# Strawberry Wine Help



## AJH89 (Aug 7, 2020)

First time wine brewer looking for help.

I mashed 38lbs of strawberries and added 1 gallon of water with 14 lbs of sugar, pectic enzyme, campden tablets, tannin and acid blend. Acid was low still so I added to get it to 3.6. Original SG after the strawberry mash itself was 1.020. Used an online chalculator so to speak lol that said add 14 lbs, used K1-V116 yeast after 24 hourd in my primary then waited 5 days which brought it to 1.030 SG and racked it over to my carboy. Heard it's much better on fruit wine if you want that high abv especially for strawberry rather than E1116. After 1 week I added 1/4 gallon of water mixed with 1lb of sugar. My hydrometer broke after taking initial gravity and added the sugar so it's a guessing game I'm assuming on my real finalized abv content. My question is keep adding sugar 2ndary fermentation? I want it to hit that 18% yeild. Not add anymore? And after the bext rack, cause it is clearing immensely, rack again? Or since I used so much straight strawberry it won't get clearer? And using sparkalloid a week before bottling and potassium sorbate to stop fermentation and to help shelf life?


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## AJH89 (Aug 7, 2020)

Also, 5 gallons of wine being made


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## AJH89 (Aug 7, 2020)

Really wish I didn't accidentally break my hydrometer after the first initial SG but it did and then I added the 14lbs of sugar and there was no way to take the SG then. Assuming the calculation between that and finalized SG tells you the abv content from what I've read. I've done my research ,it seems pretty easy but I'm stuck since my hydrometer broke. Add more sugar, let it sit and run it's course, potassium sorbate, how many carboy racks? Those are my big questions.


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## jgmillr1 (Aug 7, 2020)

I would not add any more sugar. Your 14lbs in 5gal at the outset to the already sweet strawberry must is more than enough to get you to 18%ABV if (and that's a big IF) the yeast will take you there given the conditions of the must. It is likely the fermentation will stick at some point and you'll end up with a very alcoholic wine with some residual sugar. At that point you can add more sugar to your taste for the final sweetness of the wine. Sorbate would be good in case any yeast bravely attempts to continue fermenting it.

I'm sure there are some out there who can better suggest techniques to achieve the full alcohol tolerance of the yeast. I would suggest next time that you start with about 6lbs of sugar (starting SG of say 1.08), wait until the SG is down to say 1.000 and then begin to step feed the yeast with 1lb sugar additions every few days along with some nutrients until you've added a total of 10lbs or so of sugar. That should not stress the yeast out as much as dumping the entire bunch of sugar in all at once and letting the yeast deal with both high alcohol and high sugar levels.


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## sour_grapes (Aug 7, 2020)

Agree with @jgmillr1 . By my calculations (using FermCalc) you had a starting SG in the neighborhood of 1.117. If it all ferments, you will have ~16% ABV.


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## AJH89 (Aug 7, 2020)

jgmillr1 said:


> I would not add any more sugar. Your 14lbs in 5gal at the outset to the already sweet strawberry must is more than enough to get you to 18%ABV if (and that's a big IF) the yeast will take you there given the conditions of the must. It is likely the fermentation will stick at some point and you'll end up with a very alcoholic wine with some residual sugar. At that point you can add more sugar to your taste for the final sweetness of the wine. Sorbate would be good in case any yeast bravely attempts to continue fermenting it.
> 
> I'm sure there are some out there who can better suggest techniques to achieve the full alcohol tolerance of the yeast. I would suggest next time that you start with about 6lbs of sugar (starting SG of say 1.08), wait until the SG is down to say 1.000 and then begin to step feed the yeast with 1lb sugar additions every few days along with some nutrients until you've added a total of 10lbs or so of sugar. That should not stress the yeast out as much as dumping the entire bunch of sugar in all at once and letting the yeast deal with both high alcohol and high sugar levels.


On day 2 of the primary I also added yeast nutrient and yeast energizer. It was a fermenting beast in the primary, constantly bubbling. Once I racked it over to the carboy it started to slow down a little. Pushes a nice blup out every 10 seconds. It definitely smells very alcoholic. I had waited a week and then added that sugar to try and help the fermentation keep going, but I won't add anymore if y'all think that's plenty. So using that amount of strawberries do you think it'll clear up well or should I just keep racking over to my liking? I don't wanna rack too much and risk oxidation.


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## hounddawg (Aug 7, 2020)

, your must is crafted not brewed,, why the big hurry,,, i keep 5 hydrometers, always try an keep extras, my last i broke,, i dumped it outta my wine thief and it broke in my hand on my ring, lol. 
yep you got enough sugar, since you've already racked it, beings, no hydrometer, i'd let it set for a few weeks at least, i make a fair amount of strawberry,,,, potassium sorbate & potassium metabisulfite, will not stop your ferment, you'll just half to ride the ferment out, you need to get another 2/3 hydrometers, so you can tell your numbers stay the same for 3 days in a row, at each racking add 1/4 teaspoon potassium metabisulfite, also known as K-meta,, come bottle time then you can add 1/4 teaspoon potassium metabisulfite/K-meta and potassium sorbate to package instructions, then after that either bottle dry or sweeten to your taste, 
Dawg


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## AJH89 (Aug 7, 2020)

hounddawg said:


> , your must is crafted not brewed,, why the big hurry,,, i keep 5 hydrometers, always try an keep extras, my last i broke,, i dumped it outta my wine thief and it broke in my hand on my ring, lol.
> yep you got enough sugar, since you've already racked it, beings, no hydrometer, i'd let it set for a few weeks at least, i make a fair amount of strawberry,,,, potassium sorbate & potassium metabisulfite, will not stop your ferment, you'll just half to ride the ferment out, you need to get another 2/3 hydrometers, so you can tell your numbers stay the same for 3 days in a row, at each racking add 1/4 teaspoon potassium metabisulfite, also known as K-meta,, come bottle time then you can add 1/4 teaspoon potassium metabisulfite/K-meta and potassium sorbate to package instructions, then after that either bottle dry or sweeten to your taste,
> Dawg


Hurry? Not sure how I'm rushing anything.. yeah, I'll probably buy 2 hydrometers so I got a backup. Was gonna let the secondary fermenter sit for 3-4 weeks then rack over to another carboy and let it sit for another 3-4 weeks and maybe rack on over to another carboy one last time and I guess let it sit till it stops bubbling l. Figured the Potassium Sorbate would stop the fermentation. Don't know much about K-Meta. I'll have to look into that


