joanie (Jun 18, 2007)

I'm going to make some strawberry wine from the flat I'm getting today. In recipes I've been reading it says to remove stems and green. Do I need to hull them as well?

Thanks!


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## grapeman (Jun 18, 2007)

I would hull them Joan. The leaves give a green taste to everything. I'm not sure I will get enough strawberries this year ro make any wine from. So far all the berries have been going into the mouths, shortcake and jam. I need to pick again today, but we only have enough to get 5-10 quarts per picking. I usually get lucky when my brother has a few flats that don't sell out when it's really hot at the market.


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## Joanie (Jun 18, 2007)

I was afraid someone would tell me that!




Thanks Man with Apples!


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## grapeman (Jun 18, 2007)

Joan it's really not bad hulling them. I do it by hand, Cindy uses a knife. Just grab the stem close to the leaves and give it a little twist and they usually pop right off. Takes me about 2 minutes to do a quart. Besides the red strawberry juice matches your fingernail polish!


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## NorthernWinos (Jun 18, 2007)

Joan..a friend showed me that you can scoop out the stem with a tool that you punch a 'V' opening in a can....I just use my thumb nail like appleman...a handy tool just made for the job....find it is quicker too.


Appleman...5-10 quarts a day is plenty of strawberries...everyone should get their fill soon and then you can get some to make wine.


I thought I would get lots of berries...BUT...
...first it was the slugs on the low-lying everbearing variety, the berries on those are right on the ground, tight-full clusters of smaller berries. The trays of beer does take care of the slugs.
...then the June bearing ones have large berries nicely placed off the ground...birds were getting them, nets are now protecting them and the nets are working great.
...now if I let them get real ripe they are rotting from too much moisture.


With all of this, I still have hopes of getting enough to make a batch or two of Strawberry Wine.


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## Joanie (Jun 18, 2007)

I hulled 12 pounds of strawberries with a paring knife after work today and started a 3 gallon batch. It smells and tastes great! I pitch the yeast tomorrow.



I sooo need more carboys!


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## Trigham (Jun 18, 2007)

Joan , You realy need to get a camera and show us step by step !!


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## Waldo (Jun 19, 2007)

JOAN !!! I can' see the pictures !!! You did post them didn't you


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## Joanie (Jun 19, 2007)

Pictures? I was supposed to post pictures? *Now* you guys tell me! Sheesh! I was much too sticky and sweet to be handling a camera!


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## dfwwino (Jun 19, 2007)

Joan, 


I know what a pain prepping the fruit can be. I'm missing the tops of my fingers from halving 15 lbs of peaches last night. Where did you get your strawberries?


By the way, does anyone know how large a strawberry patch one needs to produce about 20 lbs of strawberries a year?*Edited by: dfwwino *


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## grapeman (Jun 19, 2007)

Buy a pack of 25 plants and put about 12-16 inches apart in a row. If you can't go 25-30 feet split it into 2 rows about 4 feet apart. They form runners(daughter plants and spread. Try to keep them in rows about 3 feet wide. You will easily get 20 pounds probably a lot more. They will bear the following year. If you get everbearing they will produce in the fall of the first year also.


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## Joanie (Jun 19, 2007)

dfwwino said:


> Joan,
> 
> 
> I know what a pain prepping the fruit can be. I'm missing the tops of my fingers from halving 15 lbs of peaches last night. Where did you get your strawberries?



I bought mine locally. We have a lot of strawberry growers in these parts. 

Have you been hiding? I haven't seen you around much.


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## NorthernWinos (Jun 19, 2007)

I have to share my strawberries, with the slugs, rodents, neighbors, birds and now with rotting from the heat and excessive rain we had...so I don't have as many put away as I would have wanted...only have 10 pounds in the freezer now...hope to get about 20-25 pounds enough for a 6 gallon batch.


My 15 or soJunebearing plants I got from a a friend and set out 2 years ago...got a few berries last year, [didn't do anything to the row last year]...this spring I got 62 baby plants and set them out...a few of them are producing now.


The Everbearing plants set smaller fruits, more in each cluster, but they are closer to the ground, those are having a problem with rotting...but now with drier weather I didn't throw as many away today.


I made another row of Everbearing ones this spring, they should produce this fall...I think I will eventually have 2 rows of Junebearing and one row of Everbearing...The Everbearing ones are nice to have a taste of berrieslater during the summer.


Anyone ever grown the Day Neutral ones????


