Strawberry Wine Disaster!

[Skywise]

Hello

I finally took the plunge last weekend and started my very first batch of wine from a recipe I found in an old book.

After starting the wine off I found this site and started to read about "proper" wine making and it's totally different to what I did.

So anyway, I have a gallon of pink coloured liquid in my kitchen that has been bubbling away for 4 days and I wonder if anything can be done to save it or whether I should just chuck it away and start again.

The recipe I used was :

5 lb strawberries
1 1/2 lb sugar
1 tsp wine yeast
1 tsp yeast nutrient

After sterilising everying, I put all the strawberries into a jelly bag in a large bowl and added two kettlesfull of boilling water and the sugar and mashed away like a good 'un. Then the recipe said to leave it to cool, strain it through muslin a couple of times and pour it straight into the demijohn before adding the yeast and nutrient and giving it all a good shake and adding more water to bring it up to the shoulders of the DJ before putting on the airlock.

It all seemed pretty simple - too simple really - and after reading about tannin and pectolase and glycerine and various other chemicals, I'm pretty sure I've mucked it up.

Any advice please?

 

[keena]

Sounds like a very basic recipe. If you didn't measure gravity with a hydrometer you won't know the abv. But it still might turn out with age. I've seen a recipe on a popular wine review site (google jack Keller strawberry wine) that's very similar. Biggest issue I see is the acidity... That could give you an off taste. Someone here might have better info for ya. I believe you can adjust acid at the end as well tho

 

[Wade E]

Pectic enzyme can still be added to.prevent a pectin haze and youll need this for future batches so grab it at a brew supply store along with a hydromter asap. This batch will most pikely.need some acid also so while your thete grab some acic blend. Personally I dont tjonk this recipe is thst bad with the exception of not having you add any acid or making it to a certain specific gravity. Tannins are just to add more body and although strawberies can use it its not needed. Fruit wines should not have too much alc. and I dont think 1 1/2 lbs of sugar is bad. The other thing about this recipe is that its pretty low on fruit per gallon, I personally wouldnt go below about 10 lbs per gallon wirh strawberries as they arent strong on flavor.

 

[Skywise]

Thanks for the advice Wade.

I actually popped down to Wilkinsons this morning and bought a whole load of stuff including a hydrometer, pectolase, tannin and some "wine acid" - not too sure what's in the "wine acid" but hopefully they know what they're doing!

As this batch was only ever going to be an experiment I think that, when I get home, I'll put in some pectolase and acide and, when it's finished fermenting, I'll try the Flavour Pack thing of boiling down some more fruit and dumping it in. I'd pretty much written this gallon off anyway so it won't hurt to try and pep it up a bit.

I also bought a fermenting bucket and a couple more DJs while I was there. Now - where did I see those cheap plums . . . . . . . *g*

 

[fivebk]

You will need some sorbate if you are going to add an f-pack, added before the f-pack

BOB

 

[cindy]

I wouldn't write it off some of the worsed screw ups end up being the best inventions! we are a bit in the same boat, I started my 1st 5 gallons of strawberry wine last week and I followed the recipe exactly but I didn't take in account that the berrys would add more sugar. I added 25lbs of berries
and figure the more the better it will be. anyhow long story short I'm ending up with some great tasting high octane. the only thing I plan to do is add some strawberry extract to boost the flavor and sparkolliod when the time comes. lol I already had some not only did it taste good but I got a buzz my husband keeps telling me to stop tasting or there will be nothing to bottle but I keep telling him every good cook tastes their recipes!!! hang in there

 

[Skywise]

Ok Bob, I also picked up some (hang on while I spell this out) Potassium Sorbate powder and some Sodium Metabisulphite tablets this morning - I'm going to assume that the Potassium Sorbate is what I need to add before the F-Pac?

And thanks for the pep talk Cindy - I would have let this first batch do its thing whatever, because I don't like to kill anything. I think the difference between yours and mine is that yours will taste like strawberry flavoured rocket fuel and mine will taste of slightly acidic water

It's all good fun though and, whatever it tastes like, it's quite nice to hear the airlock gurgling away while I work in the kitchen. I'm going to start a batch of peach wine off when I get home seeing as how I'm now the proud owner of a fermenting bucket. I just hope I don't murder too much fruit before I get the hang of it *g*

 

[Midwest Vintner]

Ok Bob, I also picked up some (hang on while I spell this out) Potassium Sorbate powder and some Sodium Metabisulphite tablets this morning - I'm going to assume that the Potassium Sorbate is what I need to add before the F-Pac?