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## hounddawg (Aug 7, 2020)

AJH89 said:


> Hurry? Not sure how I'm rushing anything.. yeah, I'll probably buy 2 hydrometers so I got a backup. Was gonna let the secondary fermenter sit for 3-4 weeks then rack over to another carboy and let it sit for another 3-4 weeks and maybe rack on over to another carboy one last time and I guess let it sit till it stops bubbling l. Figured the Potassium Sorbate would stop the fermentation. Don't know much about K-Meta. I'll have to look into that


K-meta is potassium metabisulfite, straw berry i rack every 3 months, i bulk age for 6 months to a year, and nope, even both together will not stop a active ferment,
Dawg


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## hounddawg (Aug 7, 2020)

and it's easier to start at a SSG of 1.040, and step feed with sugar, yeast nutrient and yeast energizer, to get to 18 ABV, without stalling out your ferment,
Dawg


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## hounddawg (Aug 7, 2020)

no offence intended, 
Dawg


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## AJH89 (Aug 7, 2020)

hounddawg said:


> and it's easier to start at a SSG of 1.040, and step feed with sugar, yeast nutrient and yeast energizer, to get to 18 ABV, without stalling out your ferment,
> Dawg


Yeah, I'll slow feed the yeast next go around. Fortunately it's still bubbling so it hasn't stalled so far. What's the minimum time it should probably ferment? I'm just wondering if it stops soon then I'm assuming it stalled and I'll have to add yeast and nutrients to kick it back into gear. Since it's got plenty of sugar should I keep feeding it yeast nutrient and energizer?


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## AJH89 (Aug 7, 2020)

hounddawg said:


> K-meta is potassium metabisulfite, straw berry i rack every 3 months, i bulk age for 6 months to a year, and nope, even both together will not stop a active ferment,
> Dawg


When you say you rack yours every 3 months you mean rack over to the carboy every 3 months or rack over to bottling in 3 months?


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## hounddawg (Aug 7, 2020)

AJH89 said:


> When you say you rack yours every 3 months you mean rack over to the carboy every 3 months or rack over to bottling in 3 months?


to another carboy. the longer you bulk age the better the wine, i use quick drinkers to help while waiting, i make skeeter pee or DDDB- dragon blood as quick drinkers to help tide me over while i wait
Dawg


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## hounddawg (Aug 7, 2020)

AJH89 said:


> Yeah, I'll slow feed the yeast next go around. Fortunately it's still bubbling so it hasn't stalled so far. What's the minimum time it should probably ferment? I'm just wondering if it stops soon then I'm assuming it stalled and I'll have to add yeast and nutrients to kick it back into gear. Since it's got plenty of sugar should I keep feeding it yeast nutrient and energizer?


it would not hurt i think, but not until after it starts slowing down, and you should taste as you go along, you'll learn the tastes from each stage, so you will learn to rely on your taste , strawberry is a fairly easy wine, it tends to come along without a lot of tinkering, but time is your greatest ingredient, even bottled wine gets better with time, your biggest thing is to give it time to degas and let it clear so you don't have sediment down the line, it suks to open a bottle of wine with sediment in the bottom, 
Dawg


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## hounddawg (Aug 7, 2020)

ferment has no real time, it just goes till it stops, wine kits give you time limits so you'll buy quicker more product, i have never made a kt, i do only country wines, that's non-grape wines, as long as your airlocked you'll have no worries, just make sure you keep airlocks full, i use S;airlocks they evaporate much slower then 3 piece airlocks, i keep a potassium metabisulfite solution in my airlocks to safe guard against mold or other bad things,,
Dawg


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## AJH89 (Aug 7, 2020)

hounddawg said:


> ferment has no real time, it just goes till it stops, wine kits give you time limits so you'll buy quicker more product, i have never made a kt, i do only country wines, that's non-grape wines, as long as your airlocked you'll have no worries, just make sure you keep airlocks full, i use S;airlocks they evaporate much slower then 3 piece airlocks, i keep a potassium metabisulfite solution in my airlocks to safe guard against mold or other bad things,,
> Dawg


Cool. Yeah, I have an S lock on it right now. And i just used a sanitizing powder that came with my kit to sanitize the water in the S lock. Seems like the only thing I really gotta worry about is the fermentation stalling.. I would imagine it would have already stalled if it was going too though.


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## Scooter68 (Aug 7, 2020)

*As we all learn, patience is a key to good wine making. * 
Save yourself a mess and never rack into a carboy if the ferment is above 1.020 OR there is still a solid layer of foam on the fermentation bucket. Racking too early will can slow or temporarily stall the ferment or/and cause an overflow of foam from the carboy all over the floor. 
You most certainly will make a few mistakes along the way, pretty much everybody does though some have more serious results than others but those are lessons we don't forget.

As far as coping with the large quantity of sugar already in your must, there's not a lot you can do now other than to keep temps in range and make sure you have the right amount of nutrient for your yeast. (Don't go overboard either) Step feeding is the most common way folks get to the higher ABVs but that's for the next go round. Good luck and welcome to the forum. 

Based on what Sour Grapes posted (Starting SG calculated at 1.117) - IF it happens that your wine stalls out at an SG of 1.010 you would still have 14.4% ABV and a sweet wine. With that high an ABV the sweetness would not be a bad thing at all. So if you can coax the ferment down to or below 1.010 - you should have a good wine.


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## AJH89 (Aug 7, 2020)

Scooter68 said:


> *As we all learn, patience is a key to good wine making. *
> Save yourself a mess and never rack into a carboy if the ferment is above 1.020 OR there is still a solid layer of foam on the fermentation bucket. Racking too early will can slow or temporarily stall the ferment or/and cause an overflow of foam from the carboy all over the floor.
> You most certainly will make a few mistakes along the way, pretty much everybody does though some have more serious results than others but those are lessons we don't forget.
> 
> ...


Well I think I did alright then cause I took initial SG of the mash and never did after adding the sugar and I had heard to rack to the car boy at 1.030 but it was like a 1.010 so I immediately racked it and then after that I broke the hydrometer. Never got any foam though. I will say the fermentation isn't bubbling nearly as much as it was in my primary bucket. If it stalls I'm assuming it doesn't bubble at all?


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## AJH89 (Aug 7, 2020)

Scooter68 said:


> *As we all learn, patience is a key to good wine making. *
> Save yourself a mess and never rack into a carboy if the ferment is above 1.020 OR there is still a solid layer of foam on the fermentation bucket. Racking too early will can slow or temporarily stall the ferment or/and cause an overflow of foam from the carboy all over the floor.
> You most certainly will make a few mistakes along the way, pretty much everybody does though some have more serious results than others but those are lessons we don't forget.
> 
> ...


