# Strawberry Wine



## rymily (Nov 25, 2008)

We are working on our first batch of wine using the Joy of Home Winemaking as our guide. 

Recipe:
24 lbs. strawberries (frozen)
12 lbs. honey
6 teaspoons acid blend
3/4 teaspoon tannin
6 teaspoons yeast nutrient
6 Campden tables
3 teasponns pectic enzyme
1 package Montrachet yeast
5.25 gallons water

We started this on Oct. 26 and switched it to the secondary fermeter on November 7. When we went to put into the secondary fermenter we added about another 1/2 gallon of water and 1 lb. honey to top off the carboy. It currently is tasting a little acidic and not very sweet. We would like it to be a sweet wine. . . is there anything we can do at this point in the process to sweeten? Will it sweeten over time?


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## Sacalait (Nov 25, 2008)

After it has finished fermenting and has settled out rack it off the sediment. After racking add potasium metabasulfite and potasium sorbate then you can sweeten it to taste without the fear of refermentation.


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## rymily (Nov 25, 2008)

One other quick question. We have already racked the one once, removing all the dead yeast and sediment. Does this mean it's done fermenting? Should we sweeten it now to taste? Thanks so much for your help!


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## Sacalait (Nov 26, 2008)

To be sure, take a hydrometer reading. If the hydrometer indicates a reading of .996 or lower the wine is finished fermenting. If you don't have a hydrometer wait until the wine has cleared completely and then you should be ready to add sulfite and sorbate after racking.


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## Bblanche (Nov 27, 2008)

Mmmhh - that sounds good! That will be the first wine i gonna do myself. Eventhough im not a person that loves sweet wine but still my kids (23 and 25 years old) do - so i guess i gonna make them happy with this wine


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## Luc (Nov 27, 2008)

Bblanche,

If you make a larger batch like 10 gallons you can let it
ferment to dry and then split the batch.
You can the bottle half the batch and sweeten the
other half.
Strawberry wine is good as a dry wine and as a sweet one.
I have made it both ways and both came out great.

Luc


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## Bblanche (Nov 28, 2008)

Thank you! That sound awesome - so all of us can - hopefully - enjoy my experiment 
Yesterday i got all the ingrediences and now I will start and tell you about my experiences!


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## bigorange82 (Nov 29, 2008)

This sounds incredibly delicious, and I think Im going to use this recipe next, thanks!


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## rymily (Nov 30, 2008)

Thanks everyone for your advice, it is much appreciated! We're going to test with the hydrometer today or tomorrow. What's the best way to get the wine out of the carboy for testing?


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## bein_bein (Nov 30, 2008)

use a wine thief
http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn...ww.brew-winemaking.com/productimages/5020.jpg


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## Bblanche (Dec 1, 2008)

So I tryed it out and it was really easier than expected! I'm kids where fastinated and didn't believe I did it by myself. So i gave that the recipe and they will try it out too. So thanks again Luc, I did it as you told me and it was perfect!


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## TheTooth (Dec 2, 2008)

*Congrats, Bblanche!*

If you want to further impress your kids, you can break out the technical terms and tell them that you made a Melomel (a type of mead). Honey wine (mead) with fruit is a melomel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mead


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## rymily (Dec 9, 2008)

We siphoned some wine from the carboy into a glass yesterday and tested it with the hydrometer. It measured just at or below the 1.000 mark on the hydrometer. I'm assuming this means we need to give it some more time? This seems to be the same measure as when we put it into the secondary fermerter. It's tasting a little like dry strawberry Champaign with a very bad/sour after taste. It smells alright though. . . 

We actually forgot to get the original PA reading from the hydrometer before we added the yeast. Does anyone know about how much alcohol a wine like this might have?


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## TheTooth (Dec 9, 2008)

If you are under the 1.000 mark on the hydrometer, and it hasn't changed since you moved it to the secondary, you are pretty much done with fermentation.

As far as alcohol content is concerned, I can't really tell you how much is in your wine without a starting gravity reading. I can try to guess, though:

12lbs of honey in 5.5 gallons of water will probably net you around a 1.075-ish starting gravity. The honey alone will net you about 10% abv. I have no idea what you are getting from the strawberries, though... so that's the wild card.

Most yeast will die before you get into the high 'teens, so you're probably somewhere between 10% and 18% alcohol, but I don't know exactly where. Sorry that I can't be more specific than that.

Anyone have any idea what sg you'd get with 24lbs of strawberries in 5.5 gallons of water?

edited: Original honey calculations weren't quite right.


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## oldwino (Dec 14, 2008)

Isn't any answer to that unless you know what the Brix of the strawberries were when they were put into the primary with the water.


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## Wade E (Dec 14, 2008)

Like posted above the answer to that can vary so much as the brix of any fruit can vary quite considerably depending on where they are picked, how much water the plant was given and how big the plant is.


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## Benjo's Mom (Dec 20, 2008)

This sounds great! I have 3-4 lbs. of strawberries in the freezer and wanted to make a batch of strawberry wine next, but had never seen a recipe using honey. This looks very interesting and I cannot wait to get it started


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## rymily (Jan 4, 2009)

*Is it done yet?*

We've tested our wine again with the hydrometer. . the reading is still right around 1.000. Does this mean it's done fermenting? We tasted it again and it's alright. . . dry. . . with a sour after taste. Any thoughts? Should we finish it and add some sugar? Will this get rid of the after taste?

Thanks again!


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## rymily (Jan 4, 2009)

*Acid?*

We just tested our wine with an Acid test kit. . and it looks like we're at 0.75 or 0.80. The box said fruit wines should be at 0.60. Could this be why the wine tastes a little sour? Is there a way to reduce the acid in the wine?