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## Dean (Jun 19, 2007)

I did strawberry wine last year. Here is the recipe I used:

Here is the recipe:

About 4lbs of fruit per gallon - yield 6 gallons

24lbs strawberries
12lbs sugar or to adjust to 1.090-1.095
2 tsp pectic enzyme
9 tsp acid blend
1.5 tsp grape tannin
1lbs golden raisins for body
water to 6 gallons
2.5 tsp yeast nutrient
Lalvin K1V-1116 yeast

Freeze the berries if they are fresh. They should be overripe if possible, picked in the heat and almost falling apart.
Hand crush the berries after they have thawed.
Place all this in your primary fermentor and add sugar.
Add water to 5 gallons and stir VERY well to disolve, or add sugar to a large pot of boiling water and disolve.
pour over the berries and stir like hell!
wait for must to cool down, add the chopped raisins, acid blend, tannin, and pectic enzyme. Stir well add 1/4 tsp K-meta or 6 crushed campden tablets and wait 12 hours.
Sprinkle yeast on top and let it ferment in a room that is about 70F.
Rack to secondary (glass) after 7 days, then continue to rack to clear (every 3-4 months). Bottle and age. You might want make 7 gallons of must
and reserve 1 gallon for back sweetening when finished. Remember to add sorbate to prevent refermentation! K1V is a powerful
yeast that can take a wine up to 20%!

The wine turned out to be an awesome light red color, much darker than any other strawberry wine I've had before. I've noticed that K-meta will leech the color out. Here are few pics of the day that I got the strawberries from a local grower. They were called "Jam Berries" because they are picked in the heat of the day, and go soft (makes for good jam!). Most were already hulled, so the whole 30 pounds only took about 1 hour to finish off. It took over 3 days for my fingers to go back to normal color!


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## Waldo (Jun 20, 2007)

Thats gotta be a mighty good wine Dean. I might also suggest adding another tool to your wine making arsenal. A box of disposable latex gloves. They work great for applications such as this. I wear them a lot in my winemaking. Just dip your hands into a sanitizer occasionaly with them on.


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## NorthernWinos (Jun 20, 2007)

Dean those strawberries look nice and ripe...I bet they are sweet and juicy. 


With all of our recent rains I have found the I can't let them hang out there too long, or they would all be rotten...it seems they are getting better every dry day we have.


Today's pickin'...








Most came off the old row of Everbearing variety...The Junebearing row is mostly new plants that were moved from the few older plants, so not getting many berries off of them. The new row of Junebearing ones will only have a couple berries...but still go over there and look for them...hope for a small crop later on the Everbearing rows and a better harvests next year.*Edited by: Northern Winos *


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## NorthernWinos (Jun 20, 2007)