Also it's sitting inside at room temp, so I'm assuming that temp level is good


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## AJH89 (Aug 7, 2020)

Scooter68 said:


> *As we all learn, patience is a key to good wine making. *
> Save yourself a mess and never rack into a carboy if the ferment is above 1.020 OR there is still a solid layer of foam on the fermentation bucket. Racking too early will can slow or temporarily stall the ferment or/and cause an overflow of foam from the carboy all over the floor.
> You most certainly will make a few mistakes along the way, pretty much everybody does though some have more serious results than others but those are lessons we don't forget.
> 
> ...


As for the yeast nutrients it says online it doesn't need much but then I've seen people say that type of yeast needs lots of nutrients so I'm at a stalemate with that. I added as directed on the nutrients directions wonder if I should add one more dosage just for safe keeping


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## KCCam (Aug 7, 2020)

AJH89 said:


> If it stalls I'm assuming it doesn't bubble at all?


The only way to tell if it's stalled is with a hydrometer. Air locks can bubble for quite a while just from the CO2 that's being released from solution.


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## hounddawg (Aug 7, 2020)

your probably alright, i use K1V-1116 & EC-1118, both are work horses, as for sweetness hehe they say i have a sweet tooth, and they are right, my wines for under 3 years for drinking,,, i go with FSG of 1.040 if i bulk age [longer i go with a FSG of 1.030, 
i like my wines to taste like fruit off the tree,,, nice and sweet, lol
Dawg


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## AJH89 (Aug 7, 2020)

KCCam said:


> The only way to tell if it's stalled is with a hydrometer. Air locks can bubble for quite a while just from the CO2 that's being released from solution.


I'll get a hydrometer asap. What would the SG read to know if it's stalled?


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## hounddawg (Aug 7, 2020)

AJH89 said:


> I'll get a hydrometer asap. What would the SG read to know if it's stalled?


it will read the same for 3 days in a row,,,
Dawg


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## AJH89 (Aug 7, 2020)

hounddawg said:


> it will read the same for 3 days in a row,,,
> Dawg


Appreciate it. All this has been helpful info. Thanks guys


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## hounddawg (Aug 7, 2020)

usually when done it will read .996 or lower, stuck will read higher , either way will read the same for 3 days in a row, 
Dawg


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## AJH89 (Aug 7, 2020)

hounddawg said:


> usually when done it will read .996 or lower, stuck will read higher , either way will read the same for 3 days in a row,
> Dawg


I will keep y'all updated. So far it seems to have been going smoothly to me. I'll know more after a few 24hr readings of SG


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## AJH89 (Aug 7, 2020)

AJH89 said:


> I will keep y'all updated. So far it seems to have been going smoothly to me. I'll know more after a few 24hr readings of SG


Now if it does stall, what's the protocol on that?


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## hounddawg (Aug 7, 2020)

AJH89 said:


> Now if it does stall, what's the protocol on that?


then you'd make you a starter , with some simple syrup, 2 parts sugar to 1 part water, then pitch yeast, once it starts then add a little must, if you do stall i'd go to EC-1118 that's the biggest dog for wine, well that i know of, @Scooter68 and @sour_grapes and @KCCam all can help you with the more scientific ways, i stay as primitive as possible, of course i do use some modern ways to make less work for myself IE stirring with a drill, and chemicals so oxidation is not a factor and so on, on country wines, @Scooter68 can teach you more specific knowledge than i can, i stay away from it as much as i can, but even with old country ways can be improve with morden ways, they can replicate a certain wine over and over, where i just go for good every time, even if different from last years wine, fruits and berries are different every year, so i let nature perfect the fruits and berries i just add the alcohol,, lol
Dawg


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## Scooter68 (Aug 8, 2020)

Everything sounds OK. Get that new hydrometer (2 of them for safety) and really the only way to know for sure is to take that SG reading. Fine bubbles can be CO2 off gassing and that could continue for a couple of weeks after the actual fermentation is finished. SG readings are the only definitive way to know if the fermentation is finished. (Rule of thumb is same SG reading for 3 days in a row = end of fermentation.) Keep in mind in your situation fermentation could be at an SG for 1.010 (when you racked it) or it might anywhere in between there and .990. With amount of sugar you added it might be a very good thing if the fermentation stopped anywhere between 1.010 and .998 the remaining sugar will help keep your wine a little sweeter and keep you ABV in a little lower range.


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## G259 (Aug 9, 2020)

Yeah, get 2 hydrometers, like I did after breaking one! Cheap enough!


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## AJH89 (Aug 10, 2020)

Monday update. Unfortunately I tore something pretty bad in my knee yesterday. I'm on crutches can barely walk. I have a relative getting me 2 hydrometers tomorrow. The bubbling has subsided to every 30 seconds it lays out a blup. I'll have an SG reading tomorrow for y'all.


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## Scooter68 (Aug 10, 2020)

If there is a LOT of CO2 that could account for the 1 x 30 secs but more than likely it's fermenting albeit slower now. Sorry to hear about the Knee - good thing about wine making - you can take your time, By the time your knee is healed your Strawberry wine might just be about ready to drink. (Suggesting that wine variety ages a little faster than some - not that your knee will take a long time to heal)


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## AJH89 (Aug 13, 2020)

Alright guys, finally able to get a SG reading today. It's sitting right at 1.020. Bubbles every 40 seconds now. Tasted a bit off my hydrometer. Sure taste damn good. definitely taste sugary and alcoholic, lol.