Also - our bung fell into our carboy! Can we just leave this in there or do we have to get a whole new carboy. . . we can't seem to get it out.


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## Racer (Jan 4, 2009)

I just looked back at your old posts.Your wine has been at 1.000 for a month now. It looks to me like it's done fermenting.Dont be so quick to judge a new wine on taste already co2 trapped in the wine will effect how it tastes. Get your wine good and clear patience and time will help with that. 

As far as the bung in the carboy goes have you tried bending a wire coat hanger so it will pass thru to hole and pulling it out? And as a suggestion take that old one with you to your LHBS and get the next larger size so that doesnt happen again to you.(don't feel too bad about it I've done that once or twice before too).


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## Wade E (Jan 4, 2009)

If you like the wine dry then leave it alone for a few months with the exception of adding k-meta or(campden tablets)every 2-3 months to protect your wine from oxidising. Without going back and reading this post in entirety, Im guessing that you havent stabilized this wine yet or degassed so do this now by adding 1 campden tablet per gallon well crushed and dissolved in 1 cup of wine that you can extract from your batch along with Potassium sorbate at a ratio of 1/2 tsp per gallon. At this point you can sweeten your wine after you have stabilized it. That can be done by making a simple syrup consisting of 2 cups of sugar dissolved into 1 cup of boiling water, cooled down and then added slowly to taste so as not to over sweeten!


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## rymily (Jan 4, 2009)

Thanks for all the great advice!

What does it mean to let the wine clear? It doesn't look too cloudy right now. Do we have to have clear wine before we stabilize? 

We're going to rack it one more time because there's about a half inch of sediment at the bottom and I think the strawberry seeds floating at the top are sprouting roots! 

About the acidity. . . do we need to add something to lower it, such as chalk?


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## Wade E (Jan 4, 2009)

Have you tested for acid, if not I dont recommend paying around with these things. If you have seeds floating on top of your wine then either your wine is still fermenting or you have a lot of C02 in your wine and need to degas it. You should stabilize your wine with both k-meta and sorbate. Then you should degas your wine at a temp of around 75 deg. Then you should sweeten if you so want to and then clear your wine. To clear your wine you can go about this 2 ways, 1 being using a fining agent such as SuperKleer KC which works very fast and costs about $1.75, the other being just using time and that can take as long as a year in some instances but uually a few months. If you dont do either of thes yhen you will have bottles full of muck!!!!! Here is a pictuer of what a strawberry wine should look like once its cleared, it has some sediment in the bottom which has to be racked off but you grt the idea.


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## rymily (Jan 4, 2009)

Thanks for the picture - ours is not yet this clear but gives us a good visual to be going for.

We got the bung out! Used a fork and only took a few minutes. The bung came with the kit, but I agree we should probably get a bigger one. I honestly wasn't too impressed with the kit we purchased. The rubber liner on the plastic primary fermenter also fell off and this is our first batch!

We just finished racking it again. We're going to let it settle, scrape any seeds off the top then finish it and bottle! Hopefully we can get the sweetening right. It almost tastes like a sparkling dry strawberry wine at this point.

Does anyone have an opinion on adding chalk to lower the acidity?


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## Wade E (Jan 4, 2009)

Like I said before, if you havent checked the TA on this wine then you dont know how much to add to reduce the acid by if it really is too high, but if I were going t reduce the acidity I would use this Calcium Carbonate.


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## rymily (Jan 5, 2009)

We measured the acid yesterday and we're at 0.75 or 0.80. The box said fruit wines should be at 0.60. About how much calcium carbone would be needed? Should this be added before or after we stabilize?

Thanks much for your help, i'm glad I found this site. . it has been so helpful!


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## Wade E (Jan 5, 2009)

Thats not too high, I would leave it unless you have tasted it and really think its way to tart. 1/2 oz reduces acidity by 1 ppt in 6 US gallons of wine.


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## wingnutooa (Jan 6, 2009)

PM wade...


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## rymily (Jan 19, 2009)

We stabilized our wine this weekend, added the Super Clear agent and sugar syrup (4 cups sugar and 2 cups boiling water). The wine is GREAT! Thanks to everyone for your advice!


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## Wade E (Jan 19, 2009)

Glad it came out to your liking!


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## rymily (Jan 29, 2009)

Thanks for the help, as always! Our Strawberry Mead is foiled and labeled, everyone loves it!!! We have given out quite a few of our 350mL and 750mL bottles (47 in total.) 

Emily just got an allergic reaction all over her upper body and arms, although not in her throat. Could it be the clearing agent Super-Kleer with chitosan, a shellfish / shell fish (sp.)derivative. I'm not noticing much myself, execept seeing her itch! 

Nobody else has had any reaction, and the wine is amazing. It smells like fields of strawberries with a soft vapor of fermentation and orange honey.


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## Wade E (Jan 29, 2009)

Anything is possible but it is said by many pros including the makers that during the process the proteins from the shellfish are rendered null and that it is safe to anyone with shellish allergies, could be the meta bisulphites though maybe but i dought that also. let us know if you find out the answer to this as it will be the first time and I have talked with thousands of people on this subject with many of them being shellfish allergic, 1 being my brother-in-law who's throat will close up and he drinks my wines and now makes his own with no problems at all.


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## rymily (Feb 4, 2009)

You're an pro Wade ^

I haven't seen anymore problems with the allergic reactions, so either we are immune to the sulphites or shellfish or it was just a freak incident.


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## Wade E (Feb 4, 2009)

Thats good to hear!


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