Strawberry Wine
 

I just made my first batch of strawberry wine using a vintners harvest kit,
and followed the directions on the side of the can except instead of 7 Lbs
of white sugar, I used 5 Lbs of white sugar and 2 Lbs of brown sugar. In
addition, I added 12 oz of molassas. I let it ferment for about 1 week in
the primary, and 3 weeks in the secondary.

When I racked the wine this afternoon, there was no strawberry flavor at
all, only yeast and alcohol. Is this normal? How long will it have to age
before any of the strawberry flavor comes through?

Thanks,

Chris.

Strawberry Wine
 

While I have not made that kit, I have made strawberry wine from scratch -
sometimes when a wine is very young, that's all you do taste is the
alcoholic kick and that yeasty taste. It does improve by racking the wine
off sediment, and letting the wine bulk age (7 months) and bottle age (a few
months). Give it a chance.
Darlene

"Chris" > wrote in message
om...
> I just made my first batch of strawberry wine using a vintners harvest
kit,
> and followed the directions on the side of the can except instead of 7
Lbs
> of white sugar, I used 5 Lbs of white sugar and 2 Lbs of brown sugar. In
> addition, I added 12 oz of molassas. I let it ferment for about 1 week
in
> the primary, and 3 weeks in the secondary.
>
> When I racked the wine this afternoon, there was no strawberry flavor at
> all, only yeast and alcohol. Is this normal? How long will it have to
age
> before any of the strawberry flavor comes through?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Chris.
>
>

Strawberry Wine
 

Chris wrote:

> I just made my first batch of strawberry wine using a vintners harvest
> kit,
> and followed the directions on the side of the can except

Unless you have previously experimented by altering the directions on the
can, then you can not expect to get the desired results. Brown sugar and
molassas sound like pretty drastic changes to the directions. I recommend
that you first follow the direcitons, sample the results after some aging
and THEN on the next batch if you want to experiment, you will have a
baseline upon which to judge.


> instead of 7
> Lbs of white sugar, I used 5 Lbs of white sugar and 2 Lbs of brown sugar.
> In
> addition, I added 12 oz of molassas. I let it ferment for about 1 week
> in the primary, and 3 weeks in the secondary.
>
> When I racked the wine this afternoon, there was no strawberry flavor at
> all, only yeast and alcohol. Is this normal? How long will it have to
> age before any of the strawberry flavor comes through?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Chris.

Strawberry Wine
 

I agree with Paul, I use brown sugar sometimes but only rarely. It can
overpower other tastes and my understanding is that molasses is even
stronger.

All may not be lost though. Is your wine dry? Most country wines do not
taste like the fruit they are made from if they are dry. You may need to
sweeten it up a bit to get the fruit character to come back. But let it age
a bit first. Also, if you do sweeten it, be sure to use the proper amount
of sorbate and sulfite to stabilize it.

Ray

"Paul E. Lehmann" > wrote in message
...
> Chris wrote:
>
> > I just made my first batch of strawberry wine using a vintners harvest
> > kit,
> > and followed the directions on the side of the can except
>
> Unless you have previously experimented by altering the directions on the
> can, then you can not expect to get the desired results. Brown sugar and
> molassas sound like pretty drastic changes to the directions. I recommend
> that you first follow the direcitons, sample the results after some aging
> and THEN on the next batch if you want to experiment, you will have a
> baseline upon which to judge.
>
>
> > instead of 7
> > Lbs of white sugar, I used 5 Lbs of white sugar and 2 Lbs of brown
sugar.
> > In
> > addition, I added 12 oz of molassas. I let it ferment for about 1 week
> > in the primary, and 3 weeks in the secondary.
> >
> > When I racked the wine this afternoon, there was no strawberry flavor at
> > all, only yeast and alcohol. Is this normal? How long will it have to
> > age before any of the strawberry flavor comes through?
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Chris.
>

Strawberry Wine
 

Yes, the wine is dry. I'll take your advice and let it age a few months and
then try to sweeten it a bit.

If nothing else, my winemaking hobby is forcing me to learn just a little
bit more patience.

Thanks to everybody for the help and advice.

Chris.


"Ray" > wrote in message
. ..
> I agree with Paul, I use brown sugar sometimes but only rarely. It can
> overpower other tastes and my understanding is that molasses is even
> stronger.
>
> All may not be lost though. Is your wine dry? Most country wines do not
> taste like the fruit they are made from if they are dry. You may need to
> sweeten it up a bit to get the fruit character to come back. But let it
age
> a bit first. Also, if you do sweeten it, be sure to use the proper amount
> of sorbate and sulfite to stabilize it.
>
> Ray
>
> "Paul E. Lehmann" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Chris wrote:
> >
> > > I just made my first batch of strawberry wine using a vintners harvest
> > > kit,
> > > and followed the directions on the side of the can except
> >
> > Unless you have previously experimented by altering the directions on
the
> > can, then you can not expect to get the desired results. Brown sugar
and
> > molassas sound like pretty drastic changes to the directions. I
recommend
> > that you first follow the direcitons, sample the results after some
aging
> > and THEN on the next batch if you want to experiment, you will have a
> > baseline upon which to judge.
> >
> >
> > > instead of 7
> > > Lbs of white sugar, I used 5 Lbs of white sugar and 2 Lbs of brown
> sugar.
> > > In
> > > addition, I added 12 oz of molassas. I let it ferment for about 1
week
> > > in the primary, and 3 weeks in the secondary.
> > >
> > > When I racked the wine this afternoon, there was no strawberry flavor
at
> > > all, only yeast and alcohol. Is this normal? How long will it have
to
> > > age before any of the strawberry flavor comes through?
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > >
> > > Chris.
> >
>
>

Strawberry Wine
 

People say fishing teaches patience. In my experience, it just weeds out
the impatient. I think wine making is the same. Impatient people switch to
beer or just buy what they want.