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## hounddawg (Aug 13, 2020)

AJH89 said:


> Alright guys, finally able to get a SG reading today. It's sitting right at 1.020. Bubbles every 40 seconds now. Tasted a bit off my hydrometer. Sure taste damn good. definitely taste sugary and alcoholic, lol.


sugary, now your talking my language,,,
Dawg


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## AJH89 (Aug 13, 2020)

hounddawg said:


> sugary, now your talking my language,,,
> Dawg


Haha, yeah it was between 1.010 and 1.000 when I racked over to the secondary and then I had added that 1lb of sugar into it. I assume that's why SG went up. I guess we'll see if the SG changes in the next couple days and I'll know if it's fermantation is stuck or not. But that's kinda why I was trying to figure oput a fermantations cycle though, cause what if it's just done? I don't wanna keep kickstarting fermentation if she's good to go ya know


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## hounddawg (Aug 13, 2020)

AJH89 said:


> Haha, yeah it was between 1.010 and 1.000 when I racked over to the secondary and then I had added that 1lb of sugar into it. I assume that's why SG went up. I guess we'll see if the SG changes in the next couple days and I'll know if it's fermantation is stuck or not. But that's kinda why I was trying to figure oput a fermantations cycle though, cause what if it's just done? I don't wanna keep kickstarting fermentation if she's good to go ya know


agreed 100%, as you must know where your ferment is at, and yep that cup of sugar raised your SG.so you'll know know with your hydrometer, keep spares of most everything, they say i have a sweet tooth, and they are right,,, i finish my wines some at SG 1.030 and others at 1.040, but was raised on sweet tea and kool-aid, my FSG is based on how long i plan to age, the shorter 1.040 the longer 1.030, but very few on here drink as sweet as i do.
Dawg


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## KCCam (Aug 13, 2020)

AJH89 said:


> Alright guys, finally able to get a SG reading today. It's sitting right at 1.020. Bubbles every 40 seconds now. Tasted a bit off my hydrometer. Sure taste damn good. definitely taste sugary and alcoholic, lol.


According to *my *FermCalc calculations, your wine may be at about 17%. These are my assumptions:

Strawberry must before sugar: 1.020 (your measurement).
The addition of 14 lbs sugar and 1 gallon water brought the volume to 5 gallons. FermCalc shows this to be an SG of 1.143.
Adding 1 lb sugar and 1/4 gallon water: SG=1.143, vol=5.32 gal (syrup SG=1.141)
Effective starting SG=1.143, currently at 1.020, ABV=17.1%
At 18%, SG would be about 1.013 
If your volume was 5 gallons* after *the pound of sugar and 1/4 gal water, then at 1.020, your ABV would be about 18.4%. That could easily be +- 0.5%.


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## AJH89 (Aug 13, 2020)

KCCam said:


> According to *my *FermCalc calculations, your wine may be at about 17%. These are my assumptions:
> 
> Strawberry must before sugar: 1.020 (your measurement).
> The addition of 14 lbs sugar and 1 gallon water brought the volume to 5 gallons. FermCalc shows this to be an SG of 1.143.
> ...


Man, sounds to me like I could be lucking out for my first time crafting wine.


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## AJH89 (Aug 13, 2020)

I'm actually not 100% on the volume, but I have a 6 gallon carboy and it's filled up to what I'm guessing is about 5 gallons.


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## KCCam (Aug 13, 2020)

AJH89 said:


> I'm actually not 100% on the volume, but I have a 6 gallon carboy and it's filled up to what I'm guessing is about 5 gallons.


I’m guessing you’re probably close to done. Check for the next 3 days and if SG is the same, you’re ready to stabilize and clear. Nice colour. Looking forward to seeing it clear!


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## AJH89 (Aug 13, 2020)

KCCam said:


> I’m guessing you’re probably close to done. Check for the next 3 days and if SG is the same, you’re ready to stabilize and clear. Nice colour. Looking forward to seeing it clear!


As I let it sit to clear do I need to add anymore campden tablets or should I just add the sulphites right before bottling? My plan was to let it sit maybe 2 months. Rack 2 more months and then add sparkalloid, let sit for a week and then K-meta and Potassium Sorbate and then rack to bottles. Just making sure it'll be alright while it sits there for the months of clearing out


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## Scooter68 (Aug 13, 2020)

What sort of ABV were you originally looking to have in the wine? Typically high ABV's tend to bury the flavor especially if the flavor is a lighter one like strawberry or peach. I think I posted previously that a sweeter wine with a high ABV is more tolerable so if your wine has quit fermenting anywhere between 1.020 and 1.005 you may not have to do much or any back-sweetening. BUT it really comes down to making it something YOU like.


As to campden tablets (It's just a tablet form of Potassium Metabisulifite / K-Meta) Normally that is added at the end of the fermentation when you do the first racking off the lees and into a carboy to start aging the wine. Rate is 1 tablet per gallon or 1/4 tsp of K-Meta power / 6 gallons. Then if you rack every 3 months you dose the wine at those 3 month intervals. The last doseage should be usually within a month or less of when you do the bottling.

So.... assuming you just finished fermentation and have racked it into a carboy (With minimal headspace) if you dosed it with K-Meta/Campden tablets you should be good to let it age for 2-3 months before dosing it again. If you just age it 2 months I'd go a little less than a full dose of K-meta before bottling. Clearing ... that just takes whatever time it takes. Sometimes a month or two, sometimes over a year in some stubborn cases. Fining additive can help but sometimes I had wines so stubborn they took more than 14 months to be anywhere near clear enough to bottle. Bottling before that wine is clear will get you a wine that might taste good but have very little eye appeal in the bottle or glass. Again some folks don't sweat that but others... just wait it out.

As to sparkaloid... I'd add that sooner rather than later. It won't hurt to rack the wine again if sparkaloid drops out a lot of sediment. Add sparkaloid, wait the recommended time, rack it (won't need more K-meta at that time) and let it keep aging and clearing. Then if you let it age a full 3 months, rack again adding the K-meta and Sorbate and you are ready to bottle. I often let it set a few days to a week after that last dose of K-meta and Sorbate just in case something decides to drop out of the wine. Easy to let that happen before it's in the bottles.


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## AJH89 (Aug 13, 2020)

Scooter68 said:


> What sort of ABV were you originally looking to have in the wine? Typically high ABV's tend to bury the flavor especially if the flavor is a lighter one like strawberry or peach. I think I posted previously that a sweeter wine with a high ABV is more tolerable so if your wine has quit fermenting anywhere between 1.020 and 1.005 you may not have to do much or any back-sweetening. BUT it really comes down to making it something YOU like.
> 
> 
> As to campdent tablets (It's just a tablet form of Potassium Metabisulifite / K-Meta) Normally that is added at the end of the fermentation when you do the first racking off the lees and into a carboy to start aging the wine. Rate is 1 tablet per gallon or 1/4 tsp of K-Meta power / 6 gallons. Then if you rack every 3 months you dose the wine at those 3 month intervals. The last doseage should be usually within a month or less of when you do the bottling.
> ...



I was looking for a wine at about 18% alc/vol. I'm not huge into too much sweetness but like you said with the high abv I may just wanna backsweeten. It's gonna be a last second add for me. But from tasting the excess off the hydrometer it taste perfectly sweet so I don't think I'll be adding anymore.