We like red wines, so I use WinExpert Red Grape Concentrate in most of our fruit wines...The last batch of Strawberry wine has been our best. 


~~~~~~~~~~STRAWBERRY WINE~~~~~~~~~
[7 GALLONS]


11 QUARTS STEAM EXTRACTED STRAWBERRY JUICE [about 24 pounds]
3 500 mil WINEXPERT RED GRAPE CONCENTRATE
7 CAMPDEN TABLETS
7 tsp ACID BLEND
4 tsp LIQUID TANNIN
9 1/2# SUGAR
TOASTED OAK [about2 oz]
2 VANILLA BEANS
S.G 1.088


NEXT DAY:


3 1/2 tsp PECTIC ENZYME
7 tsp YEAST NUTRIENT
3 tsp YEAST ENERGIZER
2 PK MONTRACHET YEAST [only because I had it and wanted to try it]


Ferment in usual way...Rack every 2 weeks or so...Cleared with SUPER KLEER K-C....Final S.G. .994....
ADD: 
1 1/2 tsp ASCORBIC ACID
POTASSIUM SORBATE
35 bottles



*Edited by: Northern Winos *


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## dfwwino (Jun 20, 2007)

Joan said:


> dfwwino said:
> 
> 
> > Joan,
> ...


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## Joanie (Jun 20, 2007)

Congratulations to you and Best Wishes to your wife!!



This is an exciting time for you! I hope you and your new family will be very happy! Cheers!!


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## NorthernWinos (Jun 20, 2007)

dfwwino...major life changes...Congratulations!!!


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## Wade E (Jun 20, 2007)

Congrats DF!


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## bj4271 (Jun 21, 2007)

Congratulations DFWino!


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## dfwwino (Jun 21, 2007)

Thank you all for your congratulations. It has been quite a six month whirlwind of change. My wife is just now adjusting the full scale of my wine hobby. Last week, Cheryl was complaining about a foul smell in our apartment, thinking one of the dogs had left us a treat. It then dawned on me that she did not recognize the scent of 15 lbs of peaches in a full-blown fermentation.


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## Joanie (Jun 21, 2007)

You see to me, that smell is better than any perfume I know of! I love walking in the house and smelling yeasty fruit! It's wonderful!


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## JWMINNESOTA (Jun 21, 2007)

Indeed it is a wonderful smell, should start happening by tomorrow. Put this together yesterday, pitched the yeast when I got home today. What a great place Southern Princess land is, with its bounty of fresh ripe strawberries!


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## NorthernWinos (Jun 21, 2007)

WOW!!!!...you got a nice batch going there....What's all in there???? 


I'm still putzing around eating, sharingand freezing the leftovers...got 15# in the freezer now...picking a few less everyday...so really hoping for 25#...if not will hope for the later crop on the Everbearers.*Edited by: Northern Winos *


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## Wade E (Jun 21, 2007)

That looks good!


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## JWMINNESOTA (Jun 21, 2007)

25 lbs berries, couple bananas, couple oz raisins. Smells really good


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## grapeman (Jun 21, 2007)

JW, I would have put the berries in a fruit bag(strainer bag) during the primary ferment. I did it one time like you did and it took me a ton of rackings to get rid of the lees and fruit gunk. The strawberries kind of dissolve and it is a royal pain to get out. The bag retains most of the pulp and the juice runs out easily. Now I use a bag for all the strawberry and raspberry wines. Let us know how yours does with the fruit like you have it.
Are you sure you don't just want to make that into a shortcake or smoothie it looks so good


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## Waldo (Jun 21, 2007)

Geeezzzzzzz JW.....Can you drink your wine and eat it too buddy? Man that looks good !!!!*Edited by: Waldo *


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## Wade E (Jun 21, 2007)

I to use the bag for all fruits, its just easier for me to lift out, squeeze, and chuck.


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## NorthernWinos (Jun 21, 2007)

I thought I saw a banana in there...Or..... I was hoping that was a banana and that you hadn't sneezed in there ...or something.






The only batch I ever did with banana in it I started out with everything in the buckets...the next day I scooped it all into a couple sanitized straining bags and was glad I did.*Edited by: Northern Winos *


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## Wade E (Jun 21, 2007)

Watch it girl!


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## Joanie (Jun 21, 2007)

I want a _really_ big spoon!!!! =)


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## JWMINNESOTA (Jun 21, 2007)

Now I have to decide if I want to bag it up or not, kinda gotten away from using the straining bag, putting my new found patience to work...actually, I was making a banana split, well, one thing led to another , and now its wine



, I didn't pitch the ice cream though, at least not into the fermenter.


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## JWMINNESOTA (Jun 24, 2007)

Succumbed to peer pressure today and bagged her all up, fermentation going wild!








Behind to the right is the rhubarb, tasted it today, think its a keeper!


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## Wade E (Jun 24, 2007)

That looks much easier to clean especially when its all broken up and
all those little tiny seeds arent in your must to have to settle out.
That Rhubarb looks like my W.E. Symphony


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## Joanie (Jun 25, 2007)

JWM...I was amazed at how my strawberry foams when stirred. It looks like yours does the same. I'm glad I'm not the only one!


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## JWMINNESOTA (Jul 5, 2007)

I think a couple more weeks of clearing and we call her good.


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## Wade E (Jul 5, 2007)

That looks awesome JW!


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## Joanie (Jul 6, 2007)

JW, does your strawberry look that clear from just racking? How many times? I've only racked once and it's clearing well but not as clear and beautiful as yours!!! That's incredible!!!


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## NorthernWinos (Jul 6, 2007)

His rhubarb wine was very clear too...a filter ...maybe???


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## nasv (Jul 6, 2007)

WOW that is clear!!!!!!!!!, I have a gallon batch of strawberry still undergoing secondary fermentation (and a third of the 1-gallon carboy is lees/gunk), and it doesn't even look like it could ever get that clear!!!

Great job! How'd you do it????

-Nico


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## JWMINNESOTA (Jul 6, 2007)

Kieselsol, which is Negative charge, followed by Chitosan, which is Positive. I believe it is the same clarifier's found in the Super Kleer KC. Very effective combo. Don't think they will need filtered.


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## Wade E (Jul 6, 2007)

Correct JW, those are the same fining agents as 1 packat of SuperKleer
which I believe to be the best on the market myself, it works very fast
and does an outstanding job and you dont have to transfer the lees with
them which makes cleaning the carboy a little easier and less messy.


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## NorthernWinos (Jul 8, 2007)

JWMINNESOTA said:


> Kieselsol, which is Negative charge, followed by Chitosan, which is Positive. I believe it is the same clarifier's found in the Super Kleer KC. Very effective combo. Don't think they will need filtered.




How much of each product do you use??? Like the equivalent of the Super-Kleer KC????


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## JWMINNESOTA (Jul 8, 2007)

I don't know what amounts are in the Super Kleer, I got it in bulk bottles, amounts say 1/3 tsp per gal ofKieselsol wait one day , 1 1/2 tsp Chitosan per gal ( I think without looking at notes) . You can almost watch it work its so fast. Ive never tried it on my scratch wines before, So I'll see if any undesirable effects I suppose.


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## NorthernWinos (Jul 8, 2007)

That sounds like more than comes in the packages...Think I will be buying bulk and use a bit more.


The package says to wait one hour between the products.


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## bj4271 (Jul 9, 2007)

JW,


Where do you get the bulk bottles?


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