Wade's Strawberry Port - How many strawberries?

[desertwind56]

I'm getting ready to start a batch of Wade's Strawberry Port.

I'm planning on making a 3 gallon batch. I bought four 7 1/2 lb. buckets of local grown frozen strawberries yesterday. (30 lbs. total). The recipe calls for 15 lbs of strawberries. I was originally planning to use three buckets (22.5 lbs total) and save the 4th 7 1/2 lb. bucket for a flavor pack. Now I'm thinking about using the entire 30 lbs for fermenting. Currently, they are all in the freezer until I decide.

Also, the recipe calls for a starting SG of 1.11. I'm wondering about dropping that back to 1.08 and just rely on the brandy for extra alcohol.

I really want to get a good strawberry flavor for this. Double the strawberry and lower starting SG. I'm wondering if I'll still need to f-pack (or frozen daiquiri mix and strawberry syrup?)

Any thoughts on this will be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

OK, I have some bottling and tasting to go do now.

Connie M.

 

[xanxer82]

You will certainly want to save some for an F Pak.

 

[winemaker_3352]

I agree - strawberries contain a lot of water to begin with and are will be weak in flavor at first.

Flavor Pac does wonders for strawberry wine.

 

[Arne]

Are your buckets of strawberries plain strawberries or are they in juice? I bought a 30 lb. bucket last fall and it had 20 lb of berries and 10 of juice. I fermented the berries, made 5 gal of wine with them, fermented dry. Sulfited and sorbated them, let things sit for a week or so and dumped the strawberry juice in. There was about 3/4 gal of juice so diluted my abv some. Everybody raves about this stuff. Came out sweet with a heavy strawberry nose and flavor. Finally got it in bottles so will be able to let a little of it sit and age. The worst part was trying to get it to clear. Tried several things, finally bottled it, and it fell clear in a couple of days in the bottles. Rebottled most of it and it stays nice and clear now. Anyway if you have the juice, save it for the flavor pac. Take care, Arne.

 

[Wade E]

I would use it all and then maybe if needed after fortifying add an f-pack. As Ive stated before this batch was a total disaster from a recipe that was supposed to be a Strawberry wine from Jack Keller's website that I had to completely modify as it was nasty as can be. If I were to start from scratch this recipe wouldnt look anything like this at all. With Strawberries and a Port I would probably even se more then 10 lbs per gallon for a 3 gallon batch. I think what you have now will work with an f-pack added afterwards or you could use more up front and start with a even higher sg and stop it from finishing fermenting with the brandy so as fermentation doesnt burn off too much flavor and youll end up with sweetness.

 

[desertwind56]

Thanks everyone for the replies! I think I will use them all! If I need to get more for a flavor pack, I will later.

As a newbie, I'm a little leery of trying to stop fermentation. It seems it would be easier to ferment to dry, and then fortify, flavor pack and back sweeten. I'm still wondering what SG to start at if fermenting to dry.

I need to find some cocoa powder before I can start this. Hoping to find some Ghirardeli when I go grocery shopping tomorrow.



Connie

 

[Wade E]

What yeast do you plan on using as each one has its threshold which in this case wont matter much at all since youll be fortifying it so it wont be able to referment anyways. A lower starting sg might help retain more fruit flavor which would lessen the need for an f-pack and if you cool ferment it that would even lessen that more. Just keep it warm to get it going good and then near the end get it warmed up again to let it finish fermenting. I find Cotes Des Blanc brings out more fruit flavor them most other yeasts and it his a gentle fermenter to also help retain its fruity esters.

 

[desertwind56]

I was planning on using Cotes des Blancs. We keep our house in the 60's in the winter. (I wear long johns all winter, and I am sure ready for spring!) Because the house is so cool, I have some mead fermenting that is taking forever! I imagine the ferment for the strawberries will be slow as well. I'm thinking I can warm up the strawberries as needed in warm sink water (like I'm doing with the mead right now).

 

[Wade E]

I always start my must off at around 80* when I add the yeast and that usually gets it going within 6 hours and by the time it cools down to lower 60's she's already ripping. I raise it back up when sg gets to about 1.018 or there abouts.

 

[desertwind56]

The 30 pounds of strawberries are sitting on the counter thawing. Looking at them - they are in 4 1 gallon buckets - I realized I need a larger primary bucket!