So the campden tablets I have are K-meta. I didn't realize theres 2 types of campden tablets and didn't realize the ones I have are k-meta. I did add the dosage as recommended In the base recipe I was using on day 1or 2 in the primary. Can't remember. Hopefully that's fine to do.


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## Scooter68 (Aug 13, 2020)

Yeah there are Sodiuim Meta... tablets but those aren't recommended. If you have Potassium Metabitsulfite Campden tablets - that's what you want to use. I used to use only the Campden tablets but now that most of my batches are 3 gallons I just use the K-meta powder. It's pain to crush and dissolve Campden tablets. Since I do 3 gallon batches 1/8 tsp of K-meta is just right for my batches. My measuring spoon set has a 1/8 tsp measure so...


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## AJH89 (Aug 13, 2020)

Scooter68 said:


> Yeah there are Sodiuim Meta... tablets but those aren't recommended. If you have Potassium Metabitsulfite Campden tablets - that's what you want to use. I used to use only the Campden tablets but now that most of my batches are 3 gallons I just use the K-meta powder. It's pain to crush and dissolve Campden tablets. Since I do 3 gallon batches 1/8 tsp of K-meta is just right for my batches. My measuring spoon set has a 1/8 tsp measure so...


So adding the k-meta to primary on day 1 was alright to do? Will it last from the time of my primary plus the time of my secondary that it's currently in before I rack and add some more? So 2 months plus the 5 days of primary.


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## AJH89 (Aug 14, 2020)

So SG for today was like 1.005 Does it drop that dramatically by day? It's a little tough for me to get the best reading right now with the hydrometer. I'm dropping it in the carboy with a rubberband and a string. I did it multiple times though so I'm confident with todays reading. I'll just measure it every day so I can get the feel of it especially when it's jerry rigged to drop down


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## KCCam (Aug 14, 2020)

AJH89 said:


> So SG for today was like 1.005 Does it drop that dramatically by day? It's a little tough for me to get the best reading right now with the hydrometer. I'm dropping it in the carboy with a rubberband and a string. I did it multiple times though so I'm confident with todays reading. I'll just measure it every day so I can get the feel of it especially when it's jerry rigged to drop down


You don’t have a wine thief? Putting any weight on the hydrometer will change the reading. Do you have a test cylinder for your hydrometer? You could siphon some wine into it (carefully). You’re going to need to get rid of that headspace once fermentation is complete. Do you have a 5 gallon carboy?


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## AJH89 (Aug 14, 2020)

KCCam said:


> You don’t have a wine thief? Putting any weight on the hydrometer will change the reading. Do you have a test cylinder for your hydrometer? You could siphon some wine into it (carefully). You’re going to need to get rid of that headspace once fermentation is complete. Do you have a 5 gallon carboy?


Ahhh. See these are all things I did not now about that will help me out immensely. What is a wine theif? I do not have one. And as for the headspace I did not know that it shouldn'thave any headspace. I'll have to buy a 5 gallon glass carboy tomorrow. Why no headspace though? And does it really effect anything that much?


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## KCCam (Aug 14, 2020)

AJH89 said:


> Ahhh. See these are all things I did not now about that will help me out immensely. What is a wine theif? I do not have one. And as for the headspace I did not know that it shouldn'thave any headspace. I'll have to buy a 5 gallon glass carboy tomorrow. Why no headspace though? And does it really effect anything that much?



I’m on my phone, maybe I’ll PM you later. In the meantime read the Dragon Blood recipe. There is some really good info in it about the whole process that applies to pretty much any wine, but especially fruit (country) wines. It’s only a few pages long. DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine


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## sour_grapes (Aug 14, 2020)

AJH89 said:


> Ahhh. See these are all things I did not now about that will help me out immensely. What is a wine theif? I do not have one. And as for the headspace I did not know that it shouldn'thave any headspace. I'll have to buy a 5 gallon glass carboy tomorrow. Why no headspace though? And does it really effect anything that much?



It is kind of like a turkey baster, but without the squeeze bulb. It has a hole on the ass end instead of the bulb. You put it into the wine, cover the hole with your thumb, and you can then draw out a sample. Here is a three piece one from Northern Brewer: 3 Piece Thief - plastic


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## AJH89 (Aug 14, 2020)

sour_grapes said:


> It is kind of like a turkey baster, but without the squeeze bulb. It has a hole on the ass end instead of the bulb. You put it into the wine, cover the hole with your thumb, and you can then draw out a sample. Here is a three piece one from Northern Brewer: 3 Piece Thief - plastic


I could definitely make that happen with an actual Turkey baster, drop it in a cylinder and get a true SG reading. Honestly though it's coming up on 3 weeks so I'm thinking just racking it over to a 5 gallon carboy early so theres no headspace like @KCCam Was talking about just to be safe and drop a dose of K-meta in there. What are y'alls thoughts on that idea?


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## KCCam (Aug 15, 2020)

5 gallon carboy is a good idea, I think. You can never have too many (as long as you plan on doing this a fair bit more), and a variety of sizes is also good. But NO to the k-meta. You need to understand why you are doing it. It comes *after *fermentation is complete. Right now you have no idea if it is or not. If you have a test cylinder that your hydrometer will float in, that's good. If you have a turkey baster that will reach the wine in you carboy, that's great. Sterilize everything and take a reading.


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## Johnd (Aug 15, 2020)

AJH89 said:


> I could definitely make that happen with an actual Turkey baster, drop it in a cylinder and get a true SG reading. Honestly though it's coming up on 3 weeks so I'm thinking just racking it over to a 5 gallon carboy early so theres no headspace like @KCCam Was talking about just to be safe and drop a dose of K-meta in there. What are y'alls thoughts on that idea?



You can take reading in carboys, just tie a piece of very light fishing line to the top of your hydrometer, even faster than a wine thief, which you really should have. With this one, you can take your sample, read the hydrometer, and return the sample in just a few seconds: Wine Thief - Plastic - "The Thief" | MoreWine


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## AJH89 (Aug 15, 2020)

Alright, I did the fishing string tied to the hydrometer and it's right at 1.000. Still bubbles about ever 2 minutes. If I had to assume the fermentation is done or extremely close to it.


