Strawberry time again

[jswordy]

Here's one of the strawberry carboys after just 7 days. After what I have seen of other strawberry wines, I think this is pretty far along already in the clearing process. When it's not in the sun, it is deep red.

 

[Boatboy24]

OMG! I want a big ol' glass of that!

 

[pwrose]

js
how much sugar did you have to add to get your sg reading up to where you wanted it and what was it.
I was thinking about cooking some of the juice down to bring the SG up some without adding as much sugar, i think that would really kick up the flavor some as well.

 

[tonyandkory]

js
how much sugar did you have to add to get your sg reading up to where you wanted it and what was it.
I was thinking about cooking some of the juice down to bring the SG up some without adding as much sugar, i think that would really kick up the flavor some as well.

Like fermenting a GIANT strawberry Fpack lol great idea

 

[jswordy]

js
how much sugar did you have to add to get your sg reading up to where you wanted it and what was it.
I was thinking about cooking some of the juice down to bring the SG up some without adding as much sugar, i think that would really kick up the flavor some as well.

Juice itself was 1.030. I took it to 1.085. I dunno how much sugar that was. I make up an invert solution and just add it and water until I get the volume and hydrometer reading I want.

I am going to simmer reduce the one gallon of juice I saved and then add sugar, basically making an invert syrup but using the juice instead of water. I am not worried about "diluting" the wine cuz that one gallon of juice will be spread over 25 gallons of finished product. The added juice will be less than 4% of volume. This process will happen on second racking, when I will also stabilize. After that, it will all be an aging and settling process.

The big deal with strawberry is like the other berry wines - to make it sweet enough to bring out the berries again after fermenting dry. This wine is pegged as a contest wine, so I am hoping it turns out well. When bottled, there will be 1-1/2 pounds of berries in every bottle. That's not pure juice, it has water added, but if that, field-ripe berries, and the back-end work can't make this into a kick butt wine, I'll be surprised.

Boatboy24, me too! But it's way too early, though I did sneak a swaller out of the primary when siphoning.

UNDER EDIT: Oh yeah, there also were 2 lbs. sliced bananas per gallon in a bag in primary, for body. Fruit flies loved 'em!

 

[g8keeper]

i have to admit, jim, that sure does look like a thing of beauty....awesome color....

 

[jswordy]

i have to admit, jim, that sure does look like a thing of beauty....awesome color....

Why thank you Ken! I'll save you a bottle.

 

[whackfol]

Jim (and others):
Beautiful carboy! Would you elaborate more on your procedure? I have the opportunity to purchase 50lbs of fresh strawberries from a local U-Pick farm. They will be picked in the words of the owner -- ripe plus, but not mushy. I have never made a strawberry wine and am looking for procedures. I have read Jack Keller's and E K Kraus' recipes and read most of the strawberry wine posts on this site.
My questions:
1) You state you yielded 10.5 G wine from 150lbs of fruit. Is this weight before cutting the tops off or after?
2) In a later post you mention you added water. I can't figure out how much to add. What is your suggestion? How does it effect the s.g
3) Are you fermenting on the pulp or did you crush and press and then ferment? I was planning to run through my C-D and press in my wine press as you did. I just don't know if it is treated like a red wine or white wine.
4) When did you add the sugar and what volume did you calculate in figuring your sugar additions? or Did you just add and measure s.g until you reached 1.085?
5) What about acid additions. How much do you add in g/L. I only have tartaric. Will this be sufficient or do I need a blend?
6) You discuss an F-Pack. I understand it is a flavoring addition. What is it, where is it purchased and when it is added?
7) I understand you plan to backsweeten (and this may be part of an F-Pack). What level of residual sugar are you targeting and is it sweet, semi-sweet, ...etc?
8) How do you stabilize the wine?

Thanks,
Whack

 

[pwrose]

