The kits I order turn out great so I have been playing around with
fresh fruit. Could use some help making 6 gallons of strawberry wine.
I would like the end result to be a sweet strawberry wine and give or
take say 7-9 percent alcohol. My problem with fresh fruit has been
that it usually ends up tasting like 200 percent alcohol.

My plan is to put about 10pounds of strawberries in a mesh sack and
start smashing them in my buck. Then (keeping the mesh sack in the
bucket add water to about the 4 gallon level. Then take a reading.
This is the part that I could be messing up.

What should the reading be if I would like to get my goal of a sweet
wine around 7-9percent.

I understand then I need to add sugar to get to the correct reading.
Then top off with water to the 6 gallon mark and then add yeast.

What would you experts suggest shooting for as the number to hit
on the Hydrometer when adding the sugar?

Should I be adding anything else to my bucket to make the results
better?

Thanks,
Rookie wine maker

Rookiewinemaker - I don't make strawberry wine so others may have a better
idea. I would crush the strawberries and add most of the water you will
use. If it were me I would use grocery store reverse osmosis water. I'd
add sulfite, chill down cold and let it sit overnight. Stir it up real good
and measure specific gravity (be sure to correct for temperature or warm
the batch up to room temperature). I would do this because you just don't
know how much sugar is in the strawberries. Once you know the specific
gravity of the must you can add sugar to increase starting specific gravity.
Be sure to stir to assure it's dissolved or use syrup. Then add nutrients,
yeast, QS to full volume and and let it go. To make a 7 to 9% alcohol wine
your starting gravity should be about 1.053 to 1.069. This assumes you
ferment to dryness. If you want the wine sweet you can add sugar to taste.
Then adjust sulfite per pH and add K sorbate to prevent further
fermentation.

Of course check Jack Keller's web site for strawberry wine recipies and
methods http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/index.asp

Bill Frazier
Olathe, Kansas USA



"rookiewinemaker" > wrote in message
...
>
> What should the reading be if I would like to get my goal of a sweet
> wine around 7-9percent.
> What would you experts suggest shooting for as the number to hit
> on the Hydrometer when adding the sugar?

Bill has already given you good advice, I do make strawberry but I make
it to a higher level of alcohol than you are shooting for and I can't
keep any of it past a year. (I made 17 gallons last year and I doubt
there are 5 bottles left; it's well liked.) I shot for 1.085.

I needed some citric acid and do use a yeast nutrient. I just put my
strawberries into a food processor and let it have at it. Some freeze
them first to make them easier to mash if you are going to mash them.
I don't use a bag but have a friend that does and he says it's the way
to go. Some just get new pantyhose from a dollar store for a mesh
bag. I never tried that, just seems too odd but I'm old... He
makes incredible fruit wines. I do sweeten and sorbate after it's dry.

Strawberries do vary in sweetness and tartness. You want to measure
both; don't go for a plain old 'do this and that recipe'. Just post
any questions once you get some numbers. I went for a TA of at least
6g/l.

Joe

Joe-

Do you sorbate AND sterile filter, or just sorbate? I ask because I am
going to start a batch of Strawberry mead and would like to stop the SG
around 1.02, but don't really want to add sorbate to the mix.

I've been very very happy with my sterile filter pads from Baeco, but
if it was more of a problem with restarting then I might actually buy
the 0.2 micron pads as well. Someday soon I'm going to have to make up
some petri dishes and see how many cultures I get after a good
filtration/recycle for 10 minutes.

