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[Lonewolf]

Hello from Iowa.... I have been learning a lot from this forum in the past several months. Started making wine some time ago and I'm having fun. I have made 4 kits with all turning out great except for the WE Island Mist White Zinfandel, I was disappointed with flavor and strength. I have since learned from reading this forum about raising the starting SG with some sugar, makes a world of difference in the finale product.
I have a question for the forum. I made a batch of Strawberry wine and during the secondary fermentation, it had a real strong ammonia smell, which got worst when I set it aside to clear. It had a very tart taste. Finally had to throw it away. Here are the ingredients I used:

1 lb of frozen strawberries (crushed & strained
4 cans of welches white grape concentrate
2 cans of welches strawberry breeze concentrate
4 lbs sugar
2 tsp peptic enzyme
3 campden tablets
1 tsp acid blend to .60
Starting SG 1.084
This is for 3 gallons

Well I'm not sure what happened but it was gross ....

Looking forward to learning more in the future ...

 

[Bert]

Did you check what wasin the welches white grape conc. for preservatives....white grape often has some kind of preservatives and than if you added 3 tabs. of K-Meta may have been too much for the yeast....But I am just taking a guess.....OH and welcome to the forum....

 

[Rocky_Top]

Welcome, glad to have you active in the forum.


Ok , What was the sg when you transfered to secondary? What was the sg when you set it aside to clear and did you ever add k-meta and sorbate to stabilize?


Some fruit winescan bequite odoriferous when fermenting. However if something did go wrong I would say that you got something else growing in there.

 

[Scott]

Welcome Lonewolf,




Can't help you onthis question but glad to be of help when possible.

 

[Lonewolf]

SG to secondary 1.020
SG to clear 2 days .992

used campden tab and sorbate to finish before clearing
2 days later betonite to clear

 

[Rocky_Top]

Well, That looks good.
1 tsp acid blend to .60 ?? is this (.60 grams acid per 100ml )
I would expect to use more acid blend to get the ph to 3.5 for example.


I would call this a welches with real fruit added recipe. Did it ever clear? how old was it when you threw it out?It is a strawberry that finished dry. ( no sugar) strawberry is best sweet. (add sugar back to a sg of 1.010 or more.) Was the taste tart or dry? Being dry and low on acid (if it was) it could be both.

 

[Tom]

Lonewolf,

Only ONE pound for Strawberry wine? That is not enough strawberry. With all the Welch's concentrat I think it has to much acid

Next time add 3-4 pounds of strawberry per gallon and no Welch's. Just add enough sugar to bring the starting gravity to 1.085.
You can get frozen at Sam's

 

[Lonewolf]

When I made the Strawberry I didn't have an acid test kit or PH papers. I test all must and wines now. I have a blueberry and a pomagranite/cherry fermenting now and they seem to be just fine.

 

[Rocky_Top]

Tepe , This is an improved welches wine not a tainted strawberry wine.

Sorry Lonewolf, Tepe is working on higher class wines.

Welches is a great way to learn and having real fruit will improve a welches wine. ( you can however buy frozen strawberrys cheap at Sams.)


I think that it could have turned out great if the ph was good and the sg was sweetened backto orabove 1.010


Hope that you stick around and learn with us.

 

[Wade E]

I dont see any nutrients added and that sometimes can cause the yeast to starve from low nutrient especially when using a yeast such as Red Star Montrachet. What yeast did you use. I always add 1 tsp of nutrient and 1/2 tsp of energizer per gallon of must. Also, By any chance was this wine sitting on any lees for an extended period of time?

 

[Jeff D]

Welcome Lonewolf. The ammonia odor seems strange to me. What was the yeast strain you used and was there any taste other than tart?

 

[grapeman]

I will just offer you a warm "Welcome". Not sure what would have made the strong odors, but since it is gone, we will never really know how good it might have been some day!

 

[Tom]

I just don't see how you can call it Strawberry Wine when there is only one pound of strawberry in a 3 gallon batch.

 

[pelican]

Hi Lonewolf, and welcome to the Forum. Like a few others, I have no idea about the strange smell, but I held a moment of personal silence for you having to abandon that batch and pour it out.

I had one batch that didn't smell like ammonia, but more like sewer gas. In fact I was running around pouring water in drains and trying to find where the gas was coming in from -- til I put my nose on the carboy and whoa! It was a little 1 gallon but it stank up the house. I looked up what to do about the "rotten egg" smell sort of thing and aerated it vigorously, added more yeast nutrient stuff, and hung a 1 inch piece of copper pipe in it overnight. I could have buried a statue of St. Anthony in the yard for good measure, but it was winter and the ground was frozen.

The smell did go away, and I don't really suggest throwing old plumbing bits into one's buckets but... I can feel for what it is like to have a batch go strange on you.

(P.S., I notice the recipe does also include the Welches Strawberry Breeze concentrate as well as 1 lb of fruit. I can see how you called it Strawberry wine in reflection of the flavor profile myself.)

 

[uavwmn]

Lonewolf, I just made a 1 gal batch of strawberry wine and used 4 1/2 pounds of frozen strawberries and 1 can of Welches white grape concentrate.

 

[Tom]

How did it come out? Is it bottled...

 

[Lonewolf]

Thanks everyone for the info .... I will use more fruit next time. I am going to making 3 gal batches for my fruit wines from now on. Because I have 3 gal carboys. I'm looking thru the past posts for a raspberry recipe, since my wife says it has to be the made next.

 

[JWMINNESOTA]

Welcome to the forum Lonewolf, raspberry sounds good, that fruit seems to have a very strong flavor, in my batches anyway. Call it what you want, its yours, have fun!