Jim (and others):
Beautiful carboy! Would you elaborate more on your procedure? I have the opportunity to purchase 50lbs of fresh strawberries from a local U-Pick farm. They will be picked in the words of the owner -- ripe plus, but not mushy. I have never made a strawberry wine and am looking for procedures. I have read Jack Keller's and E K Kraus' recipes and read most of the strawberry wine posts on this site.
My questions:
1) You state you yielded 10.5 G wine from 150lbs of fruit. Is this weight before cutting the tops off or after?
Last year mine was 75 lbs after cutting tops off of 100 lbs. That yeilded 6 gallons of finished wine.
2) In a later post you mention you added water. I can't figure out how much to add. What is your suggestion? How does it effect the s.g
Two years ago I added water to mine and will never do that again, weak flavor even after an f-pak. Use straight juice for strawberries its the only way to go.
3) Are you fermenting on the pulp or did you crush and press and then ferment? I was planning to run through my C-D and press in my wine press as you did. I just don't know if it is treated like a red wine or white wine.
Pulp is optional, last years was with pulp, this years will be without. Pressing or steam juicing or just boiling them down and removing the pulp all will work for getting just juice. (adding a little water to finish up a gallon probably wont hurt it much, like a quart or two of water to finish making say 3 gallons.)
4) When did you add the sugar and what volume did you calculate in figuring your sugar additions? or Did you just add and measure s.g until you reached 1.085?
Once you know your initial SG you can figure sugar from there. Either use a wine calculator or do like JS did and make an inverted syrup and add a little at the time until you get to the SG reading you want.
5) What about acid additions. How much do you add in g/L. I only have tartaric. Will this be sufficient or do I need a blend?
In my opinion a blend is always better. You would need to test your acid levels first before adding any acids to the wine. Strawberry needs some but always test it first.
6) You discuss an F-Pack. I understand it is a flavoring addition. What is it, where is it purchased and when it is added?
f-pak (flavor pak) it is normally made from the fruit that you are making the wine from. Save some of the fruit to make it separate from the wine. It is basically juice of the fruit you made the wine from, you can condense it down by cooking/boiling off some of the water in the juice or use it like it is.
7) I understand you plan to backsweeten (and this may be part of an F-Pack). What level of residual sugar are you targeting and is it sweet, semi-sweet, ...etc?
You can backsweeten when you add the f-pak or later if you want. As far as sweet / semi-sweet / dry is really up to the person making the wine. I personally do not like any dry wines and would rather have a sweet than a semi-sweet. I beleive that a semi-sweet is any SG reading between 1.000 - 1.010 and a sweet is anything above 1.010. That is unless you are going to make a port which is real sweet anyways.
8) How do you stabilize the wine?
To stabilize a wine you need sorbate. You can get that at any wine making store or order it online along with the acid blend. Always stabilize before you backsweeten or add an f-pak.

Thanks,
Whack

Hope that covers it for you if you have more questions feel free to ask. If I ever get my blogs back from the old site I will post the strawberry that I made last year. It has all the basic info that you would need to make one.
If not just be patient and I will get the info on this one going in a week or so. Got to take a trip to Philly and then to Mobile before I can get a chance to get this one started.

Dont forget to keep your slurry to make a strawberry skeeter pee. This is the best skeeter pee I have made yet.

 

[jswordy]

1) You state you yielded 10.5 G wine from 150lbs of fruit. Is this weight before cutting the tops off or after?

Before. My fruit weight is based on 30 gallons. I weighed one gallon and found it to weigh 5 pounds. I did not cut the tops off, I cut the green off. It's possible to do this and not remove much red at all. There is not very much weight to the green. I'd guess I lost 10 pounds or so.

2) In a later post you mention you added water. I can't figure out how much to add. What is your suggestion? How does it effect the s.g

I roughly doubled the volume with water. By the time it's all done, it will be around 6.25 pounds per gallon, give or take. If you search the forum, 6 pounds/gallon is a highly recommended strawberry weight per gallon. It balances flavor with cost considerations well.

3) Are you fermenting on the pulp or did you crush and press and then ferment? I was planning to run through my C-D and press in my wine press as you did. I just don't know if it is treated like a red wine or white wine.

I froze the fruit after prep, then bagged it in a 5-gallon paint strainer and ran it through the press. I reserved the pulp and then ran a second pressing. I tasted fruit after the second pressing to be sure all flavor had been extracted. On the pulp fermenting is tough with strawberry; many people I know who have done it have had clearing problems, even with bagged fruit. Since I do not like to artificially clear my wines, I try not to begin with musts that will make clearing problems for me.

4) When did you add the sugar and what volume did you calculate in figuring your sugar additions? or Did you just add and measure s.g until you reached 1.085?

My upper limit was 25 gallons must (150 pounds divided by 25 is 6 pounds/gal). The juice started at 1.030. I added water to make 16 gallons, then added invert sugar syrup and water to achieve 24 gallons at 1.085, using the hydrometer to measure. All that happened right away, before the chemicals were added and the must allowed to rest. I added yeast the next day.

5) What about acid additions. How much do you add in g/L. I only have tartaric. Will this be sufficient or do I need a blend?

Citric at 2 tsp/gal is recommended almost universally in strawberry wine recipes I have seern, so that is what I use.

6) You discuss an F-Pack. I understand it is a flavoring addition. What is it, where is it purchased and when it is added?

I don't f-pac. After stabilization, I use the juice as-is, adding sugar to it before putting it in the wine to backsweeten. I add more sweetness with invert sugar syrup after that, if needed. The very first gallon of juice will be the most pristine, which is why I saved and froze that gallon off the press. Just put it in a gallon plastic jug and leave room at the top for expansion (3 inches or so) and leave the cap on loosely til frozen. Thaw when you are ready to fix up the wine.

UNDER EDIT: I just read my earlier post that was going to simmer and reduce the juice this time. OK, I'll go with that, then! But I usually do the procedure I outlined here.