Jason

Joe Sallustio wrote:
> Bill has already given you good advice, I do make strawberry but I make
> it to a higher level of alcohol than you are shooting for and I can't
> keep any of it past a year. (I made 17 gallons last year and I doubt
> there are 5 bottles left; it's well liked.) I shot for 1.085.
>
> I needed some citric acid and do use a yeast nutrient. I just put my
> strawberries into a food processor and let it have at it. Some freeze
> them first to make them easier to mash if you are going to mash them.
> I don't use a bag but have a friend that does and he says it's the way
> to go. Some just get new pantyhose from a dollar store for a mesh
> bag. I never tried that, just seems too odd but I'm old... He
> makes incredible fruit wines. I do sweeten and sorbate after it's dry.
>
> Strawberries do vary in sweetness and tartness. You want to measure
> both; don't go for a plain old 'do this and that recipe'. Just post
> any questions once you get some numbers. I went for a TA of at least
> 6g/l.
>
> Joe

Another straining material is nylon paint strainers that you can get from your favorite paint store. They are relatively inexpensive and do a great job. I bought so much paint this year; the store gave me half a dozen. It worked very well on the blackberry and raspberry wine I made this year.
"Joe Sallustio" > wrote in message ups.com...
Bill has already given you good advice, I do make strawberry but I make
it to a higher level of alcohol than you are shooting for and I can't
keep any of it past a year. (I made 17 gallons last year and I doubt
there are 5 bottles left; it's well liked.) I shot for 1.085.

I needed some citric acid and do use a yeast nutrient. I just put my
strawberries into a food processor and let it have at it. Some freeze
them first to make them easier to mash if you are going to mash them.
I don't use a bag but have a friend that does and he says it's the way
to go. Some just get new pantyhose from a dollar store for a mesh
bag. I never tried that, just seems too odd but I'm old... He
makes incredible fruit wines. I do sweeten and sorbate after it's dry.

Strawberries do vary in sweetness and tartness. You want to measure
both; don't go for a plain old 'do this and that recipe'. Just post
any questions once you get some numbers. I went for a TA of at least
6g/l.

Joe

I do not make strawberry wine, but do make pear wine each season. Rather
than 'mashing', I add some pectic enzyme to the juice/water fluid into which
I am suspending the fruit filled mesh bag. This breaks down the fruit,
allowing full access to all the sugars and flavors.


"
> Bill has already given you good advice, I do make strawberry but I make
> it to a higher level of alcohol than you are shooting for and I can't
> keep any of it past a year. (I made 17 gallons last year and I doubt
> there are 5 bottles left; it's well liked.) I shot for 1.085.
>
> I needed some citric acid and do use a yeast nutrient. I just put my
> strawberries into a food processor and let it have at it. Some freeze
> them first to make them easier to mash if you are going to mash them.
> I don't use a bag but have a friend that does and he says it's the way
> to go. Some just get new pantyhose from a dollar store for a mesh
> bag. I never tried that, just seems too odd but I'm old... He
> makes incredible fruit wines. I do sweeten and sorbate after it's dry.
>
> Strawberries do vary in sweetness and tartness. You want to measure
> both; don't go for a plain old 'do this and that recipe'. Just post
> any questions once you get some numbers. I went for a TA of at least
> 6g/l.
>
> Joe
>

Joe - My wife can't drink grape wines because they bring on instant
headaches. She can drink fruit wines. Sounds crazy but it's her head.
Your strawberry sounds very good. If you will post your recipe and process
I'll take a crack at it. Thanks.

Bill Frazier
Olathe, Kansas USA

"Joe Sallustio" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> I do make strawberry but I make
> it to a higher level of alcohol than you are shooting for and I can't
> keep any of it past a year. (I made 17 gallons last year and I doubt
> there are 5 bottles left; it's well liked.) I shot for 1.085.

I make Strawberry wine all the time
I use 6 #'s per gallon
DESTEM berries [no need to crush as Pectic will break down cell walls]
ADD pectic enzyme
ADD 4 gallons water and enough sugar to bring you desired % you are looking
for. (sugar and the juice from strawberries will bring it close to 6
gallons)
Add K sulfite [kills wild yeast]
SET 24 - 36 hrs
NOW add yeast I use Cote des Blancs
WAIT, WAIT, WAIT
You may need to push the "CAP" down daily for the first 4-5 days
usually after 10 - 14 days ready to rack remove pulp and transfer
NOTE I use 2 BUCKETS to ferment and can't fit in a regular size bucket.