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## raspberry (Aug 15, 2020)

AJH89 said:


> Alright, I did the fishing string tied to the hydrometer and it's right at 1.000. Still bubbles about ever 2 minutes. If I had to assume the fermentation is done or extremely close to it.


my self i just leave the hydrometer in the carboy have one for each carboy


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## AJH89 (Aug 15, 2020)

raspberry said:


> my self i just leave the hydrometer in the carboy have one for each carboy


Man, I was thinking about just doing that too. Wasn't sure if it's alright to do that or not


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## KCCam (Aug 15, 2020)

AJH89 said:


> Alright, I did the fishing string tied to the hydrometer and it's right at 1.000. Still bubbles about ever 2 minutes. If I had to assume the fermentation is done or extremely close to it.


I would wait until you get the same reading 3 days in a row below 1.000. If the reading is dropping, then it is still fermenting.


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## Johnd (Aug 15, 2020)

AJH89 said:


> Man, I was thinking about just doing that too. Wasn't sure if it's alright to do that or not



what @KCCam said above is the proper way to decide if you’re done or not. As far a leaving the hydrometersitting in the carboy, CO2 bubbles will accumulate on it and cause it to float higher, and make your readings too high. Spinning the hydrometer like a top as you put it in will keep the bubbles off long enough for you to read it as it stops spinning.


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## AJH89 (Aug 16, 2020)

Alright second day in a row of a SG reading at 1.000. Tomorrow is the moment of truth.


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## sour_grapes (Aug 16, 2020)

AJH89 said:


> Alright second day in a row of a SG reading at 1.000. Tomorrow is the moment of truth.



And there is absolutely no rush on this, you know!


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## KCCam (Aug 16, 2020)

At SG=1.000, this wine could be 18-20% ABV. It has likely stalled from high alcohol with some residual sugar. I believe @AJH89 needs to add sorbate, or will the high ABV prevent refermentation? Also, without sorbate, is there a chance that fermentation will restart if he tops up a future racking with water or wine, which would drop the ABV slightly. Or does the high alcohol actually kill all the yeast?


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## Scooter68 (Aug 16, 2020)

Well to borrow a Clint Eastwood line - "Do You Feel Lucky?" Once it's finished I would still add the sorbate, unless you are 100% certain of the alcohol level being at least 18%. No harm in adding it AND you don't have to add it now. Let it age a while. Just add the K-Meta and wait until shortly before bottling to add the sorbate.


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## AJH89 (Aug 17, 2020)

Alright fellas, 3 days of the same SG reading, I have racked it over to my 5 gallon carboy. @Scooter68 my plan is to add K-Meta right now (how much though?) Let my wine naturally drop sediment for a month and then add sparkalloid, let sit for a week, maybe 2 and then add one more dose of kmeta with potassium Sorbate before bottling. What's your take? Keep in mind I have already added 5 5 k-meta tablets on day 1 and it's been 4 weeks from start till now. She's sure is starting to look pretty though!


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## Scooter68 (Aug 17, 2020)

1/4 tsp of K-Meta powder or 5 Campden tablets crushed and dissolved into a few ozs of water. That's all for 3 months then rack and repeat. You can rack again in 2-3 weeks if there is a lot of sediment but you don't need to add any more K-meta that soon. Just repeat that dosage every 3 months.


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## AJH89 (Aug 18, 2020)

Scooter68 said:


> 1/4 tsp of K-Meta powder or 5 Campden tablets crushed and dissolved into a few ozs of water. That's all for 3 months then rack and repeat. You can rack again in 2-3 weeks if there is a lot of sediment but you don't need to add any more K-meta that soon. Just repeat that dosage every 3 months.


Perfect, that's exactly what I added. I'll keep ya'll updated with monthly pictures. Everyone on this thread has been very helpful and I appreciate the advice. Can't wait to show ya'll final bottled product, thanks!


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## AJH89 (Oct 20, 2020)

Alright guys, it's getting closer to bottling. My wine has been sitting for 2 months now. I added the sparkalloid, it's working amazingly. Literally got crystal clear in 24 hours, I was shocked. After I let it sit for 2 weeks I'll be adding potassium sorbate and back sweetening it. My question is, how much sugar do I need to add? I don't like my wine sweet, I'm not trying to make a Moscato here. I want to add just enough sugar to bring out the flavor profile in my wine. I've heard anywhere from 1%-6% residual sugar is typical for wines. What's your input?


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## AJH89 (Oct 20, 2020)

Also after I add the sorbate and sugar I will be immediately bottling it afterwards do I need to add K-Metta too?


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## Scooter68 (Oct 20, 2020)

You back sweeten to taste - Never to a number. Taking an SG is just for your own knowledge - AFTER the backsweetening is completed to your satisfaction.

Typical process it to prepare a simple syrup of 1 part water to 2 parts sugar (1 cup water & 2 cups sugar) 
1 Heat the water to boiling, turn off the heat,
2 Stir in the sugar until it's all dissolved. 
_I use a microwave & occasionally have to reheat the water after the sugar is added. 
(1 cup initially heated for 3 minutes, add sugar, stir, reheat for 1 minute. Stir, Let that cool)_

Take 1 cup of wine and get yourself a medium plastic syringe with cc markings. 

I normally use a cup of wine and start with 5 cc of simple syrup. Add that stir and taste. 

Add until it's just a little less sweet than you want - use that quantity of syrup and multiply times the number of cups in your batch (5 gallons = 80 cups (Minus the one you already sweetened.)

So if you added 5 cc of simple syrup to the cup and liked that - hen 79 x 5 - 395 cc's of simple syrup = 13.35 oz of simple syrup to your 5 gallon batch.

_And you can go ahead an drink that testing cup of wine since you already replaced that volume with simple syrup_


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## Scooter68 (Oct 20, 2020)

Normally I bottle after at end of one of my 3 month periods of aging (3, 6, 9, 12 months racking points during aging) So I am normally at a point where K-Meta is needed so... *short answer is YES*. So if your win has been aging for 3 months then a normal dose of K-meta (1/4 oz per 5-6 gallons) If it's been aging 1 month or you might skip that dosage - anywhere in between you might cut the amount accordingly.


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## AJH89 (Oct 20, 2020)

Scooter68 said:


> Normally I bottle after at end of one of my 3 month periods of aging (3, 6, 9, 12 months racking points during aging) So I am normally at a point where K-Meta is needed so... *short answer is YES*. So if your win has been aging for 3 months then a normal dose of K-meta (1/4 oz per 5-6 gallons) If it's been aging 1 month or you might skip that dosage - anywhere in between you might cut the amount accordingly.



It would be 2 weeks shy of 3 months so I'd assume maybe just 1 less campden tablet


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## Scooter68 (Oct 20, 2020)

Pretty early to bottle but as to dosage - I'd go with standard dosage at this point -1/4 tsp per 5-6 gallons.