Ray

"Chris" > wrote in message
. ..
>
> Yes, the wine is dry. I'll take your advice and let it age a few months
and
> then try to sweeten it a bit.
>
> If nothing else, my winemaking hobby is forcing me to learn just a little
> bit more patience.
>
> Thanks to everybody for the help and advice.
>
> Chris.
>
>
> "Ray" > wrote in message
> . ..
> > I agree with Paul, I use brown sugar sometimes but only rarely. It can
> > overpower other tastes and my understanding is that molasses is even
> > stronger.
> >
> > All may not be lost though. Is your wine dry? Most country wines do
not
> > taste like the fruit they are made from if they are dry. You may need
to
> > sweeten it up a bit to get the fruit character to come back. But let it
> age
> > a bit first. Also, if you do sweeten it, be sure to use the proper
amount
> > of sorbate and sulfite to stabilize it.
> >
> > Ray
> >
> > "Paul E. Lehmann" > wrote in message
> > ...
> > > Chris wrote:
> > >
> > > > I just made my first batch of strawberry wine using a vintners
harvest
> > > > kit,
> > > > and followed the directions on the side of the can except
> > >
> > > Unless you have previously experimented by altering the directions on
> the
> > > can, then you can not expect to get the desired results. Brown sugar
> and
> > > molassas sound like pretty drastic changes to the directions. I
> recommend
> > > that you first follow the direcitons, sample the results after some
> aging
> > > and THEN on the next batch if you want to experiment, you will have a
> > > baseline upon which to judge.
> > >
> > >
> > > > instead of 7
> > > > Lbs of white sugar, I used 5 Lbs of white sugar and 2 Lbs of brown
> > sugar.
> > > > In
> > > > addition, I added 12 oz of molassas. I let it ferment for about 1
> week
> > > > in the primary, and 3 weeks in the secondary.
> > > >
> > > > When I racked the wine this afternoon, there was no strawberry
flavor
> at
> > > > all, only yeast and alcohol. Is this normal? How long will it have
> to
> > > > age before any of the strawberry flavor comes through?
> > > >
> > > > Thanks,
> > > >
> > > > Chris.
> > >
> >
> >
>
>

Strawberry Wine
 

I'm not familiar with the recipe for the vintners harvest kits, they
come with six pounds of fruit right?
How large of a batch did you make with this, I use at least 6 pounds of
strawberries per gallon, used 36 pounds of strawberries for my last
batch of 5 gallons.

Jeff

Strawberry Wine
 

Yes. This was 6 pounds, and I made up a 3 gallon batch. The fruit was
canned, so perhaps most of the flavor was already extracted from it.

Thirty-six pounds sounds like a lot of fruit, and I assume that you are
using fresh fruit instead of canned.

Also, just curious how much sugar you use and what the wine turns out
tasting like. Dry? Sweet? I'm picturing something akin to alcholic
strawberry jam.

Chris.

"Jeff & Victoria" > wrote in message
...
> I'm not familiar with the recipe for the vintners harvest kits, they
> come with six pounds of fruit right?
> How large of a batch did you make with this, I use at least 6 pounds of
> strawberries per gallon, used 36 pounds of strawberries for my last
> batch of 5 gallons.
>
> Jeff
>

Strawberry Wine
 

That is 2 pds of berries per gal. For any berry I would say 3 pds were the
minimum for a light wine but to taste the fruit I usually use 5 pds which is
about the same as Jeff's suggestion. That is for canned, frozen, or fresh.
I use enough sugar to bring SG up to about 1.090.

Ray

"Chris" > wrote in message
. com...
> Yes. This was 6 pounds, and I made up a 3 gallon batch. The fruit was
> canned, so perhaps most of the flavor was already extracted from it.
>
> Thirty-six pounds sounds like a lot of fruit, and I assume that you are
> using fresh fruit instead of canned.
>
> Also, just curious how much sugar you use and what the wine turns out
> tasting like. Dry? Sweet? I'm picturing something akin to alcholic
> strawberry jam.
>
> Chris.
>
> "Jeff & Victoria" > wrote in message
> ...
> > I'm not familiar with the recipe for the vintners harvest kits, they
> > come with six pounds of fruit right?
> > How large of a batch did you make with this, I use at least 6 pounds of
> > strawberries per gallon, used 36 pounds of strawberries for my last
> > batch of 5 gallons.
> >
> > Jeff
> >
>
>

Strawberry Wine
 

I used 10lbs of sugar for the 5 gallons, like to get the ABV to about
10.5%. Fermented dry, much better flavor sweetened a bit before
bottling, nice strawberry aroma & subtle flavor, good color, not at all
alcoholic strawberry jam-like!

Using 2lbs/gal of any fruit will give very little, if any, flavor or
aroma.
Besides, you could of probably bought 10-15lbs of frozen strawberries
at a grocery store for the cost of the vintners harvest and got a better
result.

Jeff