# Strawberry Time again



## pwrose (Apr 18, 2011)

Last years strawberry turned out a little toxic. I am planning to try a less toxic version this year. It was also weak in flavor even after adding a f-pak.

So I am looking for suggestions, last year I think I had 6lbs of berries per gallon and used about 1 pint of juice per 2 gallons for a f-pak.

I am thinking about using 10lbs of berries per gallon and 1 pint of juice for a f-pak. What do you think too much or too little for the lbs per gallon?

Leave suggestions however it might be a day or two before I get to check back in. I am down to less than 2 weeks before berries are ready.


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## mmadmikes1 (Apr 18, 2011)

I used 6 pounds per gallon the last 2 years and it turned out fine. Check to make sure the berries are completely ripe. I go to u-pick and leave a lot behind. Did you just follow a recipe? I just make must and setting SG at 1.09, set ph at 3.6, add PE and let it go. My f-pack I make using 4#'s 0f berries and a cup of honey.


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## Wade E (Apr 18, 2011)

I prefer 8-10 lbs in ,mine and still use the 4lbs f-pack. I haveny made any in awhile and need to make a batch this year. I may just get a Walkers Fruit farm bucket this time though.


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## winemaker_3352 (Apr 18, 2011)

I used 6 #'s for mine with an f-pac.

I didn't get my strawberries until late June though. So they were pretty ripe.


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## Julie (Apr 18, 2011)

PW, you are killing me, I am weeks away from strawberries. How is the weather your way, hope you didn't receive any damage from the tornados that were running thru NC.


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## djrockinsteve (Apr 18, 2011)

I blended some peaches with mine and came out very good. Just an idea.


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## mmadmikes1 (Apr 18, 2011)

I woke up to 8 inches of snow today. Thinking strawberries my be a little ways out


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## djrockinsteve (Apr 18, 2011)

Mike keep that crap there. We've been having almost daily rain.


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## desertwind56 (Apr 20, 2011)

Recently made a batch of Wade's strawberry chocolate port. I used 10 pounds of strawberries per pound. Ended up with lots of strawberry flavor and didn't add an F-pak. Also, these were some incredible local grown frozen strawberries. I hope to make a batch of straight strawberry this summer!


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## pwrose (Apr 20, 2011)

Ok going on what I see here this will be the recipe
5 gallons
50 lbs strawberries
Sugar to 1.09 SG
petic enzyme
acid blend
just a pinch of tannins
all the other normal stuff
then a 4lb f-pak for 5 gallons or should it be 4lb per 1 gallon f-pak
typing that out looks like alot, how about 20% of original weight for a f-pak (10lbs)

Oh and I got the phone call yesterday that the berries would be ready this weekend. LOL just trying to rub it in some, it will come back to get me later. As soon as some of the FL, SC, or GA people see the post. Their strawberies are probably about to go out of season already.


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## winemaker_3352 (Apr 20, 2011)

djrockinsteve said:


> I blended some peaches with mine and came out very good. Just an idea.



That is what i did - turned out awesome!!!


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## Tom (Apr 20, 2011)

F pac
When making from fresh remember to simmer then strain then simmer to get most of the water out then add
Strawberry is mostly water so that's why you need more per#
I would add more than 10# for fpac


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## pwrose (Apr 25, 2011)

Well I should finish gathering 70 lbs by this comming weekend and should get it started by the first of next week.

While moving some bees around today for cantalope pollination I got my first sighting of elderberry flowers this year. Guess when it rains it pours, I have the strawberries to finish, which should be just in time for the first blueberries to be showing up followed closely by blackberries, and I am guessing that with in a couple of weeks after the blackberries the elderberries will be ready. I would like to make some elderflower wine, but with all the other stuff comming in back to back to back I doubt I will have the freezer space for all this stuff. Did I forget to mention the chokecherries and peaches. Although the peaches will be late enough for a small break "hopefully!"


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## fifthhorsm (Apr 25, 2011)

*strawberry wine*

first use the right amount/ enough fruit up front and no flavor pac is ever needed. old school, i just don't get this flavor pac bit anyway. afraid i've never weighed the fruit... for strawberry i destem them (stems are bitter) slice/ rough chop the berries then add just enough water to barely cover the berries. this way i always have lots for flavor and body. if i want or need to dilute it i can always add a little water and sugar later. i figure better to have two gallons for really fine wine rather than five gallons of weak flavorless crud to dump down the drain.
mike


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## pwrose (May 5, 2011)

Well I didn't get the berries when I was supposed to however I picked them up today.
90 pounds of culls. I (along with some help) cleaned and cut up all 90 lbs. 70 lbs gave me 55 lbs of usable berries which were put in a 5 gallon pot and cooked down. These were then dumped into a strainer bag inside of an 18 gallon tote. I did add 1 gallon of water just so the bag of pulp was covered. I am leaving them to sit overnight and will check the SG and acid lvls in the morning. I will be adding enough sugar to bring the SG up to 1.080 - 1.085 in the form of a simple syrup. Otherwise no more water will be added. I still have around 13-15 lbs of usable berries to make a f-pak if I need it.

Oh heres a pic of all the berries.


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## olivetree (May 6, 2011)

*Worn out after all-night Strawberry hulling*

Greeting from Israel, Temperature Day time of 85feg, blue skies

Last night I spent 8 hours hulling 175 lbs of Strawberries for my first really big batch. My hands hurt, they are a dirty shade of red, but all the fruit is sitting in pre-fermentation barrels with 22lbs of sugar (all I had at home) and some Pectolytic Enzyme.

Has anyone any experience in making Strawberry Wine WITH the hulls still attached to the fruit? I would like to make the preparation easier if it does not affect the quality. If yes, can you please post how you separate the juice and maybe send your recipe.