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## AJH89 (Oct 20, 2020)

Scooter68 said:


> Pretty early to bottle but as to dosage - I'd go with standard dosage at this point -1/4 tsp per 5-6 gallons.



Okay, well what's 2 more weeks of waiting then. I'll just wait till the 3 months, add the sorbate, kmetta and backsweeten to taste. I'll post picture results of final product. Thanks for the help!


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## Scooter68 (Oct 20, 2020)

You can bottle now just add K-meta - If you want to guesstimate a little less than 1/4 teaspoon per 5-6 gallons go for it. Some folks do a test to tell them exactly how much k-Meta to add, the rest of us just follow basic guidelines. Remember after bottling it's best to wait about a month before opening the first bottle. You can read up on "Bottle Shock" to see why the 1 month wait time exists. Again there are few hard fast rules to wine making so unless you are planning on keeping some of this batch for more than a year or two it should be fine.


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## AJH89 (Oct 20, 2020)

Scooter68 said:


> You can bottle now just add K-meta - If you want to guesstimate a little less than 1/4 teaspoon per 5-6 gallons go for it. Some folks do a test to tell them exactly how much k-Meta to add, the rest of us just follow basic guidelines. Remember after bottling it's best to wait about a month before opening the first bottle. You can read up on "Bottle Shock" to see why the 1 month wait time exists. Again there are few hard fast rules to wine making so unless you are planning on keeping some of this batch for more than a year or two it should be fine.



Wow, I'm so grateful I found this website/forum. An associate of mine has been doing this for a while now and I noticed his way was very rudimentary so I was really searching for the best way to make it the best! It took me a lot and I found this site and knew instantly I found the right place. glad you told me about the month after bottling "bottle shock", I'll have to look into it cause I had no clue about it, but now I can tell my family and friends to wait. I am giving this to mostly family for Christmas so time is not completely of the essence I'm shooting early cause I'm impatient


Scooter68 said:


> You can bottle now just add K-meta - If you want to guesstimate a little less than 1/4 teaspoon per 5-6 gallons go for it. Some folks do a test to tell them exactly how much k-Meta to add, the rest of us just follow basic guidelines. Remember after bottling it's best to wait about a month before opening the first bottle. You can read up on "Bottle Shock" to see why the 1 month wait time exists. Again there are few hard fast rules to wine making so unless you are planning on keeping some of this batch for more than a year or two it should be fine.



Wow, I'm so grateful I found this website/forum and all you guys. An associate of mine has been doing this for a while now and he inspired me to do it but I noticed his way was very rudimentary so I was really searching for the best way to make it the best! It took me a lot and I found this site and knew instantly I found the right place. glad you told me about the month after bottling "bottle shock", I'll have to look into it cause I had no clue about it, but now I can tell my family and friends to wait. I am giving this to mostly family for Christmas so time is not completely of the essence I'm shooting early cause I'm impatient, lol. I just want it gifted by Christmas. If they gotta wait to try it then they wait. I was wondering shelf life though. I did want it to last like wine at a store.. practically forever. Is that not possible homemade? Just wondering cause of your last sentence. I'd like it to last much longer than a year or 2


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## Rice_Guy (Oct 21, 2020)

Oxygen is your enemy! Even store purchased wine will change if it is opened and then it sits for a year or 2

Potassium metabisulphite is your friend since it scavenges free oxidized chemicals. , , , , in the early 2000‘s I collected mom’s carboys which included a 1971 raspberry that was still sealed and in good shape. I killed it by bottling without dosing fresh metabisulphite.


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## Scooter68 (Oct 21, 2020)

Keep in mind that nowadays liquor store bought wines are commonly expected to be consumed within months not years. What you may be thinking about is the classic "High Quality" wines made at old wineries with reputations going back 40-50 years or more. Nowadays most wine (Eg Sam's club, Aldi's, etc are high rate wines made inexpensively and not intended to grace the tables of the wealthy. Now "I aint trailer trash" but I don't spend $50,.00 a bottle or more for a wine either so wines you see on shelves at $10.00 - $20.00 are not typically wines made to be kept for years. Those are the wine I might buy if I am going to buy a wine.
Also I will tell you that I followed a path similar to yours my first year. Started a batch of blueberry in July, bottled it in November and opened it with friends in December when we visited them. It was certainly good - BUT when I opened another bottle 5-6 months later I wondered what happened to it? THIS bottle was GREAT ! Suddenly I was embarassed that I had rushed the wine not so much into the bottle, because it was crystal clear and no sediment ever dropped out, but; rather the taste improved SO MUCH in just another 5-6 months. So give that wine and maybe even open a bottle but tell folks you give it to that they are having a wine that is young and after another 6-12 months it will transform like a caterpillar into a butterfly.


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## AJH89 (Oct 21, 2020)

Great info @Scooter68 . So 6-12 months after bottling is a good drinking point, got it. And how long is the shelf life though?


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## Scooter68 (Oct 21, 2020)

I heard when I first got started that Strawberry has a shorter shelf life than other wines but since then I've hear a variety of things. I should guess that 2-3 years will be fine. 

As far as aging time - I think most folks count aging time from end of fermentation until you open the bottle to drink. You can age it in bulk or in a bottle. The reason many more folks age in a bulk (Carboy/Barrel - At least a year in most cases) is so that they can make any needed adjustments, filter, back-sweeten, change pH, and of course avoid any surprise sediment dropping out before they lock it down in a bottle.


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## Rice_Guy (Oct 31, 2020)

* the neighbor was cleaning a newly purchased property this week and shared a ten year old grosch bottle of strawberry. . . .
appearance: clear, light transparent orange (some brown notes) color, ,, typical of year old state fair samples = 3 points
aroma: good identifiable strawberry = 3 points
flavor: missing front notes (old), the longer acid notes were present, = 3 out of 6 points
aftertaste: clean, no off notes, fast not lingering
overall: one of the best strawberries I have sampled (note most strawberry wine is missing front notes and a fresh/bright pink color) 2 points (I would have been tempted to add 1% of a stable red color as raspberry juice)
ie ,, technically age is possible, this would point out as a low blue ribbon wine


Scooter68 said:


> I heard when I first got started that Strawberry has a shorter shelf life than other wines but since then I've hear a variety of things. I should guess that 2-3 years will be fine.
> 
> As far as aging time - I think most folks count aging time from end of fermentation until you open the bottle to drink. You can age it in bulk or in a bottle. The reason many more folks age in a bulk (Carboy/Barrel - At least a year in most cases) is so that they can make any needed adjustments, filter, back-sweeten, change pH, and of course avoid any surprise sediment dropping out before they lock it down in a bottle.