Tom


Home of the
MOON RIVER BREWERY
and
DELANCO VINEYARDS





"rookiewinemaker" > wrote in message
...
> The kits I order turn out great so I have been playing around with
> fresh fruit. Could use some help making 6 gallons of strawberry wine.
> I would like the end result to be a sweet strawberry wine and give or
> take say 7-9 percent alcohol. My problem with fresh fruit has been
> that it usually ends up tasting like 200 percent alcohol.
>
> My plan is to put about 10pounds of strawberries in a mesh sack and
> start smashing them in my buck. Then (keeping the mesh sack in the
> bucket add water to about the 4 gallon level. Then take a reading.
> This is the part that I could be messing up.
>
> What should the reading be if I would like to get my goal of a sweet
> wine around 7-9percent.
>
> I understand then I need to add sugar to get to the correct reading.
> Then top off with water to the 6 gallon mark and then add yeast.
>
> What would you experts suggest shooting for as the number to hit
> on the Hydrometer when adding the sugar?
>
> Should I be adding anything else to my bucket to make the results
> better?
>
> Thanks,
> Rookie wine maker
>

Jason,
Sort of... I have a Buon Vino Mini Jet and I do run any white that
gets sweetened through it. The chances of it being a true sterile
filtration are pretty slim though. For the money it's a good filter. I
do sorbate also but many others have posted that sorbate can be tasted
by them and I do believe that. I either can't taste it or don't
realize I'm tasting it.

This will sound awful but I rarely drink my sweet wine, it's more for
quality control than anything else. Most of that is given away to
people who really prefer it so I just don't know what to say about
sorbates. If someone _asks_ for another bottle I'm pretty sure you can
use that as an indicator of good wine.

I have been reading about low temperature sterilization in a book by
Bird, it's an interesting idea. He discusses taking the wine to 54 C
+/-0.2 bottling, corking and casing; _not_ cooling it down. The theory
is the wine is sterilized by the long time exposure to the heat. Since
most yeasts die at 100 F it seems to make sense, if you have an
intentionally small population anyway it might work. I am thinking of
trying it on one wine this year; doing half with sorbate and a filter,
half this way. I can control temperature but +/- 0.5 F is pretty
tough. I rarely don't fine a white so the wines are pretty clean
either way. Only one way to find out if it works...

Joe


wrote:
> Joe-
>
> Do you sorbate AND sterile filter, or just sorbate? I ask because I am
> going to start a batch of Strawberry mead and would like to stop the SG
> around 1.02, but don't really want to add sorbate to the mix.
>
> I've been very very happy with my sterile filter pads from Baeco, but
> if it was more of a problem with restarting then I might actually buy
> the 0.2 micron pads as well. Someday soon I'm going to have to make up
> some petri dishes and see how many cultures I get after a good
> filtration/recycle for 10 minutes.
>
> Jason
>
> Joe Sallustio wrote:
> > Bill has already given you good advice, I do make strawberry but I make
> > it to a higher level of alcohol than you are shooting for and I can't
> > keep any of it past a year. (I made 17 gallons last year and I doubt
> > there are 5 bottles left; it's well liked.) I shot for 1.085.
> >
> > I needed some citric acid and do use a yeast nutrient. I just put my
> > strawberries into a food processor and let it have at it. Some freeze
> > them first to make them easier to mash if you are going to mash them.
> > I don't use a bag but have a friend that does and he says it's the way
> > to go. Some just get new pantyhose from a dollar store for a mesh
> > bag. I never tried that, just seems too odd but I'm old... He
> > makes incredible fruit wines. I do sweeten and sorbate after it's dry.
> >
> > Strawberries do vary in sweetness and tartness. You want to measure
> > both; don't go for a plain old 'do this and that recipe'. Just post
> > any questions once you get some numbers. I went for a TA of at least
> > 6g/l.
> >
> > Joe