First Try at Strawberry

[badmario]

I will be watching this thread to see more input. I made strawberry wine about 18 months ago per recipe from jack Keller. Using 15 lbs of berry for 5 gallon gave me a fairly nice result. I would surely use more on a second run at this, but originally I was just following recipe outline.

 

[Arne]

The best strawberries I have found are frozen. I can order a 30 lb bucket, it comes with about 20 lb. berries and 10 of juice. If you ferment the berries and add the juice afterwards it is a heavy strawberry flavor. Most people that tried it really liked it that way. I kinda prefer just the 20 lb. of berries for 5 gal. Keep the juice in the freezer til I order another 30 lbs. The two juices should make a batch. I have done several strawberry batches and this beats the fresh ones out of the garder. I know they were ripe, but they didn't give as much flavor as these do. The buckets I order just come from the local grocery store. Arne.

 

[Dend78]

so far with what I have in the strawberry coastal white the strawberry flavor is for sure there and its pretty good but very young, age should be a thing of beauty for it. October will tell more for sure, in the mean time once i free up some carboy space I will be starting another batch which i believe will be just strawberry, unless this coastal turns out so great i need to start another one just like it

 

[xcaret]

Dend78
I have 10 lbs of strawberries in each of two pails ,with the water that I added one pail has about 13 liters in total, and an SG of 1.07, the other has 11 liters or so and a SG of 1.15 . I added super yeast 20% its called I think.
Yeah I was suprised at the amont of juice that was in the containers after I looked the next day when the strawberries had thawed out. I should have check the SG of the juice . Anyway I used an electric hand mixer ,to turn it all to mush and left it like that over night ,then added yeast the next day .
I'm moving the pails to my sink after I send this note ..
How do you get the juice to put into the tube so you can see the SG ? Its only a cup or so but takes a lot of straning to get liquid thats not full of fruit ? I used a reueable coffee filer in a funnel but had to clean it about 6 times .

 

[Dend78]

a strainer bag is your best bet, or a pair of knee high hoes, put the fruit in there and it keeps it pretty clean while fermenting, you will still have tiny bits of stuff in there but it will greatly reduce the amount of pulp floating around and makes for a clean racking later on.

was that yeast in the silver package?

here is what the strawberry coastal white is lookin like, the first 11 pics are progress pics of it

http://s238.photobucket.com/user/Dend78/library/Wine

 

[YourCaptain]

I am very new to wine making. But I was told that it is not advisable to make strawberry wine because the pips cause ferment into the dreaded methanol. Is this not true or how do you avoid getting the pips in? I really would like to try out a strawberry, so if possible, please post a link to a recipe.

Thanks

Z

 

[Turock]

What's a pip? Never heard that term. Are you talking about the green top? You have to clean them before fermenting.

 

[saramc]

PH meter added to my wish list

FWIW, a cheap pH meter used for fish tanks/hydroponics works well. We compared mine to a Hanna pHep5, and got the same results, consistently. This is the one I have been using:

For less than $11, free shipping
pH-009 IA Pen Type pH Meter Digital Tester Hydro, http://www.ebay.com/itm/pH-009-IA-Pen-Type-pH-Meter-Digital-Tester-Hydro-/380521533210

...Sara

 

[Dend78]

pips = seeds

YourCaptain i wouldnt worry about strawberry pips/seeds as much, they have been making strawberry wine for a long long time and i cant imagine someone completely removing them all prior to fermentation. apples and other things with larger seeds could cause some off flavors and such though. I will do some more research on this to see what i can come up with though, but so far all seems fine with mine.

saramc thank you very much!!

 

[xcaret]

The yeast in the silver package said "superyeast 20%" the guy at the wine store said moonshiners buy it ,, Oh yeah it said it was 5 day or 7 days yeast ,meaning you get that high % in a few days..

 

[Dend78]

yeah thats what i thought, from what i have heard it produces off flavors but never had any actual experience. keep us posted as to how it turns out. what is the temp range it wants on that yeast?

 

[YourCaptain]

Well, that makes me a happy man then. Can't wait to get a batch going.