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## AJH89 (Oct 31, 2020)

Rice_Guy said:


> * the neighbor was cleaning a newly purchased property this week and shared a ten year old grosch bottle of strawberry. . . .
> appearance: clear, light transparent orange (some brown notes) color, ,, typical of year old state fair samples = 3 points
> aroma: good identifiable strawberry = 3 points
> flavor: missing front notes (old), the longer acid notes were present, = 3 out of 6 points
> ...


Great info. I will say the color is exactly as you say. It's a clear orangish looking color. I would actually like to make it a little more red. What would you add product/brand?


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## KCCam (Oct 31, 2020)

Post some pics of what it looks like in the carboy (is it still in the carboy?) and what it looks like in a glass.


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## Rice_Guy (Oct 31, 2020)

AJH89 said:


> Great info. I will say the color is exactly as you say. It's a clear orangish looking color. I would actually like to make it a little more red. What would you add product/brand?


for a five gallon I would start with two oz/ of raspberry juice (thaw some frozen raspberry and squeeze juice out), for more intense another two oz etc, ,,, raspberry is time stable / eight oz is probably over kill.
If you can’t find that cherry juice will do the same but it isn’t as time stable, or raspberry frozen punch, ,,, and as a fourth option frozen Hawaiian Punch ,,, but that punch should have synthetic die


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## AJH89 (Nov 16, 2020)

Ugh, super annoyed after bottling yesterday. After bottling and letting them sit for a day every bottle has a small amount of this kind of slush at the bottom. I do feel I've given proper time and amount of racks including using the sparkalloid that all the lee's definitely dropped out, but I think my issue is racking over without disturbing the sediment and sucking it up through my siphon. Any tips? I'll probably keep this batch for self consumption and do a dragons blood next. I guaranteed everyone a bottle by Christmas  also could I just pop all the corks dump it back into the carboy, let it settle for a couple days and rebottle it?


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## Rice_Guy (Nov 16, 2020)

When I have tried to make “perfect“ wine and noted sediment in the selected flavor I vacuum from the contaminated bottle to a clean bottle, being sure to keep the racking setup above the sediment. Yes I will wind up with seven clean per eight you start with. My impression doing a whole case was it settled faster in the 750 (peach with pectin) than it was doing in a five gallon carboy, so I didn’t really want to mix it up again, and for vinters meetings I wouldn’t worry about topping a bottle up.

Yes , , some in the vinters club dump it back into the carboy. , , and yes I have heard of others doing a single perfect contest bottle and drinking the left over 7/8 of a bottle.


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## AJH89 (Nov 17, 2020)

Rice_Guy said:


> When I have tried to make “perfect“ wine and noted sediment in the selected flavor I vacuum from the contaminated bottle to a clean bottle, being sure to keep the racking setup above the sediment. Yes I will wind up with seven clean per eight you start with. My impression doing a whole case was it settled faster in the 750 (peach with pectin) than it was doing in a five gallon carboy, so I didn’t really want to mix it up again, and for vinters meetings I wouldn’t worry about topping a bottle up.
> 
> Yes , , some in the vinters club dump it back into the carboy. , , and yes I have heard of others doing a single perfect contest bottle and drinking the left over 7/8 of a bottle.



Siphoning the individual bottles sounds like my best bet. But where do you get an auto siphon that small? Lol. Mine is made for a carboy, definitely wouldn't fit in a 750ml. I looked online with no luck...


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## KCCam (Nov 19, 2020)

AJH89 said:


> Siphoning the individual bottles sounds like my best bet. But where do you get an auto siphon that small? Lol. Mine is made for a carboy, definitely wouldn't fit in a 750ml. I looked online with no luck...


When @Rice_Guy says he “vacuums”, he is using a vacuum pump to suck the top clear part out of the bottles. It would be difficult to do without a vacuum pump setup (check out the All-In-One pump sold by a member here).


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## Rice_Guy (Nov 19, 2020)

The low tech way is a turkey baster.
I have access to a science store, so if only cleaning one bottle for a club meeting I would use a 50cc syringe and a 1/8 vinyl tube


Most of the vacuum pumping is done with a $12 plastic pump from the science house that pulls 19 inches Hg, it is similar to what amazon sells for $20. all fittings/ tubes are available at the hardware store. Pump is hanging on the wall in the back, you need a trap to keep mistakes from gumming up the valves. The T fitting with finger let’s me fine tune how fast and can instantly stop. I use a lot of soft tube to connect inexpensive hard poly tubing which is bent on the gas stove for whatever shape I need.


When racking, the source container always is at an angle to keep from sucking gunk.
I first tried the concept with a vacuum cleaner, since starting siphons by mouth with SO2 is nasty, loud but it workEd.


KCCam said:


> When @Rice_Guy says he “vacuums”, he is using a vacuum pump to suck the top clear part out of the bottles. It would be difficult to do without a vacuum pump setup (check out the All-In-One pump sold by a member here).


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## franc1969 (Dec 1, 2020)

I would love to know which pump to look for on Amazon or elsewhere. I am hoping for an AIO for the holidays, but am pretty handy with the extra tubing... 



Rice_Guy said:


> Most of the vacuum pumping is done with a $12 plastic pump from the science house that pulls 19 inches Hg, it is similar to what amazon sells for $20. all fittings/ tubes are available at the hardware store.


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## Rice_Guy (Dec 1, 2020)

the blue pump on top will do 19 in Hg when run in tandem, it actually has two heads on it and runs on 12V DC, ,,, at some point this pump was intended to power a sprayer in the vineyard
the unit on the bottom is what lives above the process area all the time, it is a piston unit connected to a trap and vacuum gauge, the micro switch lets me pulse and the slide switch lets me run constantly, again it is 12V
the cork is two hole with 1/4 poly tubing which was heated and bent to that shape, ,,,, i have lots of variations in fitments and this was put together for filling 750 bottles, tubing is cheap, also note the 4cm pieces of silicone get used every time I patch together a setup to a carboy or the floor or bottling

Looking at Amazon you will have the option of high volume pumps as the AC vacuum which runs for four hours at a time evaporating moisture from refrigeration installs (the one here uses oil so it is dirty/ loud/ can pull 24 to 25 inches Hg) ,,,, and low volume systems, this setup has never evacuated more than a six gallon carboy/ run over 90 minutes. If you do lots of run time the 120 volt setup should be more robust.


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