7) I understand you plan to backsweeten (and this may be part of an F-Pack). What level of residual sugar are you targeting and is it sweet, semi-sweet, ...etc?

I guess semi-sweet is closest. This wine will be sweet but not as sweet as a dessert wine. I generally do not use hydrometer readings but sweeten to taste. I am told and also have read here that 1.020 is a good hydrometer reading to try to achieve for a sweet wine, but I wouldn't know since I sweeten to taste. What I am tasting for is the fruit flavors, which will come back out as the wine gets sweeter. Once I taste full strawberries, I will stop right there. No need to make it taste like Boone's Farm. I use this same method with all my wines that get backsweetened.

8) How do you stabilize the wine?

When I rack, I add 1/4 tsp potassium metabisulfite per FIVE or SIX gallons at the second, fourth, sixth racking, etc. This usually works out great for me, since 90% of my wines are cleared after the third racking, so my fourth racking is usually my stabilization racking, and it is also right in order for more potassium metabisulfite.

After it clears, I rack into a clean carboy and use 1/4 tsp potassium metabisulfite per FIVE or SIX gallons, and 1/2 tsp potassium sorbate per ONE gallon. (I always capitalize and underline the gallons when I mention these measurements, because it is easy to think everything is by the gallon and make a big mistake. I did that as a beginner and I would hate to cause anyone else to do it.)

If the wine is not to be further manipulated, I wait 3-5 days to be sure it is still and proceed with the bottling process. If it is to be sweetened/enhanced, I do that at any time after stabilization that is convenient. I wait 3-5 days after enhancement to be sure no fermentation has restarted, then I go into the bottling procedure.

UNDER EDIT: Forgot to mention I used 2 pounds bananas, cut into 1-inch segments with the skins on, per gallon of must. Floated those in the must in a strainer bag after volume and SG had been set. The yeast loved them and they will add considerable body and mouthfeel, but will not add flavors. The bag was drained prior to racking to secondary.

 

[whackfol]

Jim and PW:

Thanks for answering my questions. Can't wait for the weekend.

Whack

 

[gordini]

I've made fair bit of strawberry over the past few years. I'm always looking for new ideas. Like CrackedCork, I use a grape crusher and add enzymes to reduce the fruit to mush. I use 70ppm free sulphur at the crush. If you let the green tops ( calyxes) die in the must, you have big flavour problems. Depending on the style I use either wild yeasts or commercial. I always ferment on the pulp and pump out from underneath to rack into stainless steel. Bitterness from the seeds could be an issue, but fining takes well care of that. My big problem is the finished colour.... very little... Has anybody solved the problem on maintaining natural colour in strawberry wine?

Thanks

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

Yes Gordi, we solved the natural color problem, we add elderberries Very Natural. CC

I've made fair bit of strawberry over the past few years. I'm always looking for new ideas. Like CrackedCork, I use a grape crusher and add enzymes to reduce the fruit to mush. I use 70ppm free sulphur at the crush. If you let the green tops ( calyxes) die in the must, you have big flavour problems. Depending on the style I use either wild yeasts or commercial. I always ferment on the pulp and pump out from underneath to rack into stainless steel. Bitterness from the seeds could be an issue, but fining takes well care of that. My big problem is the finished colour.... very little... Has anybody solved the problem on maintaining natural colour in strawberry wine?

Thanks

 

[bricklayer67]

Work work work...

So ???
Its a hobby.........

Six hours is nothing.
When I made my plum wine I was busy every evening (after work) from 6 to 12 for a week to mash and pit them.

Picking dandelions got me every evening going for about 2 hours for about 2 weeks.

6 hours work is nothing in my point of view.

Luc

When I did dandelion wine, I had 8 hours of picking and 10 hours of cleaning into enough dandelions to make 3 gallons of wine.

 

[gordini]

Forget about the green tops ( calyxes). As long as they are not left in the pulp for too long, they wont influence the outcome. Just make sure they don't die and go black. Mash with enzyme and then continue as you have done.

 

[Cabernut]

Hello all, I have one question: whats the word on those strawberries that are getting mushy? I have about 20 more lbs to process and the bucket I'm working on contains a lot of these. Some have mushy spots that look a bit purple-ish. Should I cut those parts out or only gut out the green & white?

EDIT: I guess what I'm asking is: How ripe is too ripe?

 

[gordini]

Strawberries definitely do not ripen after picking. I work on a strawberry farm, and we recommend to our customers that they keep the strawberries in the 'fridge until they need them, and bring them out a few hours before you serve them. Keep moisture away from them, and leaving the green tops ( calyxes) on will help preserve their condition. But once they start bruising, dropping condition, and softening, they are beginning to lose their acid and flavour. Definitely cut out the unripe bits, but you could possibly get away with with the darker spots if they don't have that "old" strawberry smell about them. As with any fruit, the better the condition, the better the wine.