 

[Turock]

It's wise to contain the seeds because if they get into the secondary and age there, they can give off-flavors. Best to bag this fruit.

 

[Dend78]

It's wise to contain the seeds because if they get into the secondary and age there, they can give off-flavors. Best to bag this fruit.

for sure, anymore i bag it all ive done a couple without bagging and its just a huge mess to rack and the wine loss is pretty substantial

 

[Downwards]

Hmm.. I did not bag my strawberry. I'll probably rack it into buckets through a really large sieve lined with cheesecloth if the seeds cause bad flavors. Think that will work? Might be slow going though.. I better get one of those bags I guess.

 

[Turock]

Yes--straining will work. But we found that bagging is less of a mess. We use knee-length Leggs hosiery for bags---they work great and even make pressing easier. And then there's no cleaning--just toss them. We found the Leggs brand to be less likely to run than some other brands.

 

[xcaret]

Hey Turock, I read the post about bagging ,or rather pantyhosing it etc. but am wondering with the fruit all in a bunch pressed together wont the middle of the bag be less exposed to the yeast . I was thinking of going to the wine suply place to see if they had big screen bags , but havnt yet. I thought a bag thats kinda lining the container would be better than having all the fruit pressed together ..
Oh, yeah my strawberry wine I started back on the 3rd is still in the same airtight containers ( 2 containers 4 gall each) I'm a little worried about the mention of seeds , I dont intend to do anything with what I have here for a few weeks yet. Mostly because of the mess it takes to stretch a nylon stocking over the container and pour everything through it . Besides I used super yeast 20% its called .. so the stuff probably wont taste as good as all you guys'es that your making .. I should have taken the advise here when buying the yeast instead of getting stupid thinking of alchol % . I'll send another note once I finish bottling it, in a few weeks . ( I just go straight from the fermenter to the bottles and that's it..time to drink it). after it gets strained through the nylonstocking ,I put a reuseable coffee filter in a funel and pour it through that into 2 liter pop bottles then cap it . I check for pressure building in the bottles now and again.
Neil

 

[skyrat]

Hmm.. I did not bag my strawberry. I'll probably rack it into buckets through a really large sieve lined with cheesecloth if the seeds cause bad flavors. Think that will work? Might be slow going though.. I better get one of those bags I guess.

That should work well.

Similarly...I use a Stand mounted jelly strainer bag and it will Keep the seeds and most of the gross lees from getting into the racked off liquid. Works well.

I always overbrew by 20% or so when I remove the fruit / pulp I am left with the proper amount of liquid for the batch so I can avoid dilution/additions.

 

[Turock]

The bags do have a tendancy to float as the fruit is broken down in the bag, but you go down to the fermenter once or twice a day and squeeze them, and punch them down into the liquid. It actually works real well. We make about 16 or 17 different wines--grapes and fruit---and we bag EVERYTHING.

Now you're probably asking how we get the fruit into a knee length hosiery. We have a large-mouth plastic funnel from a Vitorio salsa maker that we put into the hosiery. We crush into the funnel for grapes as the other person shakes the grapes from inside the funnel in to the hosiery which is held inside a 5 gallon santitized bucket. For fruit musts, we ladle the fruit into the funnel. This takes a little more time, but saves time when pressing and siphoning off the primary. The must are cleaner too, with less particulate matter to clear off in the secondary.

We have actually found these funnels, by themselves, at garage sales. Our local hardware store--sort of a country hardware store--also sells those salsa makers with the funnel and a "V" shaped strainer/colander. So they are still available---probably can even be found online.

We make our strawberry different from what you describe. We let it clear well and age about 9 months to 1 year before bottling. Your way isn't traditional compared to the way we do it but then that's what's great about making your own wine. You do it the way you like it.

 

[Dend78]

yeah once you start pressing every day or two while in primary the bag is literally 1/8 of the starting size and its just pulp there is practically nothing left.

as for it still being in air tight containers you will be alright for a bit just dont let it sit in there to long as with any wine the lee's will start to produce off flavors that you dont want