My wine will now stand for about 1 week, during which i will add another 40lb of sugar and stir. In about a week I will rough sieve the fruit, keeping the liquid for WINE Batch 1.
the remaining fruit mush will be crushed again with an equal quantity of water, to male Wine batch 2.
Both batches will be measured for SG and a strong wine yeast added for fermentation. This year I will be likely fermenting in my work room / office where I can keep the temperature down to 75deg with air-conditioning. The best batch I have ever made was fermented in an old fridge at about 50deg over three months.
thanks to all, have a good weekend


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## pwrose (May 6, 2011)

Update:
Checked the SG this morning and it was at 1.022, I am shooting for a 1.080 - 1.085 and hit 1.082 with 8 lbs of sugar. This took 5 cups of water to make a simple syrup. So the total amount of water added was 1 gallon and 5 cups, the rest of the must is just strawberry juice. With any luck I wont have to add an f-pak, but I have the berries on back up just in case.

After adding all the little goodies (yeast nutrient, yeast energizer, and NO acid blend) Pasteur Red yeast was pitched. The pH was at 3.6 and the acid was .5 or a little less but close enough for me.

I will be adding this to my blog if you wish to keep up with how this one turns out.
http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/blog.php?b=25


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## SarahRides (May 6, 2011)

Jealous of you all! Here in Massachusetts we still have another month or so probably before we can start picking!


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## docanddeb (May 6, 2011)

Why do you "boil" the strawberries before making wine?

Debbie


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## pwrose (May 6, 2011)

If they were fresh strawberries then i would not have boiled them. However these were ones that the farmer had picked and didn't sell before they started to look bad. Some (ones I threw out) already started to mold a little, others were bruised real bad, some had mushy spots. In other words they were the culls or ones he would have just thrown out. Thats also why I lost as much weight as I did.

If they were fresh i would have just cut them up and froze them then went from there.


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## fifthhorsm (May 7, 2011)

*flavor*

pw,
thats how to get good flavor.... hope you didn't forget the pectic enzyne?
mike


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## pwrose (May 8, 2011)

Well here it is after it hit 1.006
It was put into 2 x 3 gallon carboys

6 Gallons of strawberry






Strawberry bubbling away





Strawberry aftermath


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## pwrose (May 8, 2011)

Why wont my pics show up at normal size. I resize them and they still show up big.


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## Runningwolf (May 8, 2011)

PW When I shoot with my droid and upload directly to photo bucket I have the same problem. When I use my photo editing program I am able to cut down the file size and the size of the picture. Then I send them to photo bucket.


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## Tom (May 8, 2011)

If you always get this active I suggest primary in a bucket then rack to carboy. This is what I do


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## pwrose (May 8, 2011)

It was in an 18 gallon tote. I chcecked the SG and it was down to 1.006 so I put it into carboys then. I didnt start in carboys.


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## pwrose (May 8, 2011)

HaHa fixed them there pics. I uploaded them to one of my albums and then used the IMG tag to insert them. Uploading them as attachments doesn't change the size enough or at all for that matter.

Heres a link to the album if you want to see more pics
http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/album.php?albumid=260


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## fifthhorsm (May 10, 2011)

*strawberry wine*

pw,
i agree with tom about this wine needing to be in a primary fermenter. i know you said you checked sg but far more important than sg is how active and vigorous the fermentation is going on..... that leakage and spills that result from a still vigorous fermentation is just begging for some sort of nasty infection... the only up-side to this would be that strawberry wine vineger is excellent with a lite flavored oil on a salad. you should avoid every sort of spill or leakage possible. if that means leaving the wine in the primary a few more days til things slow down then do so.
mike


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## closetwine (May 10, 2011)

pw- I have the same prob with strawberry... Ferment looks slow, sg is down so you rack it into carboy, and boom it goes crazy.
Therefor I deduce that strawberries are claustrophibic.... good idea to stick them into a tote!


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## fifthhorsm (May 10, 2011)

it's not just strawberry.. any/every wine has that same potential... nothing like coming home to a reddish foamy mess creaping across the floor. makes you wonder how a five gallon carboy can suddenly put out ten gallons of foam.... been there, done that.... got that purple stained t-shirt and pants. but i only had it happen once to me in over 35 years of wine making.... after that i always taste... no need to check SG if the must is still real sweet then you better worry. unlike some i always stir the must real good... not just punch down the cap but stir up the sludge and lees this seems to re-activate things when it seems to be slowing down....
if you've never experienced a flood of foam, then your awful lucky... it's not just the initial foam mess but it attractes all the pets that have to walk thru it and track it every where in the house... and cats are just the right height to get it on their belly good as they walk back and forth tasteing as they go.... then go and lay down in every chair or sofa in the house.... it wasn't the cats i wanted too kill but rather the wife/ now ex that talked me into really expensive!!!! white carpet thru out the house.
like every thing else in wine making i preach for you to take your time and don't be in a rush... a few extra days in the primary fermenter won't hurt anything.
mike


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## pwrose (May 10, 2011)

well after the initial racking into the carboys and the clean up afterwards everything seems to be fine. there is a little bit of foam that has gotten into the airlocks but otherwise no more explosiveness. it is still bubbling but much slower and looking better every day. 

LOL chalk this one up to living and learning even though I know better. I think next time I will use a 5 gallon carboy and put just 3 gallons in it to start with. Then when it stops with the vigor then I wil put it in 3 gallon carboys. It should produce enough gas to protect it until I move it to the 3 gallon.

Also I think this one got so explosive due to the heat. I did not know that it had gotten up to 85+ in the room that day. Since it hasn't been as warm there hasn't been any more issues. Good thing to have a memory themometer.


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