I opted for Hersey's special dark cocoa. That is unless I find something else today or tomorrow. I haven't found any chocolate extract. Okay, I actually did, but the ingredient list didn't have cocoa or chocolate. May have to order it on-line.

Speaking of fake food - I've been looking strawberry syrup -- What I've found qualifies as big 'ol YUCK! High-fructose corn syrup and artificial flavors do not make any kind of fruit syrup! Right now I'm pondering making my own syrup (Which really has nothing to do with making this wine, I'm just easily sidetracked).

Hopefully, I can get the wine/port going in the next couple of days!

 

[Wade E]

I got my syrup from a local fruit stand and if it was a little thinner I would have drank it all alone!!!

 

[desertwind56]

I got my syrup from a local fruit stand and if it was a little thinner I would have drank it all alone!!!

That's the kind of syrup I'm looking for! Although I'm seriously considering a juicer steamer and making my own.

Back to the strawberry port -

It turned into an all day project! Right now I'm waiting for the dishtowels to dry so I can finish cleaning up the mess!

First thing I had to do this morning, was go buy a larger primary bucket. 30 pounds of strawberries is nearly 4 gallons. Finished adding everything (more or less) and have nearly 6 gallons. I ended up not adding the entire 3 gallons of water. I did add an extra cup of cocoa (3 cups total).

SG is 1.082. I had a bit of trouble testing the acid, because the must is so dark. Did it 3 times. Based on my best guess (.50) I added 2 tsp of acid blend. Tomorrow morning, before I pitch the yeast, I'll check the SG and acid again.

Thanks!

Connie

 

[Wade E]

Making your own syrup is more work but probably better off and once you have that juicer your be sitting pretty come harvest time with all the fruits.

 

[Arne]

A little hint, when you get a big primary going like you are having with all the fruit, use 2 buckets and split it. A little more work, but much easier to move around. Arne.

 

[desertwind56]

After I got it all in the big primary, I wondered if I could have put it in two. There is no way I can move it! I have a couple of buff men to do the moving for me.

Just pitched the yeast! Looking forward to tasting this! It smells so good!

Spent so much on this, hubby told me my next wine batch needs to be cheaper. That's when I told him about skeeter pee.

 

[desertwind56]

Update

I think my whole house smells of strawberries! These berries are so fragrant!

Anyway, I pitched the yeast yesterday morning. Kept the must at 78-80 degrees F all day. SG is at 1.062 this morning, down from 1.082 the day before! Must be some happy yeast!

I do have a general fermentation question - Does wine ferment faster than mead? Thought I read that somewhere, but don't remember where. This just took off so fast compared to the mead I have going.

Thanks again everyone!

Okay off, to find a 5 gallon carboy. And maybe some wine tasting! (Love this part of Washington, there are so many wine tasting opportunities)

Connie

 

[Wade E]

Wine almost always ferments way faster then mead!!!!!! Mead can sometimes ferment for a few months!!!

 

[desertwind56]

Wine almost always ferments way faster then mead!!!!!! Mead can sometimes ferment for a few months!!!

A few months! Going to have to be more patient with it.

Back to the chocolate and strawberries. SG was at 1.012 this morning, so I removed the bag of strawberries (which was really a bag of sludge). Tasted the wine. Right now it tastes of yeast, strawberries and a faint hint of chocolate. Really hard to judge the taste, but definitely a strong strawberry taste!

I put the lid on the fermenter and added an airlock. I'm thinking of letting it go to dry and then rack to a carboy. I'm hoping some of the sludge will settle out a little bit before racking.

Oh, yeah this is going to throw off a lot of sediment. Right now I have about 5 1/2 gallons. It will be interesting to see how much I actually end up with.

 

[Wade E]

Wicked amounts of sediment with this!!!! Strong fruit is a good sign!

 

[desertwind56]

Update, and a Question

I racked it yesterday. SG was .998 for a few days. There is so much sludge in this!

I'm not quite sure what to do at this point. Let it set a few days and rack again? Or Transfer to a 5 gallon bucket, warm it up, degas and put back in carboy to see if sediment will do a better job of falling out?

I have more in a smaller bottle that I shook the heck out of to degas. But, it's a bottle of sludge and the sediment is not falling at all!

I'm thinking I'm just going to lose a lot to sediment. So I'm thinking of just racking in a couple of days to a 3 gallon carboy. And, also add the k-meta and Sorbate I forgot to add yesterday. DOH!