Country strawberry wine first

[Winetroof]

We followed the recipe at Take a Sip of Strawberries - WineMakerMag.com

We grew the strawberries ourselves at our Florida farm. We are in the beginning stages of opening a farm winery, among many other things. This is the first five gallons, using 18 pounds of fresh picked berries.

 

[Winetroof]

For the first batch, I followed the recipe without boiling the sugar water, the second batch had more strawberries (25lb) and I boiled the sugar water.
I was thinking about boiling the mashed strawberries for the third.

The goal is of course to make it better every time. We have an enormous supply of fresh and frozen strawberries right now.

any ideas on what other things to vary in our batches?

 

[Jovimaple]

If you boil the mashed strawberries, you may set the pectin, which will require you to use more pectic enzyme to clear it.

I made a 1 gallon batch of strawberry wine with 4 lbs of strawberries. It was okay but I thought it could have used more strawberry flavor. I just made it last spring, so I still need to open the bottle I'm saving for a year from that batch. It could be that it's wonderful after aging, or it could still be a little light on flavor.

 

[Rice_Guy]

Strawberry is high in pectin which melts to form gel structures at 180 F. This is normally broken down by adding pectase enzyme in the primary. If you have started fermenting, the alcohol makes pectase less effective.
The strongest flavor strawberry wine I have had was made by a winery which collected/ fermented the 100% berry juice from thawing strawberries at a next door bakery. This also was the only strawberry wine which I have seen with a natural red color. The red pigment in my strawberry settles out giving a pale orange color. This year I added 0.5% aronia to have a stable pigment and “complex” longer flavor notes.

welcome to WineMakingTalk.

 

[cenk57]

@Winetroof I love strawberry wine, I make it every year! First, like many, I started out with Keller recipes. I have found that every one of them I have made is small on fruit flavor and typically very high in alcohol, which takes away from the little bit of fruit flavor that is there. Fast forward 15 years later.....I have found that 6-7 pounds of very ripe (on the verge of mushy) fresh strawberries per gallon is perfect for me. I simply very quickly remove any stem portion and cut in half (though this may not be necessary). I add the strawberries to about 3/4 gallon of white grape juice. In my experience, the type of juice really doesn't matter. I have had just as good results using store bought frozen grape juice concentrate as I have with my own pressed juice. Now, I typically just use the frozen concentrate for my strawberry and leave my vineyard grown good stuff for other things. I add a sliced peeled banana per gallon and plenty of pectic enzyme. I have also started to throw in a couple types of tannin during fermentation, which have seemed to help. I use 71B or 1116 yeast. The strawberries really, really break down during fermentation. I see no need to boil them. Boiling causes other issues. I typically keep my fruit wines below 12% ABV. Like @Rice_Guy stated above, strawberry wine turns out a pale orange. Which doesn't bother me any - but may be an issue at the retail level. On my spring batch this year I am going to try to find a way to hold some of the red color. Maybe even add some hibiscus to my strawberry batch? I am still researching this as I know there has got to be a way to keep strawberry wine red - I will find it

 

[Arne]

Little red food coloring. Adds color, not flavor. Arne.

 

[Shaink]

I have used hibiscus in my recent sour cherry hibiscus which gives it a very vibrant blush coloured wine beyond anything you can buy in the store. The taste very much accentuates the sour cherry. Be careful as it is possible to take it past where you want and end up needing your green bottles.

 

[Rice_Guy]

a lifetime ago one of the professor said “the customer eats with their eyes first”

Little red food coloring. Adds color, not flavor. Arne.

There have been lots of tests where making the color right/ fresh looking, leads the flavor panel to give the product a higher taste score.

 

[Winetroof]

secondary fermenters, is it normal to be this hazy or did I not use enough pectin enzyme

 

[Rice_Guy]

When active fermentation is going on the solids continue to get mixed up. This is normal for active CO2 production. When the gas turbulence stops the solids settle.

 

[user 32114]

View attachment 82796
secondary fermenters, is it normal to be this hazy or did I not use enough pectin enzyme

reading this thread confuses me, yawl all say pretty much the same, but i have never seen the colors i see here. in the carby mine looks black, but in he glass a medium red, not blush. but red, i don't know, but since i have a tracheostomy , i triple to quadruple my berries and fruits, strawberry is one i make 3 to 4,,, 6 gallon carboys year after year,
Dawg

 

[AJH89]

Strawberry is very light in flavor. Most people use 6lbs per gallon minimum and a lot suggest using only mashed Strawberry no water added. I prefer only Strawberry, probably take more like 12lbs per gallon. Comes out great! My Strawberry wine came out hazy like that too before lettingthe lee's drop out. Looks fine to me.

 

[RevA]

Might I suggest saving some strawberries and juicing them for backsweetening? Like others have said it is a very delicate taste and aroma. That said fruit wine often needs a bit of sweetness to bring back the fruity taste.

 

[Winetroof]

Third rack. Smells and tastes a little yeasty, never had strawberry before. The one on the right had a lot more strawberries and they were were very 100% fresh. Taste better.