Strawberry Delight

[ffemt128]

Well here was my final recipe so far and I may modify the sugar amount after I check SG.

This is for a 6 gallon batch.

30 lbs of fresh strawberries
12 lb sugar
5 tsp acid blend
1 1/2 tsp tannin
1/4 tsp k-meta
3 tsp pectic enzyme
6 tsp nutrient
wine yeast 1116 or 1122

After cleaning, destemming, and halfing the strawberries they were frozen. I took strawberries out and allowed to partially thaw. Place berries in straining bag and tied top. Added all ingredients except pectic enzyme and nutrient at this time. Boiled water and sugar to make syrup and aid in disolving sugar. Added simple syrup to strawberries. Filled remaining primary with water to 6.5 gallon mark. (allowing extra for when berry pulp is removed). I squeezed the bag several times to soften the berries and stirred to thouroughly mix everything.

Straining bag will be squeezed twice daily and must will be mixed. When must reaches sg of 1.010 - 1.000 I will rack into carboy and allow to finish fermentaion. Racking will be done as needed. After 2 months I will stabilize and add fpac to back sweeten to taste. Additional rackings will be performed as needed until clear. I'm figuring on bottleing around Christmas.

Starting SG is 1.086. I will pitch yeast tomorrow evening.

 

[Tom]

Looks good But,
Use 1116
confused when U added yeast
Let it sit w/ Pectic 24 hours then pitch yeast. Also Do a TA test and gravity no higher 1.085

 

[winemakerrookie]

I'll be adding this one to my recipe book for next time I make strawberry wine

thanks

 

[ffemt128]

Updated sg and sugar amount. Prior to adding 2 lbs more I had starting sg of 1.070 or there about.

 

[ffemt128]

I pitched the yeast yesterday late afternoon and punched down the bag before I went to bed. I forgot to punch down the bag this am prior to work and when I arrived home, I could smell a distinct strawberry smell. Yep you guessed it, the must done foamed over the bucket. Siphoned 1/2 gallon from the bucket and placed into a jug. Should have ample room now I hope.

Yeasties are very happy.

 

[ffemt128]

Attached are some pics. The ale bucket is after removing a total of a gallon of must. It's still fairly foamy.

 

[ffemt128]

Well just got home and went to puch down the bag of fruit. There was no more foam on the surface. I went and got the hydrometer to check the sg, guess what, it was at .992. I have to say that was probably the fastest fermentation I ever had.

I'll transfer into a carboy tomorrow or should I wait until the weekend as originally planned?

 

[IQwine]

now would be a great time...

 

[countrygirl]

i know i'm a greenie, but my first batch sg dropped faster than the instructions anticipated, too...what exactly does this signify? i know the "yeasties" are doing a fast job, but what would do this? perfect temp/off temp? perfect yeast/bad yeast? just curious...
your strawberry sounds delish

 

[PPBart]

I'll be adding this one to my recipe book for next time I make strawberry wine

thanks

+1... Strawberries come in early around here (mid-February), so I'll make a note to get a few flats for this.

 

[Tom]

Here's my Strawberry after racking from the primary.

 

[ffemt128]

Looks good Tom, I'll post another pic of mine soon. It's such a nice color.

 

[mmadmikes1]

Here my strawberry in the bottle

 

[UglyBhamGuy]

Nice Label. LOL.

 

[mmadmikes1]

LOLOLOL good help

 

[ffemt128]

This was 2 or 3 days ago. Looking good so far.

 

[countrygirl]

that is beautiful!
i tasted a strawberry wine last night from a local winery and it was good, but it looked NOTHING like that!

 

[ffemt128]

Looking at the batch of Strawberry, it is coming along nicely. It almost appears to be clear, though you can still see a haze in the carboy. I ended up with 5 1/2 gallons of wine after the initial racking to remove the heavy lees. After Tom posted I did not add nearly enough water based on the recipe but I ended with an acceptable amount considering I was shooting for a 6 gallon batch. It will just have some addtional body due to less water being added up front.

Right now I have about 1/4 inch of sediment in the carboy and we are coming up on a month. I will likely rack the end of the month again and then stabilize. After stabizing, I'll add the fpac at the next racking and allow to clear.

 

[winemaker_3352]

Yeah - i just racked off the less after fermentation was complete - i too and a little short on water - so it will have more body as well - not sure i will need an f-pac because i have little water the way it is - but i may.

I probably won't rack again until mid to late august.

 

[ffemt128]

When it ferments dry, it loses a good bit of the fruit flavor. Back sweetening will bring back some flavor, but backsweetening with an fpac, brings back alot of flavor.