It's all good fun though and, whatever it tastes like, it's quite nice to hear the airlock gurgling away while I work in the kitchen. I'm going to start a batch of peach wine off when I get home seeing as how I'm now the proud owner of a fermenting bucket. I just hope I don't murder too much fruit before I get the hang of it *g*

Before adding any kind of sugar, make sure that yeast is dead. Let it sit for a month or two, rack and then you can add sugar, k-meta and sorbate. I personally don't add the sugar till right before what will be the last racking, so that there isn't too much time WITH sugar to allow something to grow in it again. Also, don't add ANY sorbate until you add more k-meta (potassium metabisulphite). It can cause off flavors adding sorbate without adding any k-meta.

You can fix the strawberry. It probably won't have very much alcohol, but you can add juice and some sugar (or not) later. You can also tweak the acid, tannin and even add oak or something else. All is not lost. You will want a way to test acid, if you want to be sure to make a good final result. I recommend a Milwaukee pH meter to any wine maker. Make sure to calibrate it often, but it is very easy.

 

[Wade E]

Wine acis is usually a nlend of 3 acids otherwise known as acid blend. I would probably add 1 1/2 tsps of that right now.

 

[Ken914]

I agree with Cindy. It's far too early to call your creation a disaster. I have strawberry wine that's been aging in a carboy for 15 months.

Learn from your new wine and be sure to enjoy it. This hobby is supposed to be fun.

 

[Skywise]

Well, I've decided to just let it sit in the DJ for a few months and then see what happens. It's actually perfectly clear already but I'm working on the theory that I'll just leave it alone and let it do its thing for a while. I've got a peach and banana wine that's gurgling away merrily now and I've just made a wine kit to give me something to drink whilst I wait for the fruit wines to become drinkable.

The kit wine has only taken 7 days to finish and be bottled (I filled up 25 bottles last night and had great fun playing with the wine corker and the shrink wrappy cork covering things) which I thought was amazing. It's drinkable now so I *did* have a little slurp last night and it was yummy although I think it'll get yummier in a few weeks/months. So I think it'll be kit wines for drinking and fruit wines for fun & learning!

All in all then things are working out quite well and I'm already planning my next fruit wine (plum or blackcurrant I think) and deciding which kit to make next to ensure I have a steady supply of drinkies for the next few months.

Thanks for all the advice and I'll let you all know how it turns out in the end . . . . .

 

[ShelleyDickison]

Which kit wines did you do. I did a Riesling/Chardonney and orchid Breezin from RJ Spagnols. Both of them are going much fast than the actual kit number of days also. The white I started on 7/2 with a SG of 1.09 and it's SG on 7/9 is 1.0 the Strawberry Zinfandel I started on 7/6 with SG of 1.06 and on 7/9 it's 1.01. I was concerned it would effect the taste of the wines. I guess time will tell. I still have to check them today. I am glad I am not the only one that things were moving faster for. Good luck with your wine making.

 

[Skywise]

I made a Cellar 7 Merlot Blush kit that I bought because it had quite good reviews. It cost me £30.00 for the kit and £13.00 for the 5 gallon demijohn so, because I had all the other stuff already, it's turned out to have cost me £1.72/bottle which I think is pretty good. I usually pay around £7.00 - £8.00 for a bottle of rose.

The kit said it would be ready to drink in 7 days but I didn't really believe it. Still, it only goes to show how wrong you can be. I couldn't believe how easy the kit was. It was just a case of add water, test the SG (it started out at 1.090), let it bubble for 5 days, test the SG again (down to 0.995), stabilise, add finings, wait for 48 hours and bottle.

Wine making really doesn't get much simpler does it?

 

[ShelleyDickison]

Ok I have been looking online for these and I am guessing they aren't available in the US. I keep running into UK web sites. I just started a batch of dragons blood (triple berry) skeeter pee. I guess I will be done for awhile because I ran out of primary buckets and carboys. Have fun with your wine making.